Encountering Kundera
/"Art is dying," Milan Kundera writes in his essay collection "Encounter," "because the need for art is dying"; John G. Rodwan, Jr. assesses his attempt to re-stoke that need
Read MoreLate to the Movies
/Movies notoriously fail when they try to depict interiority. So why not just restrict ourselves to books? For a million reasons and more.
Read MorePeer Review: Martin Amis, Funny Man
/For good or ill, when Martin Amis writes a new book, critics swarm to it with strong opinions pro and con - a perfect setting for a clarifying Open Letters Peer Review!
Read MoreWrite, Repeat Redux
/In his new memoir, Christopher Hitchens regales his readers with one good story after another. But as John Rodwan shows, we've heard most of them before - lots of times.
Read MoreCarson McCullers and Her Crowd
/She's been praised by Oprah and cut by Joyce Carol Oates; the nature of Carson McCullers' prose has always confounded some readers and pleased others. We read her again.
Read MoreDeLillo and the Three Ps
/The nation's book critics naturally congregated when Don DeLillo's slim new book appeared. In the latest Open Letters Peer Review, John Rodwan supplies a scorecard for the players.
Read MoreLaughin’ Louis
/In the first half of the 20th century, Louis Armstrong and Sugar Ray Robinson both rose to greatness that reached across racial divides. Two new books look at the prices they had to pay.
Read MoreThe Mysteries of Berkeley
/In Manhood for Amateurs novelist Michael Chabon visits the strange planet known as parenthood. John G. Rodwan, Jr. follows him where plenty have gone before.
Read MoreSeger Unsettled
/Midwest Rock icon Bob Seger’s former tour manager gives us a behind the scenes look at old time rock & roll; John G. Rodwan, Jr. turns the page.
Read MoreMailer’s Victory
/Norman Mailer fought about writers and wrote about fighters, and even after his death, the brawling continues. John G. Rodwan, Jr. enters the ring.
Read MoreJazz Festivals and What They Play There
/Self-appointed jazz authorities like Wynton Warsalis weigh in on jazz festivals and the musicians who love them, and their listeners. John G. Rodwan, Jr., devoted listener, sorts the noise.
Read MoreA First-Class Sport
/The noble sport of fisticuffs has done more than a little for cops, kids, and US Presidents. So why is touching the gloves so widely maligned? John G. Rodwan, Jr. steps in the ring to find out.
Read MoreFamily Through Fiction
/In The Enchantress of Florence, Salman Rushdie has written his most Melvillean novel. John G. Rodwan, Jr. indulges in some Melvillean digressions as he explains just exactly what that means.
Read MoreJoseph Conrad's Tragic Predicament
/“A sorry business this scribbling,” Joseph Conrad once confessed, and we remember him problematically. John Rodwan reappraises the murky nature of his books.
Read MoreJoshua Redman Makes His Move
/Joshua Redman’s new album Compass makes some daring allusions to the all-time titans of jazz; John G. Rodwan, Jr. listens to hear how Redman borrows from those pastmasters and how he departs from them.
Read MoreBlue Music
/The one jazz album even hardened jazz haters own – Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue – turns fifty this year. John G. Rodwan, Jr. plays out the tracks of its long, strange life.
Read MoreGoing Off Course with Melville and Liebling
/Two seemingly dissimilar figures in the American literary landscape – Herman Melville and A. J. Liebling – shared at least one thing aside from a way with words: they weren’t afraid of a little digression now and then. John G. Rodwan Jr. follows along for the stories.
Read MoreThe Arrested Artistry of Elinor Wylie
/Elinor Wylie has not received the respect of posterity that she herself thought she deserved. John G. Rodwan, Jr. explores the reasons for that neglect, and the poetry that survives it.
Read MoreUgly on Purpose
/Saxophone legend John Coltrane took jazz further from its traditional sound than any artist of his day. Philip Larkin kept traditional rhyme and meter alive in English verse. Richard Palmer’s new study, Such Deliberate Disguises, attempts to make the case for one influencing the other. John G. Rodwan Jr. puts the emphasis on “attempts.”
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