Books & Culture
Martin Scorsese’s Radical Attack on Marvel Movies
In criticizing the films, the director isn’t inveighing against fantasy but against a system of production that submerges directors’ authority.
- Annals of Inquiry
The Myth and Magic of Generating New Ideas
A mathematician on how to get the mind into motion.
- Video Dept.
Leonard Cohen and the Divine Voice
A new short film captures some of Cohen’s reflections on creativity and spirituality, and on preparing for the end of life.
The Critics
The Many Voices of Charles Wright
In the past fifty years, his poems have taken many audacious forms. They sound little like one another, but he always sounds like himself.
Richard Nelson’s Family Cycles Capture Life in Real Time
The up-to-the-minute timeliness of the playwright’s work is like a magnifying glass that focusses and intensifies the moment.
“Evil,” “9-1-1,” and the Appeal of the Network Procedural
In the era of cable and streaming, there’s still life in old-school formats.
End Times in “Terminator: Dark Fate” and “Marriage Story”
Under Tim Miller’s direction, the Arnold Schwarzenegger franchise finds a novel groove; and Noah Baumbach toys with his audience as one couple dissolves.
The Latest
Emmet Gowin’s Intimate Photography of Nuclear Destruction
Gowin’s work teaches us how to recuperate some of the beauty lost when nature is desecrated and how to expand our sphere of intimacy to the land itself.
The New Yorker Documentary
Innovative short films, produced by emerging and renowned filmmakers, that premiere across The New Yorker’s digital platforms.
The Slowness of Literature and the Shadow of Knowledge
Science and literature alike are readers of the world. And, sooner or later, both lead us to the unreadable, the boundary at which the unintelligible begins.
What W. E. B. Du Bois Conveyed in His Captivating Infographics
A new book reprints some of the striking photographs and statistical graphics that Du Bois and his curators commissioned for an exhibit at the 1900 World’s Fair.
Goings On About Town
Winter Movies Preview
A series of ambitious remakes, tales of political resistance, and other Oscar hopefuls.
Photo Booth
Shirley Baker’s Half Century of Street Photography
The English photographer’s archive contains unheralded images that capture “the great madness and oddness of this life.”
Podcasts
Pete Buttigieg Live, and the History Behind the Irish Backstop
David Remnick asks the candidate about his lack of support among black voters. And Patrick Radden Keefe examines why the Northern Ireland border keeps derailing Brexit.
Video
How Silent Movies Give Fried Brains a Break
Immersing yourself in silent films offers another level of imagination and escape, one of the few full-time silent-film accompanists says.