Modernism
Story Stream
Canons Win Culture Wars April 08, 2025
Civilization is a product of canons. The Bible is a canon, and while the Iliad and Odyssey were not quite sacred scripture to the ancient Greeks, the Homeric epics went a long way toward establishing what it meant for a man or a city to be part of th...
Herald of Modernism April 08, 2025
In any age, the significant individuals tend to be those who invent or seize upon a new means, a new medium, a new method, a fresh voice or device, and embody or exercise or exploit it to the fullest. Those favored few become emblematic of their time...
The Launch of the Torpedo Bat April 08, 2025
The New York Yankees have always liked size: big stars, big contracts, big games, big bodies. A short porch in right field, sure—but all the better for hitting big bombs. So perhaps it’s not surprising that, in 2023, when Aaron Leanhardt, who was, at...
Dana Gioia, Enchanter-Poet April 04, 2025
The poet and critic cannot afford to be patient and yet must be patient anyway. The actual writing will come at the caprice of occasion, fortune, and deadline, and yet it must unfold as if it had all been conceived whole from the beginning. Such is t...
The Rules and the Game April 01, 2025
Of all the signs of spring, none is as exciting and as American as baseball’s Opening Day.Yet recently, each new season has come with fresh complaints about the sport. It’s definitely not dying as some argue. But neither is its popularity rising. Man...
Feminist Polemic Now! April 01, 2025
Where have all the female edgelords gone? The modern-day equivalent to Andrea Dworkin can no longer be found in the pages of an obscure women’s journal or the paper of record. The manifesto has moved online. No need to write a whole book on the topic...
The Fall and Rise of Communism April 01, 2025
Discussing totalitarianism today, as well as yesterday, with historian Sean McMeekin....
