Zoë Heller: “The belief that artists are entitled to be morally careless – that great art excuses everything – has proved to be one of the more tenacious parts of our Romantic inheritance.”
Francine Prose: “The landscape of literary history is littered with the wreckage of writers who thought they were on a mission.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Shouting “Kill The Playwright” In A Crowded Theatre
In which one unhappy patron, while his fellows are applauding, calls out, “Booooo! Kill the playwright!”, and another patron – herself a playwright – takes umbrage: “I imagined myself confronting the man who’d shouted for Annie Baker’s death. Calling him on his privilege; his insistence on making his experience everyone else’s.”
How We Did Shakespeare In Sign Language: A Deaf Theatre Company At The Globe
Paula Garfield, director of Deafinitely Theatre: “Rehearsing was a painful, slow process. We began with a two-week translation stage: it’s not about simply doing it word for word. … Even translating the title into BSL was difficult. I began with the signs for ‘love’, ‘work’ and ‘loss’ – but that doesn’t really make it clear.”
Backlash: 400 Sign Letter Objecting To Akram Khan’s Comments About Female Choreographers
Earlier this month, Khan told an interviewer, “I don’t want to say we should have more female choreographers for the sake of having more female choreographers.” Says the open letter in response, “We do not live in a meritocracy – all the data proves this. The way in which we ascribe merit is itself socially constructed and gendered.”
Akram Khan Responds To Open Letter Criticizing His Remarks About Female Choreographers
“I would hope that the work I have done throughout my career to help support anyone with talent would demonstrate to those that don’t know me well, and to my colleagues in the dance industry that do know me, that “those comments are simply not where my heart lies.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 01.25.16
Hunger For Art: Time To Spread It Around?
It’s no secret that the museums in major cities that grew up in the late 19th and early 20th centuries – New York, Detroit, Cleveland, Boston, Philadelphia, etc. – generally have great collections, not all of which are ever on view. … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2016-01-25
Keep Dancing!
Last year, the dance company founded by choreographer David Parsons and lighting designer Howell Binkley turned thirty, but it seems eternally young and optimistic. … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2016-01-25
Taylor Mac Preps for 24-Hour Singing Marathon
The term “pop music” is a 20th century invention — it originated in England in the 1950s to describe the rock and roll frenzy that was sweeping the nation. One of the many inspired things about … read more
AJBlog: Lies Like Truth Published 2016-01-25
Monday Recommendation: Peter Erskine
Peter Erskine, Peter Erskine Is Dr. Um (Fuzzy Music) Any marriage depends on how the partners blend. Drummer Peter Erskine helped Weather Report and Steps Ahead to achieve two of the most successful of all efforts to fuse jazz with other elements. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-01-25
Huge Counterculture Archive Comes to Market
So the Ed Sanders Archive, a massive hoard of literary and countercultural materials, is finally for sale. Steve Clay, the publisher of Granary Books, is the dealer. I have no idea what price is being … read more
AJBlog: Straight|Up Published 2016-01-25
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The Futurist Chinese City That No One Went To Live In (Until Now)
“The district of Kangbashi in Inner Mongolia, … widely labelled a ghost town, stands as a cautionary tale of over-investment, home to grand feats of architecture and real estate that rose out of eagerness and ambition, but never received [a] human population … In the last few years, however, Kangbashi has actually witnessed an influx of new residents.”
Edmonde Charles-Roux, 95, Prize-Winning Novelist And Editor Of French Vogue
“Ms. Charles-Roux, a decorated nurse and resistance fighter during World War II, found her way into fashion when she was hired in 1946 as a writer for a new women’s weekly, Elle. Two years later, she began writing for the French edition of Vogue, which installed her as editor in chief in 1954 … Four months after she [was fired from] Vogue, To Forget Palermo, her first novel, won the Prix Goncourt.”
And What Have Iran’s Mullahs Banned From Books *This* Time?
“Iran’s culture ministry has decided to censor the use of the word ‘wine’ and the names of ‘foreign animals’ and dignitaries from any books published in the Islamic Republic. The new rules are designed to protect Iranians from what the regime calls a ‘cultural onslaught’ by the West.”
Why Do We Keep Describing Early-Music Voices As ‘Pure’?
Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim: “Where does this emphasis on purity come from? What does it mean to singers and conductors? And to writers: As a critic who is compelled to use metaphors to describe the intangible qualities of a performance, I also wonder about the assumptions I’m making when I use certain words. … In the course of phone interviews with performers and scholars, I received an invigorating plurality of points of view – and a sobering reminder of the gap between the way critics and singers talk about the same voices.”