Spark of Genius
Muriel Spark, one of the most admired British novelists of the 20th century, led a mystically charged life that uncannily melded fact and fiction
Runner-up
The 107 Days that shook Kamala Harris
Mrs. Dalloway at 100
A century on, Virginia Woolf’s breakthrough novel remains modern
Still More Mitford-Mania
Mimi Pond has written and illustrated a graphic novel about her own lifelong fascination with the infamous sisters
A Lighter Shade of Darren Aronofsky
His movies—Black Swan, The Wrestler, Requiem for a Dream—are notoriously heavy. But the director’s latest, Caught Stealing, is a romp around the East Village of the 1990s
Darling, Death Becomes You!
On this week’s podcast, a look at how funerals have become a scene for the new social climbing
Renaissance Woman
In Milan, Italy’s first-ever Leonora Carrington show traces the influence of the country’s old masters on the British-Mexican Surrealist
The Bard of Britain
At 77, Ian McEwan hopes to be remembered for more than Atonement
The Unlikely Rise and Inevitable Fall of Vice
Once hailed as the “Millennial CNN,” Vice rode hipster shock journalism to a $5.7 billion valuation—before hubris, big business, and the fleeting currency of cool brought it all crashing down
Where Homer Simpson Meets Osama bin Laden
Lock Books stocks and publishes the world’s strangest collection of ephemera—from masks used by bank robbers to 9/11-themed video games
Emily Adams Bode Aujla’s Guide to New York
The fashion designer shares her go-to spots in her adopted city
The Pride and Prejudice That Almost Was
Duets on horseback, Philadelphia nightlife … Inside an unmade Hollywood-musical version of the Austen classic, starring Judy Garland and Peter Lawford
Kathryn Bigelow Goes Nuclear
The Oscar-winning director is back in her happy place with the nail-biting, anxiety-inducing, apocalyptic political thriller A House of Dynamite
Four Boys. One Fed-Up Country
Now in its 27th season—an animated-series endurance record topped only by The Simpsons—South Park is a tonic for our Trump-ified times
That Time When Prince Andrew Went Full Curb Your Enthusiasm
On this week’s podcast, Susie Essman recounts her very strange conversation with Jeffrey Epstein’s royal pal
Close Encounters
In London, the contemporary artist Mona Hatoum honors Alberto Giacometti with an exhibition exploring their mutual fascination with the psychological effects of violence
The Bard of New England
Screenwriter Ben Shattuck’s old-school Massachusetts hometown inspired a new period romance starring Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor
Madness! Mayhem! Megalopolis!
A new documentary about the filming of Francis Ford Coppola’s $120 million fiasco reveals an aloof Adam Driver, an enraged Shia LaBeouf—and a chaos-loving Coppola
