A new book exalts the heyday of music magazines, when electric prose reigned and egos collided.

On the role of criticism in the end times

What critics’ obsession with the vicious takedown says about the current state of food journalism

Jerry Saltz’s new book markets an instagram-friendly version of creativity.

Two writers talk about when they get it wrong—and what it means for the art of criticism.

A new collection of far-sighted essays dissects the pathologies of the present moment.

July 5, 1922

Why it's worth ranting against Rachel Shteir's Chicago essay

Honoré de Balzac and an assessment of the importance of realism in French literature

It is simply a desire for self-expression, a thirst to function more broadly and brilliantly than the general, obscure in origin but irresistible in force.