We began in the world that was—in the humid atmosphere of fin-de-siècle Vienna, from which Zemlinsky, Schreker, and Schoenberg emerged. In a program note, Blier wrote that the “Fugitives” concept was inspired by Zemlinsky’s “Meeraugen,” or “Sea Eyes,” which tells of a “person staring into the roiling abyss of the ocean.” You had the feeling, … Read more
In light of the frigid temperatures the East Coast has experienced recently, the artist Christoph Niemann decided to illustrate, for the cover of the March 2, 2026, issue, an additional source of winter discomfort for many New Yorkers. “Any temperature that’s either north or south of seventy-two degrees throws me into an abyss of self-pity,” … Read more
“The Architect” (2009).Art work by Noah Davis / Courtesy Studio Museum in Harlem The show opens with Davis’s early work, some of which is precisely that. Looking at reproductions, I’d been eager to see “40 Acres and a Unicorn” (2007)—a twist on Reconstruction’s failed promise of “forty acres and a mule”—but, on closer inspection, its … Read more
So is Simon Kuper. Born in Uganda to South African Jewish parents, raised and educated in the Netherlands and in Britain, and now a French citizen, Kuper—like Koestler, and like me—is someone Stalin might have called a “rootless cosmopolitan.” But he is an ardent supporter of the Dutch national team, whose players wear the orange … Read more
Good People, by Patmeena Sabit (Crown). This devastating début novel takes the form of an oral history about a tragedy that shatters a family. At its heart is a couple who arrived in the U.S. in the late nineteen-nineties as refugees from Afghanistan. They prospered, and brought up four children in an affluent suburb in … Read more
A new biography of the Berlin-born philosopher emphasizes his combination of stubborn unworldliness and startling prescience.
Roger and Carol had both worked and always hired dog walkers during the day, but Roger took Andy around the block for the last walk of the night. A smooth fox terrier is small, but vividly black-and-white, even after dark. The doormen on East Ninetieth Street looked out for Roger and Andy. Roger did not … Read more
In New York, the leading German Jews did not react to the Grand Union Hotel incident by appealing to the humanitarian impulses of Gentiles, in the manner of Lazard Kahn’s letter to Nast. Instead, many of them came to see their new and unexpected troubles as the result of the mass emigration of Eastern European … Read more
Then, in 2023, during Season 10, what I can only describe as an act of God took place: It was revealed that Tom Sandoval had secretly cheated on his longtime girlfriend and fellow cast member, Ariana Madix, with a newer, younger cast member, Raquel (née Rachel) Leviss, right under the camera’s nose. The true, organic … Read more
Of course, it wasn’t just Malinin whose performance tugged my attention away from Italy and toward America. A handful of athletes from the States have spoken up, less in righteous indignation than in baffled concern, about American politics these days. The curler Rich Ruohonen—who, when he’s not winning tournaments, works as a personal-injury lawyer—spoke at … Read more