Vuvuzela Time

"Often the people who turn most passionately to data and reason are those who feel most overwhelmed and controlled by irrational impulses." New fiction by Rivka Galchen over at The New Yorker! Pair with our review of her most recent book, Little Labors.

Wallace Shawn has written a new play, and it's unsettling to watch. In it, a group of wealthy, middle-aged party hosts reveal their roles in a dystopian future, where political murders, random beatings and censorship are all commonplace. In an essay for The New York Review of Books, Francine Prose reviews the play in the context of Shawn's other works.

Sick of Delta delays? Take one of Mallory Ortberg's literary airlines listed in her humor post at The Toast. “Thanks for flying Jane Air. Are you escaping for business or for pleasure? Will you be stowing any wives today?”