It was with some surprise that I learned of Emily Gould's ad hominem attack on me at nplusonemag.com ("Bad Romance," November 30).

Her vitriol against my new book, A Vindication of Love: Reclaiming Romance for the 21st Century, seems based, overwhelmingly and inexplicably, on her reading of its Acknowledgments section.

To the Editors:

Brian Gallagher's Shepard Fairey piece is timely and relevant. When Fairey was arrested in Boston the other day, the first reaction of some people I talked with about it was that his arrest was a stunt Fairey somehow engineered to generate publicity for his career-retrospective show at the ICA in that art-unfriendly city. It wasn't, but thinking that shows how people don't trust Fairey's motives.

Certainly his arrest adds to his credibility as a street artist engaged in a radical art practice, as does the countersuit Fairey has filed against the Associated Press regarding his Obama "HOPE" poster. The issues of fair use and bogus claims of copyright infringement are important ones we should confront. Gallagher points out that so much of Fairey's work owes its inspiration to the work of the Russian constructivists and to images of various political figures seen in propaganda posters. But there is a more basic source for Fairey's art, at once more obvious and more hidden: John Carpenter's 1988 sci-fi movie They Live. Read More

To the Editors:

In "Reality Publishing," [N1BR, January 13, 2009], an article recently posted on the online version of n+1, Darryl Lorenzo Wellington suggests that there is a partnership between the National Book Critics Circle and the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. No such partnership exists. It is true that a former president of the organization, John Freeman, was involved in the contest (as a judge), as is at least one present board member. Other NBCC members may have signed on to help with the culling process. But these are private, remunerated affiliations—the organization has no connection with Amazon's contest.

Jane Ciabattari
President
the National Book Critics Circle

The Board of Directors
the National Book Critics Circle

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Darryl Lorenzo Wellington replies:

At the time of the contest's inception, John Freeman was president of the National Book Critics Circle. He was more than simply a contest judge. He was an Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award spokesperson. He promoted the contest enthusiastically and his name appeared on innumerable promotionals, always accompanied by a reference to his National Book Critics Circle affiliation. The National Books Critics Circle also assisted in soliciting reviewers for the ABNA contest (as I stated in my article) via a list serve message which I assumed was approved by the NBCC executive board. I completely accept Ms. Ciabattari's assertion that no official relationship existed between the National Book Critics Circle and the contest. I note however that Mr. Freeman's enthusiastic participation tended to blur the distinction in the minds of the general public. My point wasn't that the contest had necessarily been endorsed by the National Book Critics Circle—only that the National Book Critics Circle's name appeared so often that from the perspective of potential contestants there was sufficient reason to feel that was the case.

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A Letter to My Mother

Dear Mom:

I'm writing this letter at the counter of a coffee shop on 168^th Street. I'm in between interviews for an article I'm writing. It's been a good day so far, relatively. I've been able to work as a reporter, to speak to people who know interesting things, to ply my trade, such as it is. Today, at least, I'm not forced to do the menial work I often do in order to sustain myself financially—and, by extension, to sustain your new grandchild: my daughter.

December 13, 2006

Bruce Robbins replies to Walter Benn Michaels [see Michaels's letter below]:

The legacy of racism, Walter Benn Michaels concedes, has produced disproportionate poverty among blacks in America. But doing something to compensate for that legacy would do nothing whatsoever to aid the struggle for economic equality. "We'd just have more poor whites and Asians."

Dear Editors,

The polemic Jonathan Liu sets up in "A Sporting Chance," progress vs. stasis, is a phony one. Development doesn't inherently (as is implied) represent some kind of evolution, and Lethem is hardly proposing stagnation. What's more, Frank Gehry is only "beyond reproach" if one chooses to ignore the many individuals (Paul Goldberger) and organizations (The Municipal Art Society) who have come out against the Atlantic Yards project in its current state.

Best,

Jon Bonanno Read More

Subj: politics 1
Date: 10/17/2004 6:21:22 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: rothcomar@gmail.com
To: editors@nplusonemag.com
Sent from the Internet (Details)

Dear eds,

To parody an ad for John Kerry, there are many reasons to be pessimistic about the future of America, and one of them is that election day is coming and the Republicans still have a chance to win. In a sane world, this race would not even be close. What is it like to live in the days before a disaster? History provides examples, but none are just right. What was it like to be a Roman citizen hanging out at the garum shop when Caligula purged the Senate? Was that you strolling with careful elegance in Unter den Linden mocking the Bavarian brownshirts? Or you, writing poems when the one-eyed General crossed from Morocco? Or waiting for your husband to come home from the Santiago factories in 1972? People are even starting to come up with names for what we're living through, names like Sheldon Wolin's "inverted totalitarianism," but these still rely on European models. The coming disaster will be all-American, red, white, and blue, and be ours alone. History gives us our unique lives and our unique chance to screw up. Read More

Darlings,

I do appreciate your mention of the Billionaires for Bush. I am reminded so often of the fine work our people in the media do; it is always such a pleasure to see the chatty classes discuss the natty classes. I have told my assistant to clip your charming article for my scrapbook, and unless she wants to join the ill-dressed droves on the unemployment line it will soon be done. Read More