John Duff, Timeline. 95 x 53 x 33 in. Photo by Sally Ross.

What does a work of art mean? The question seems particularly challenging for a painting or sculpture lacking a suggestive representational anchor. It is one thing to posit, correctly or not, that “the Mona Lisa’s meaning ... Read More »

Víctor Durán, Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, 2011. 24 x 36 in. Copyright © 2018 Víctor Durán.

Civilization judges a work of art not by the quantity of its transportable propositions but by the glow of its ineffable illuminations. The skilled audience, for its part, champions an artifact less ... Read More »

Picture a charming restaurant in the Paris of 1965 where a young writer named Robert J. Seidman is waxing enthusiastic about a novel he’s just read. “Isn’t Ulysses great?” he enthuses to his companion, a considerably older gentleman of Irish extraction. “I think it may be the best novel I’ve ... Read More »

So you’ve completed your brilliant dissertation—or a good portion of it. How do you turn your hard work into a published book? It’s a question common among doctoral candidates—especially those seeking tenure, for which book publication is de rigueur.

In an attempt to ease the transition from scholar to manuscript peddler, ... Read More »

The Association of Literary Scholars, Critics and Writers (alscw.org) held its 20th annual conference at Indiana University, Bloomington, April 3-6. Dedicated to the advancement of quality literary criticism, the ALSCW encourages the reading, writing, and discussion of great books. Among the conference’s sessions were “Reading Literature and Learning to Write” ... Read More »