Author: Matthew Westphal

Ted Hughes Estate Cuts Off His Biographer

“The Shakespeare scholar Jonathan Bate, who began working on a biography of the former poet laureate in 2010, said he was surprised that the estate has barred him from private archives, asked that he return photocopies of privately held documents, and withdrawn his right to quote extensively from the poet’s work.”

Why Have So Few People Heard of This Great 20th-Century Polymath?

“He was a powerfully individual composer, an amazingly talented conductor” – Balanchine thought he was the best ballet conductor out there – “and one of the most quotable critics ever to put pen to paper.” He was also Margot Fonteyn’s lover, and he was brilliant at dirty limericks. “[He] complicated posterity’s job by deliberately choosing not to specialize in a single line of creative endeavor.”

Can Comedy Bring About Real Political Change?

From Lysistrata to Jon Stewart’s Daily Show to the satirical banners in Tahrir Square, it can seem that comedy really is that powerful. On the other hand, all those Soviet jokes weren’t what brought down the USSR. (On the third hand, it wasn’t actually Sarah Palin who said, “I can see Russia from my house.”)

Understanding the Frustration Behind #CancelColbert

Jay Caspian Kang: “There’s a long tradition in American comedy of dumping tasteless jokes at the feet of Asians and Asian-Americans that follows the perception that we will silently weather the ridicule. .. Even when you want to be in on the joke – and you understand, intellectually, that you are not the one being ridiculed – it’s hard not to wonder why these jokes always come at the expense of those least likely to protest.”