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PRICE $8.99 MAY 1, 2017 MAY 1, 2017 4 GOINGS ON ABOUT TOWN 17 THE TALK OF THE TOWN David Remnick on the first hundred days of Donald Trump. LIFE AND LETTERS Ariel Levy 22 A Long Homecoming Elizabeth Strout’s small-town novels. SHOUTS & MURMURS Calvin Trillin 27 The Irish Constellation LETTER FROM COLOMBIA Jon Lee Anderson 28 Out of the Jungle Former guerrillas try adapting to peace. THE POLITICAL SCENE Connie Bruck 34 A Hollywood Story What, exactly, did Steve Bannon do in the movie industry? PROFILES Joshua Rothman 46 The Seeker A Christian concedes the culture wars. SHOWCASE Pari Dukovic 52 Rei Kawakubo at the Costume Institute. FICTION David Means 56 “Two Ruminations on a Homeless Brother” THE CRITICS THE THEATRE Hilton Als 60 Bette Midler in “Hello, Dolly!” BOOKS Louis Menand 63 Rereading Norman Podhoretz’s “Making It.” 69 Briefly Noted A CRITIC AT LARGE Anthony Lane 70 The films of Jean-Pierre Melville. POP MUSIC Hua Hsu 74 Kendrick Lamar’s “DAMN.” ON TELEVISION Emily Nussbaum 76 “American Crime.” MUSICAL EVENTS Alex Ross 78 Icelandic music in Los Angeles. POEMS Dan Chiasson 38 “From ‘The Names of 1,001 Strangers’ ” Anne Carson 50 “Saturday Night as an Adult” COVER Mark Ulriksen “Strike Zone” DRAWINGS Danny Shanahan, Shannon Wheeler, John Klossner, Jason Adam Katzenstein, Drew Dernavich, Bruce Eric Kaplan, Trevor Spaulding, Will McPhail, William Haefeli, Roz Chast, Harry Bliss, David Sipress, Corey Pandolph, Amy Hwang SPOTS Miguel Porlan CONTRIBUTORS Connie Bruck (“A Hollywood Story,” Jon Lee Anderson (“Out of the Jungle,” p. 34) has been a staff writer since 1989. p. 28), a staff writer, began contribut- She is the author of three books, among ing to The New Yorker in 1998. them “The Predators’ Ball.” Joshua Rothman (“The Seeker,” p. 46) Hilton Als (The Theatre, p. 60), The New has been the magazine’s archive edi- Yorker’s theatre critic, won the 2017 Pu- tor since 2012, and is a frequent con- litzer Prize for criticism. He is an asso- tributor to newyorker.com. ciate professor at Columbia University. Ariel Levy (“A Long Homecoming,” Louis Menand (Books, p. 63) has been a p. 22), a staff writer, is the author of staff writer since 2001. Last year, he the memoir “The Rules Do Not Apply,” was awarded the National Humanities which was published in March and is Medal by President Obama. based on her New Yorker essay “Thanks- giving in Mongolia.” Anne Carson (Poem, p. 50) is the au- thor of several books of poetry, includ- David Means (Fiction, p. 56) has written ing “Float,” which was published last several books, including “The Spot,” a October. short-story collection, and the novel “Hystopia,” which came out last year. Mark Ulriksen (Cover), an artist and il- lustrator, has contributed fifty-five cov- Pari Dukovic (Showcase, p. 52) is the ers to the magazine since 1994. magazine’s staff photographer. Hua Hsu (Pop Music, p. 74), a contrib- Anthony Lane (A Critic at Large, p. 70), uting writer for the magazine since a film critic for The New Yorker since 2015, is the author of “A Floating Chi- 1993, is the author of “Nobody’s Per- naman: Fantasy and Failure Across the fect,” a collection of his writings for Pacific.” the magazine. NEWYORKER.COM Everything in the magazine, and more. DAILY SHOUTS PODCAST In this comic by Gabrielle Bell, a Rebecca Solnit joins Dorothy woman faced with a very smart Wickenden in a discussion on the mouse calls 1-800-CATS. politics of sexual harassment. SUBSCRIBERS: Get access to our magazine app for tablets and smartphones at the App Store, Amazon.com, or Google Play. (Access varies by location and device.) BELL GABRIELLE BY ILLUSTRATION 2 THE NEW YORKER, MAY 1, 2017 THE MAIL RUNNING THE COURT liant political satire. Nussbaum critiques him for abandoning the kind of sharp Jeffrey Toobin does well to expose the questioning that distinguished “The Col- enormous influence of Leonard Leo and bert Report,” and she cites as proof his the Federalist Society, a conservative or- softball interview with Susan Sarandon ganization that has infiltrated many lev- about politics. But Sarandon is an actor, els of the U.S. judicial system (“Full-Court and her political opinions don’t merit the Press,” April 17th). Toobin says that Leo, serious cross-examination that Nussbaum who has been the executive vice- president demands. At a time when buffoonery of the society for many years, in effect rules the White House, I find it a relief chose three of the nine current Supreme to watch Colbert turn the day’s disasters Court Justices. This is alarming, partic- into hilarious jabs, providing me with a ularly because Leo and the society are little joy before I go to bed. committed to an “originalist” interpreta- Jamie K. Sims tion of the Constitution, which is any- 1Richmond, Va. thing but what the Framers had in mind. ( Justice Antonin Scalia called himself an POPULAR WARMONGERING originalist, as does his admirer and re- placement, Neil Gorsuch.) As Toobin In Steve Coll’s piece on Trump’s choice explains it, originalists believe that the to send fifty-nine missiles into Syria, he government “can’t do anything unless it’s mentions the role that Trump’s “contin- specifically authorized in the Constitu- ual search for approval” plays in his un- tion.” If that’s so, the originalists of the predictable decision-making (Comment, Federalist Society are frauds. Where does April 17th). It seems highly plausible that the Constitution specifically authorize Trump launched the missiles because he the treatment of corporations (which the wanted to raise his low approval ratings, Framers distrusted) as people—or of and to assert that he is not in Putin’s money as speech? Where does it specifi- pocket. Shortly after the attack, his son cally authorize judicial review of execu- Eric, in an interview with the Telegraph, tive and legislative actions? Where does claimed that the action disproved the the Constitution give the President the “ridiculous” stories involving Russia and right to start wars? Where does the Fif- his father’s Administration. If Trump’s teenth Amendment, intended to protect real motivation had been a sense of com- the voting rights of African-Americans, passion for the Syrian people, as he has allow for racist voter suppression? The claimed, he would not have been op- originalists don’t really give a hoot about posed to Obama’s taking action after what the Framers wanted. Rather, they Assad used chemical weapons in 2013, are using the Framers as cover for their harming even more people. Trump’s ap- right-wing policies. It’s disappointing proval ratings did increase following the that this piece didn’t do more to expose attack, and, as Coll notes, he was ap- their hypocrisy. plauded by people and by governments Roger Carasso around the world. It remains to be seen 1Santa Fe, N.M. what lesson Trump takes from this, but his insatiable need for approval gives us CONDEMNING COLBERT reason to be concerned. Eugene Golden It would be just as preposterous for me Los Angeles, Calif. to chastise Emily Nussbaum for not writ- ing her columns in the style of Dr. Seuss • as it is for her to criticize Stephen Col- Letters should be sent with the writer’s name, bert for not being an investigative jour- address, and daytime phone number via e-mail to [email protected]. Letters may be edited nalist on “The Late Show” (On Televi- for length and clarity, and may be published in sion, April 17th). Colbert is an entertainer any medium. We regret that owing to the volume first and foremost—one who does bril- of correspondence we cannot reply to every letter. THE NEW YORKER, MAY 1, 2017 3 APRIL 26 – MAY 2, 2017 GOINGS ON ABOUT TOWN Sophie Calle wants you to carry your secrets to the grave—to the Green-Wood Cemetery, to be precise. For the next quarter century, the French artist and Creative Time invite you to jot down confessions, seal them in envelopes, and insert them into an obelisk (pictured) at a grave site in the Brooklyn landmark. (When the plot becomes full, Calle will cremate the remains and begin again.) On April 29 and 30, from noon to 5 p.m., the artist will transcribe select participants’ secrets, on a first-come, first-served basis. PHOTOGRAPH BY PARI DUKOVIC Natalie Dessay The French soprano’s blazing theatrics and aston- ishing coloratura facility have made her one of the CLASSICAL MUSIC biggest names in opera during the past twenty 1 years, so it should come as little surprise that her Carnegie Hall recital strikes such an individual OPERA a work for violin, viola, and six voices that leaves profile. The program offers operatic arias by Mo- matters of content and narrative entirely to the per- zart and Gounod; songs by Schubert, Pfitzner, formers. The edgy and imaginative young director Chausson, and Debussy; and two Debussy pre- Metropolitan Opera R. B. Schlather mounts it at the stylish Williams- ludes performed by Dessay’s accompanist, With its surging orchestral colors and brief flights burg music space with an impressive group that Philippe Cassard. April 26 at 8. (212-247-7800.) of melody, Franco Alfano’s “Cyrano de Bergerac” includes the ensemble Choral Chameleon, the vi- is a fluent example of Italian opera after Puccini, olist William Frampton, and the Brooklyn Rider Miller Theatre “Composer Portrait”: but it really owes its twenty-first-century revival to violinist Johnny Gandelsman (who will also per- Klas Torstensson a few star tenors who have been unable to resist the form Glass’s Partita for Solo Violin).