The New Yorker - September 26, 2022

92 Pages·2022·55.4 MB·English

PRICE $8.99 SEPT. 26, 2022

FALL STYLE & DESIGN
SEPTEMBER 26, 2022
9 GOINGS ON ABOUT TOWN
19 THE TALK OF THE TOWN
Dhruv Khullar on what our pandemic choices prioritize;
flowers masquerading as lichen; a Lou Reed discovery;
unionization at Medieval Times; Sunday in the park.
PERSONAL HISTORY
Boy
Bono 26
Growing up on Cedarwood Road.
ANNALS OF COMEDY
The Joker
Kelefa Sanneh 30
How Shane Gillis is coming back from cancellation.
SHOUTS & MURMURS
Confusing Batman Cameos
Jay Martel 37
THE WORLD OF FASHION
The Tastemaker
Molly Fischer 38
Laila Gohar’s edible installations.
ONWARD AND UPWARD WITH THE ARTS
An Uncertain Image
Sam Knight 48
Lucian Freud and the art-authentication game.
SKETCHBOOK
“Margie Discovers Barbiecore”
Roz Chast 58
FICTION
“Easter”
Caleb Crain 60
THE CRITICS
THE CURRENT CINEMA
Anthony Lane 68 “Don’t Worry Darling,” “Blonde.”
BOOKS
Louis Menand 71 What happened to Rudy Giuliani?
James Wood 76 Marlen Haushofer’s “The Wall.”
Claudia Roth Pierpont 79 A search for the soul of Naples.
Briefly Noted
81
ON TELEVISION
Doreen St. Félix 82 “American Gigolo.”
THE THEATRE
Vinson Cunningham 84 “Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski,”
“Marie It’s Time.”
POEMS
“Pit”
Cindy Frenkel 52
“Among the Trees”
John Freeman 65
COVER
“#fallstyle”
Victoria Tentler-Krylov
DRAWINGS Charlie Hankin, Frank Cotham, Sophie Lucido Johnson and Sammi Skolmoski,
Brooke Bourgeois, Lars Kenseth, Tom Toro, Liana Finck, Victoria Roberts SPOTS Luci Gutiérrez
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CONTRIBUTORS
Sam Knight (“An Uncertain Image,” Molly Fischer (The Talk of the Town,
p. 48), a staff writer based in London, p. 20; “The Tastemaker,” p. 38) became
recently published “The Premonitions a staff writer earlier this year.
Bureau: A True Account of Death
Foretold.” Bono (“Boy,” p. 26) is an artist, an ac-
tivist, and the lead singer of the rock
Cindy Frenkel (Poem, p. 52) is the au- band U2. His memoir, “Surrender: 40
thor of the poetry collection “The Songs, One Story,” is forthcoming in
Plague of the Tender-Hearted.” November.
Kelefa Sanneh (“The Joker,” p. 30) be- Caleb Crain (Fiction, p. 60) won the
came a staff writer in 2008. His first n+1 Anthony Veasna So Fiction Prize
book is “Major Labels: A History of this year. He is the author of “Neces-
Popular Music in Seven Genres.” sary Errors,” “American Sympathy,” and
“Overthrow.”
Victoria Tentler-Krylov (Cover) has
illustrated several children’s books. She John Freeman (Poem, p. 65) edits the
published “Building Zaha: The Story literary annual Freeman’s. His latest
THE WAY
of Architect Zaha Hadid” in 2020. book of poems, “Wind, Trees,” is due
out this fall.
NEW YORKERS James Wood (Books, p. 76), a staff writer
since 2007, teaches at Harvard. He is Roz Chast (Sketchbook, p. 58), a long-
CREATE the author of, most recently, “Serious time New Yorker cartoonist, published,
Noticing,” a collection of essays. with Patricia Marx, “You Can Only
Yell at Me for One Thing at a Time:
LEGACIES
Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell (Sketchpad, Rules for Couples.”
p. 23) is a cartoonist and a comedian.
Her graphic memoir, “Murder Book,” Hugo Yu (Photographs, pp. 38-46) is a
came out last year. photographer based in New York City.
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GREATER GOOD
stantial. But one wishes that the peo-
ple who lead this movement would turn
Gideon Lewis-Kraus’s article about their talents to efforts that have been
William MacAskill, one of the key fig- shown to raise people out of poverty,
ures in the effective-altruism (E.A.) improve quality of life, and foster a solid
movement, inspired me to learn more sense of public good. Instead, they seem
2 0 2 2 - 23
about E.A. (“Do Better,” August 15th). largely divorced from, and averse to, the
It’s hard not to admire these young peo- rough-and-tumble of politics. They ne-
ple and their desire to do good. Yet, the glect the ever-increasing need for new
more I read about E.A., the more I won- forms of democratic engagement that
dered why its proponents focus almost can, in turn, create institutions designed S E A S O N
exclusively on the developing world and to help all of us be more altruistic.
Rick Doner
the future, generally ignoring problems
Professor Emeritus of Political Science
closer to home. They don’t seem espe-
Emory University
cially concerned about the hundreds of DISCOVER NEW MUSIC
Atlanta, Ga.
thousands of unhoused people living in
NOT HEARD
American cities where the tech indus-
ANYWHERE ELSE
try has played a role in driving up the Lewis-Kraus’s piece reminded me of the
cost of housing—even though rich, tech- cynic’s version of the golden rule: “Those
adjacent people seem to dominate the with the gold make the rules.” Though
E.A. movement. They don’t appear to much of what E.A.s do is commend-
talk much about gun violence or income able, I think it is worth probing the fact
inequality. Is this because—as I expect that their philosophy prioritizes charity
E.A.s would argue—an insufficient over justice. E.A. groups continue in the
number of people are affected by these long tradition of philanthropic organi-
problems? Or are there other reasons, zations that operate in specific, contin-
such as the fact that they don’t seem gent structures, while ignoring or min-
solvable, or that E.A.s find it too un- imizing actions that might alter the
comfortable to confront issues in which structures themselves. We proudly give
they themselves might be implicated? alms to poor people, but we do nothing
I also wondered whether MacAs- to change the conditions that create and
kill would be able to give away all but maintain poverty. We donate to immi-
twenty-six thousand pounds of his in- grant support networks but refuse to
come if he lived in the U.S., where there tackle immigration reform. We forgive
is no social safety net to speak of. Here, student loans but ignore the design of
limiting yourself to a small income can student debt. MacAskill and his ilk would
mean that you end up dependent on serve us better if they took seriously the
somebody else. A.I. scientist Timnit Gebru’s complaint
It’s not that being as altruistic as that, as Lewis-Kraus puts it, they act “as
you can, as effectively as you can, is a though they are above such structural
bad idea. But it seems to me that there’s issues as racism and colonialism” and in-
more to doing good than just crunch- stead responded to those issues directly.
ing the numbers. Maybe the first pri- With all their intellect and influence,
ority should be to clean up your own they could be a force for justice that our
back yard. world sorely needs.
Shannon Stoney Alexander M. Jacobs
Cookeville, Tenn. Milwaukee, Wis.
•
The E.A.s who appear in Lewis-Kraus’s
article do not seem to have seriously Letters should be sent with the writer’s name,
address, and daytime phone number via e-mail to
considered a broader strategy for bet-
[email protected]. Letters may be edited
tering society: progressive taxation. To
for length and clarity, and may be published in
be sure, the political challenges of in- any medium. We regret that owing to the volume
stituting such a policy would be sub- of correspondence we cannot reply to every letter.
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