The Magazine

April 11, 2016

Reporting

Profiles
Performance Art that Doesn’t Bore
Ragnar Kjartansson’s work combines Nordic gloom and non-ironic humor, which has made him one of the busiest artists on the planet.
By Calvin Tomkins
Letter from Europe
Alone in the Alps
Hiking a high-altitude trail that connects eight countries.
By James Lasdun
American Chronicles
The Voyeur’s Motel
Fifty years ago, Gerald Foos bought a motel and rigged it up in order to watch his guests having sex. He saw a lot more than that.
By Gay Talese
A Reporter at Large
Mother for Hire
Emma moved from the Philippines to New York to work as a nanny for other people’s children—and hasn’t seen her own in sixteen years.
By Rachel Aviv

More Reporting

Shouts & Murmurs

Shouts & Murmurs
Fleeing, Hypothetically
Shouts & Murmurs: “If I seem less dispirited than most of you here tonight, it’s because I already have a house in Canada.”
By Calvin Trillin

More Shouts & Murmurs

Fiction

Fiction
“The Burglar”
Fiction: “What sorts of crimes are committed by an unjustly incarcerated man who’s travelled through a rift in the space-time continuum?”
By Sarah Shun-lien Bynum

More Fiction

The Critics

The Current Cinema
Richard Linklater’s Eighties Idyll
“Everybody Wants Some!!,” set in the last days before college, glances at a golden age.
By Anthony Lane
Books
Briefly Noted Book Reviews
“At the Existentialist Café,” “American Girls,” “And After Many Days,” and “Winter.”
Books
Mrs. Knopf, Invisible Tastemaker
She is only now getting the credit she deserves for the success of the publishing company that bears her husband’s name.
By Charles McGrath
A Critic at Large
The Terrifying Beauty of Mallarmé
With his poetry, he planted a flag at an outer extreme of artistic possibility.
By Alex Ross
On Television
The History of Sex
“Outlander” and “The Americans” are smart wartime TV dramas in which the erotic is at the center of the intrigue.
By Emily Nussbaum

More Criticism

The Talk of the Town

Comment
Global Trump
By Steve Coll
Word of the Day
Examining the Vocabulary of the Presidential Race
In an election where pundits and pollsters are unreliable, dictionary.com offers unexpected insights.
By Charles Bethea
Old Friends Dept.
“Schitt’s Creek” Takes New York
The onscreen couple Catherine O’Hara and Eugene Levy visit the “Tonight Show” and the 92nd Street Y to talk about their sitcom.
By Sarah Larson
Up Life’s Ladder
American Fencing’s Best Shot at Gold
Daryl Homer faces off against friends to prepare for this summer’s Olympics, in Rio de Janeiro.
By Andrew Marantz
The Boards
Anne Washburn’s Texan Reunion
The playwright recalls the creation of her play “Antlia Pneumatica,” over barbecue.
By Emma Allen

More Talk of the Town

Goings On About Town

Classical Music
Miller Theatre "Composer Portrait": Hannah Lash
Hannah Lash’s work is a simultaneous embrace of Romantic yearning and postminimalist stasis that yields unexpected pleasures.
Art
Edgar Degas: A Strange New Beauty
The Museum of Modern Art’s first show of the artist’s work traces the evolution of his style and follows his somewhat creepy gaze.
By Peter Schjeldahl
Classical Music
Modern Microcosm: Alberto Ginastera Centennial
In honor of the centenary of the modernist Alberto Ginastera, the composer’s dazzlingly colorful music is getting some overdue attention.
By Alex Ross
Bar Tab
The Up & Up, in the Village
This neighborhood watering hole is like a dive that got a makeover, but its name is unequivocally true.
By Jiayang Fan
Tables for Two
David Chang Flirts with Italian
Momofuku Nishi stays in lockstep with the rest of the chef’s restaurants while offering a new twist.
By Silvia Killingsworth

More Goings On About Town

Poems

Poems
“How to take off a sari”
Poetry: “He asks and I tell him our bodies falling from an open window / first, unfasten the pallu the fall should be swift and vacant.”
By Momina Mela
Poems
“Leaving the Continent”
Poetry: “Yelling. Getting up and leaving the table / angry. We never knew it was because of this beauty.”
By Molly Bashaw

More Poetry

Cartoons

The Mail

Letters should be sent with the writer's name, address, and daytime phone number, via e-mail, to themail@newyorker.com. Letters may be edited for length and clarity, and may be published in any medium. We regret that, owing to the volume of correspondence, we cannot reply to every letter.

Letters from our Readers

Reporting

Ragnar Kjartansson’s work combines Nordic gloom and non-ironic humor, which has made him one of the busiest artists on the planet.

Hiking a high-altitude trail that connects eight countries.

Fifty years ago, Gerald Foos bought a motel and rigged it up in order to watch his guests having sex. He saw a lot more than that.

Emma moved from the Philippines to New York to work as a nanny for other people’s children—and hasn’t seen her own in sixteen years.

Shouts & Murmurs

Shouts & Murmurs: “If I seem less dispirited than most of you here tonight, it’s because I already have a house in Canada.”

Fiction

Fiction: “What sorts of crimes are committed by an unjustly incarcerated man who’s travelled through a rift in the space-time continuum?”

The Critics

“Everybody Wants Some!!,” set in the last days before college, glances at a golden age.

“At the Existentialist Café,” “American Girls,” “And After Many Days,” and “Winter.”

She is only now getting the credit she deserves for the success of the publishing company that bears her husband’s name.

With his poetry, he planted a flag at an outer extreme of artistic possibility.

“Outlander” and “The Americans” are smart wartime TV dramas in which the erotic is at the center of the intrigue.

The Talk of the Town

In an election where pundits and pollsters are unreliable, dictionary.com offers unexpected insights.

The onscreen couple Catherine O’Hara and Eugene Levy visit the “Tonight Show” and the 92nd Street Y to talk about their sitcom.

Daryl Homer faces off against friends to prepare for this summer’s Olympics, in Rio de Janeiro.

The playwright recalls the creation of her play “Antlia Pneumatica,” over barbecue.

Goings On About Town

Hannah Lash’s work is a simultaneous embrace of Romantic yearning and postminimalist stasis that yields unexpected pleasures.

The Museum of Modern Art’s first show of the artist’s work traces the evolution of his style and follows his somewhat creepy gaze.

In honor of the centenary of the modernist Alberto Ginastera, the composer’s dazzlingly colorful music is getting some overdue attention.

This neighborhood watering hole is like a dive that got a makeover, but its name is unequivocally true.

Momofuku Nishi stays in lockstep with the rest of the chef’s restaurants while offering a new twist.

Poems

Poetry: “He asks and I tell him our bodies falling from an open window / first, unfasten the pallu the fall should be swift and vacant.”

Poetry: “Yelling. Getting up and leaving the table / angry. We never knew it was because of this beauty.”

Cartoons

The Mail

Letters should be sent with the writer's name, address, and daytime phone number, via e-mail, to themail@newyorker.com. Letters may be edited for length and clarity, and may be published in any medium. We regret that, owing to the volume of correspondence, we cannot reply to every letter.