Postscript
The Indestructible Art of Frank Stella
The artist, who has died at eighty-seven, rattled standards of modernist abstraction rather as Bob Dylan did those of folk music.
Helen Vendler’s Generous Mind
The professor and critic will be remembered for her brilliant books, but teaching brought her genius to the fore.
Christopher Durang’s Stage Directions for Life
The Tony-winning playwright’s dark, antic satires were many people’s gateway to theatre. I was one of those people.
Remembering William Whitworth’s Editorial Eye
An editor who could see around corners and deep into thorny manuscripts.
Iris Apfel Wore Fame Well
Apfel pursued the driving creative project of her life—getting dressed, dazzlingly—for eight decades without any promise of greater glory. How could she ever have seen it coming?
The Death of Alexei Navalny, Putin’s Most Formidable Opponent
The opposition leader, who died in prison, had been persecuted for years by the Russian state. He remained defiant, and consistently funny, to the very end.
Lev Rubinstein, a Devoted and Defiant Lover of Language
The Russian poet and essayist was a founding member of the Moscow conceptualist movement, an “implausibly social” presence in Moscow, and a firm believer to the end in the possibility of living in Russia with dignity and decency.
Working with Joan Acocella
A former New Yorker fact checker recalls a serious saint who prized fun.
Thank Goodness for Joan Acocella
The critic, an enemy of pretension, addressed a dazzling array of subjects with intelligence and a one-of-a-kind wit.
The Many Lives of Vinie Burrows
Remembering the activism and artistry of a New York theatre hero.