In the introduction to her novel "Babel Tower," A.S. Byatt says that her intention was to write a book without metaphors. Apparently this proved a difficult feat: "The best I could do was a kind of regretful commentary on the impossibility of refraining from metaphor." Right. Byatt is a serious m

Clever, Composed, Contemplative, Eclectic, Playful, Postmodern fiction, Sophisticated

Terry Eagleton is one of the few contemporary literary critics who haven't bought into Postmodernism wholesale. At a time when the terminology of Deconstruction is promulgated enthusiastically (and meaninglessly) in academia, Eagleton roots himself firmly in traditional Marxism. He maintains a carefu

Charming, Contemplative, Marxism/ideology critique, Political, Sophisticated, Witty

As both a conductor and a virtuoso pianist, Daniel Barenboim approaches each of his projects from a dual perspective: he sees a piece as both a physical, sonorous expression and as a structural whole. For Barenboim, integrating the two perspectives is essential to making good music. "The element of p

20th-century music, Eclectic, Elegant, Pathos, Sophisticated

The medium didn't matter, but the object meant everything. Whether he was using his canvas for a Cubist experiment or his camera for an avant-garde digression, Fernand Leger always placed the object at the center of his work. Leger was the only French Cubist to devote himself, throughout his c

Avant-garde film, Clever, Collage, Cubism, Futurism, Illusive, Pioneering, Sophisticated, Subtle