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2007 New-Yorker

Loustal
Loustal in The New Yorker

December 03, 2007
Books
Nan, American Man
BOOKS review of Ha Jin’s “A Free Life.” A critic cannot but be impressed by the courage and intellect of the Chinese-American writer Ha Jin. Born in 1956, he volunteered for the People’s Liberation Army (P.L.A.) at the age of fourteen and served five and a half years. After…
by John Updike



November 26, 2007
Jazz
Back to Bossa
JAZZ about Bossa Nova singer Rosa Passos. Writer gives a brief history of Bossa Nova music, which celebrates its fiftieth anniversary next year, noting the distinction between the watered-down, easy-listening version that was imported to the United States and epitomized by Astrud Gilberto’s “The Girl from Ipanema,” and…
by Gary Giddins

July 23, 2007
Books
There She Blew
BOOKS review of “Leviathan” (Norton; $27.95) by Eric Jay Dolin. Writer considers what the modern equivalent of whaling might be: the oil industry, fire fighting, or the armed forces. None seem perfectly analogous. There is no shortage of whaling histories for a Melville aficionado to turn to. In the…
by Caleb Crain

April 09, 2007
Critic’s Notebook
Strauss in Space
CRITIC’S NOTEBOOK about Strauss’s “Die Agyptische Helena” at the Met…
by Alex Ross

February 05, 2007
Musical Events
Toward Silence
MUSICAL EVENTS about Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu… Tells about Takemitsu hearing Lucienne Boyer’s “Parlez-Moi d’Amour” while stationed, at the age of fourteen, in a mountain fortress near Tokyo during the Second World War. Ever after, he honored the moment as the birth of his musical consciousness. Takemitsu died in…
by Alex Ross

January 15, 2007
Books
Bombay Noir
BOOKS review of Vikram Chandra’s “Sacred Games.” In Vikram Chandra’s new novel “Sacred Games” (HarperCollins; $27.95), Ganesh Gaitonde, a kind of Bombay Al Capone, expresses contempt for the English-speaking classes. Describing the exploits of Gaitonde and his determined pursuer, Sartaj Singh, a Bombay cop, Chandra’s intensely ambitious 900…
by Pankaj Mishra

January 08, 2007
Books
Nights At the Opera
BOOKS about librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte… Da Ponte wrote the librettos for “The Marriage of Figaro,” “Don Giovanni,” and “Cosi Fan Tutte.” But Da Ponte's contribution to Mozart's operas has often been put down to mere cleverness. This trend may be changing. Mentions several recent books about Da Ponte, including…
by Joan Acocella


 


 

December 03, 2007
Books
Nan, American Man
BOOKS review of Ha Jin’s “A Free Life.” A critic cannot but be impressed by the courage and intellect of the Chinese-American writer Ha Jin. Born in 1956, he volunteered for the People’s Liberation Army (P.L.A.) at the age of fourteen and served five and a half years. After…
by John Updike

 


 

November 26, 2007
Jazz
Back to Bossa
JAZZ about Bossa Nova singer Rosa Passos. Writer gives a brief history of Bossa Nova music, which celebrates its fiftieth anniversary next year, noting the distinction between the watered-down, easy-listening version that was imported to the United States and epitomized by Astrud Gilberto’s “The Girl from Ipanema,” and…
by Gary Giddins

January 08, 2007
Books
Nights At the Opera
BOOKS about librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte… Da Ponte wrote the librettos for “The Marriage of Figaro,” “Don Giovanni,” and “Cosi Fan Tutte.” But Da Ponte's contribution to Mozart's operas has often been put down to mere cleverness. This trend may be changing. Mentions several recent books about Da Ponte, including…
by Joan Acocella

 

July 23, 2007
Books
There She Blew
BOOKS review of “Leviathan” (Norton; $27.95) by Eric Jay Dolin. Writer considers what the modern equivalent of whaling might be: the oil industry, fire fighting, or the armed forces. None seem perfectly analogous. There is no shortage of whaling histories for a Melville aficionado to turn to. In the…
by Caleb Crain

April 09, 2007
Critic’s Notebook
Strauss in Space
CRITIC’S NOTEBOOK about Strauss’s “Die Agyptische Helena” at the Met…
by Alex Ross

 

February 05, 2007
Musical Events
Toward Silence
MUSICAL EVENTS about Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu… Tells about Takemitsu hearing Lucienne Boyer’s “Parlez-Moi d’Amour” while stationed, at the age of fourteen, in a mountain fortress near Tokyo during the Second World War. Ever after, he honored the moment as the birth of his musical consciousness. Takemitsu died in…
by Alex Ross

 

January 15, 2007
Books
Bombay Noir
BOOKS review of Vikram Chandra’s “Sacred Games.” In Vikram Chandra’s new novel “Sacred Games” (HarperCollins; $27.95), Ganesh Gaitonde, a kind of Bombay Al Capone, expresses contempt for the English-speaking classes. Describing the exploits of Gaitonde and his determined pursuer, Sartaj Singh, a Bombay cop, Chandra’s intensely ambitious 900…
by Pankaj Mishra