The Arts Fuse Newsletter, February 7
From The Editor's Desk:
A recent Yale Review article by veteran rock commentator Greil Marcus about why criticism of the arts is valuable reminded me that reviewing has been (and should be) much more than consumer guide advice. For Marcus, “art produces revelations that you might be unable to explain or pass on to anyone else, but revelations that, if you are a writer, you might try desperately to share, in your own words, in your own work.” Critics, through the language of judgement, articulate art’s quicksilver epiphanies.
And that suggests critics are inevitably cultural disruptors because art’s revelations are not about reinforcing comfortable views of the world. According to Marcus, “what art does, maybe what art does most completely, is to tell us, make us feel, that what we think we know we don’t. That’s what it’s for — to show you that what you think can be erased, cancelled, turned on its head, by something you weren’t prepared for.” Critics tap into the power of the topsy-turvy — they verbalize how art disorders order.
—Bill Marx, Editor-in-Chief
February Short Fuses -- Materia Critica
Compiled by the Arts Fuse Editor
Each month, our arts critics fire off a few brief reviews. Among February’s entries: Bill Marx on a new translation of the 1920 play that coined the word “robot”; Ralph Locke on a song cycle based on Emily Dickinson’s life and that of her devoted friend, Civil War colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson; Peter Walsh on the stylish show Marion Anderson: Dressed for Success; and Paul Robicheau on catching Living Colour at a small New Hampshire club.
Film Review: “She is Conann” — A Sapphic Tragedy Through and For the Ages
By Nicole Veneto
Bertrand Mandico’s She is Conann left me buzzing, high on a euphoria of aesthetic excess that represents the true legacy of New Queer Cinema.
Book Review: Michael Glenn’s “Selected Stories” — Indelibly Messy Slices of Life
By Ed Meek
In his short stories, Michael Glenn has a physician’s eye for detail and a psychologist’s insight into the way we think and what motivates us.
Author Interview: Journalist David Montero on “The Stolen Wealth of Slavery”
Blake Maddux talks to journalist David Montero about his new book "The Stolen Wealth of Slavery." “In America, you did not have to enslave a Black person yourself to benefit immensely from the labor and the wealth that Black people created. The entire country did.”
Theater Review: “Stand Up If You’re Here Tonight” — You Have to be There to See for Yourself
By Martin Copenhaver
This is one of the more engaging pieces of theatre I have experienced in some time.
Film Reviews: Outstanding Sundance Docs – The Congo, Natural Beauty in Ukraine, and a New White House Siege
By David D’Arcy
At this year's Sundance Film Festival, in the midst of the usual well-meaning social documentaries and “independent” celebrity tributes, some real cinematic ambition crept in.
Book Review: “On the Isle of Antioch” — It is Believable? Does it Matter?
By David Mehegan
Our critic has reservations about Amin Maalouf's warning-about-a-world-headed-for-ruin parable. If this is a fable, is there a moral?
Book Review: “Dom Casmurro” — A Dark and Delicious Postmodern Enigma
By Matt Hanson
Machado de Assis’s brilliant novel is not only out to subvert narrative expectations, but to undercut the act of reading itself.
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Editor-in-Chief
Bill Marx
wmarx103@gmail.com
