Arts & Letters
A selection of recent articles on this topic
Escaping the Narcisphere
The Selfishness of Others: An Essay on the Fear of Narcissism Kristin DombekFarrar, Straus and Giroux, 160…
Aristotle and the Elections
Elections can make you wonder about where you live. It can be frightening to share so little…
The Gospel According to Jack Chick
Jack Chick passed away last week. If the name sounds obscure, would it help if I mentioned…
Suzuki Method Uberparenting
My oldest child started piano lessons back in the nineties, due to somewhat base parental motives. A…
A Flurry of Owls
Once again a child asks me suddenly What is a poem?,And once again I find myself riffing…
On Reading Old Books
Are the classics outdated? Some think so. “There’s nothing new, no sense of exploration or departure from…
Celibacy, Self-Acceptance, And the Extra Inkling
I’ve just finished Charles Williams’s 1937 novel Descent into Hell, which was recommended to me by a…
Hans Friedrich Grohs: From Bereavement to Benediction
Hans Friedrich Grohs (1892-1981) was an accomplished artist who belonged to the second generation of German Expressionist…
Speaking from the Peripheries
The September issue of Harper’s features a thoughtful essay by Alan Jacobs, “The Watchmen: What Became of…
Love Is Barefoot Philosophy
Plato’s Bedroom: Ancient Wisdom and Modern Loveby david k. o’connorst. augustine’s press, 301 pages, $28.00 In December…
Where Her Whimsy Took Me
I left college with a bachelors and a long and growing reading list, with works by authors…
Cryogenic Monks
Christianity’s waning influence in the West has not reduced our desire for apocalypse. We still look to…
Into the Fire
Every love counts, the puppy you were givenAt six, the tadpoles that you tried to raise;Even your…
Street Piano
The movers get it out—a Steinway grand,half-rolled, half-carried to the street. A crowd,molecular, implicit, is at handalready.…
A (Scholastic) Sonnet from the Portuguese
Now largely forgotten outside the Portuguese-speaking world, Luis Vaz de Camoens (1524-1580) was revered by many luminaries…
