In The Age of The Crisis of Man, a new book by n + 1 co-founder and editor Mark Greif, the author examines the life and death of the concept of “man,” aka a unified humankind that could be said to suffer from particular conflicts. It was born in the thirties, with the rise of Fascism, but persisted for decades, eventually giving way to a more diversified view of humanity. In Tablet, Adam Kirsch dives into Greif’s arguments.
The Fall of “Man”
On Leading the Tiger
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Zone One Excerpt
As stated on his website, you can now read the first section of Colson Whitehead's forthcoming Zone One. (Scribd). The book will release this October, and it was tapped in our "Great Second Half of 2011 Book Preview."
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Pynchon Defends McEwan
Around the World with Books
Bibliophiles will rejoice at The New York Times's current travel section, which is entirely book-dedicated. The staff lead with "Temples for the Literary Pilgrim," which profiles jaw-dropping bookstores, cafés, and restaurants around the world; Ann Patchett provides a U.S. based bookstore pilgrimage; seven writers, including Geraldine Brooks and Ta-Nehisi Coates, reflect on their personal favorites; and Jennifer Moses writes about traveling as a bookworm. Might we also recommend this literary travelogue by Kate McCahill from our archives?
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Graffiti Street
"'Tuya' means 'graffiti' in Chinese—the name is recent—and this street, three-quarters of a mile long, may be the longest stretch of public art in the world. It’s also a government-sanctioned 'art district,' centered around the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, which was established in 1940...I noticed that every artist I spoke to referred to 2005 as the year everything changed. 2005 was the year the government became interested in art." Art in Chongqing.
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