Literature
Seduction Unending
Conquests
THE QUESTIONS RAISED by The Golden Mean will be familiar to readers of The New Republic and The Book. What is the relationship of intellectuals to politicians? More broadly, the book asks the old Faustian questions: what is it in the human psyche that drives us to want more power, more territory, more knowledge, or just more? And can we maintain sharp distinctions between exploration and domination? READ MORE >>
<i>La Même Chose</i>
The Deepest Resource
Reckless
Glitterings
The Great Wall of Russia
The Virtuoso of Pastiche
The Court of Literature
THE LAW PLAYS an unacknowledged role in much of Shakespeare’s work. Trials—real trials, quasi-trials, mock trials—recur. In many plays, characters refer to contemporary laws and legal institutions; and the plays raise larger questions about justice and the workings of the law. Lawyers, then, can help to illuminate Shakespeare’s plays, and many have done so by explaining the early modern legal background and Shakespeare’s exploitation of persistent legal puzzles for dramatic purposes. READ MORE >>
