Mark O’Connell

Neglecting Beckett

James Marsh’s biopic Dance First runs into some predictable problems in adapting the life of a writer, especially one as recognizable as Samuel Beckett.

‘A Powerful Day to You, Sir!’

“The Irish, as a rule, tend to be aesthetes of chat.”

Shooting Werner Herzog

The director’s memoir, packed with unlikely incident, suggests that Herzog has always been his own greatest creation.

Hastening the End

Adam Kirsch’s Revolt Against Humanity is a survey of transhumanist thought, a diverse field united by cosmic pessimism.

Total Recall

Jennifer Egan and Vauhini Vara’s new novels both delineate worlds just slightly out of true with the one we know.

Uncanny Planet

A new collection of essays by Nathaniel Rich argues that there is no going back to whatever might be meant by “nature.”

Old Midlands Giants

The comedian Stewart Lee’s documentary King Rocker is about a musician who seems impossible to mythologize.