The Rise of CliffsNotes Cinema
Oversimplified literary remakes miss the point of the works they are adapting.
Culture
Why Justin Bieber Played YouTube Onstage for Thousands of People
The pop star transformed the normal act of browsing your laptop into something interesting—and unsettling.
The New Age of Performance Anxiety
With the rise of screen culture, all the world has stage fright.
Where Did ‘Let Them’ Come From?
Years before Mel Robbins published her best-selling self-help book, a struggling writer posted a poem with a similar message.
Who Needs Intimacy?
Influential novelists are imagining what women’s lives might look like without the demands of partners and children.
A New Force of Indian Country
In 1969, my father gave voice to an activist generation of Native Americans.
Dear James: Make the Whistling Stop
My husband’s ceaseless noises are driving me mad.
Why We’re Still Talking About the ‘Trauma Plot’
People will always experience terrible things, and many will want to write about them.
What to Make of Miracles
In a new book, Elaine Pagels searches for the narrative origins of Jesus’s most wondrous acts.
How Leonard Bernstein Changed the Canon
In 1966, the conductor arrived in Vienna with a mission: to restore Gustav Mahler’s place in 20th-century music.
The Cost of Perfection
Modern women were told they could become stars by turning the camera onto their home life. But at what price?
When I’m 84
The world still needs Ringo Starr.
SNL Has Entered the Chat
In last night’s cold open, the show brought a new twist to an old satirical tradition.
Hinge
A poem