Uncensored John Simon

Whether you realize it or not, names are a part of language, and a by no means unimportant one. I am not even referring to such a...

With Gunter Grass, who just died at age 87, I had a brief friendship. I translated for him on a popular radio show, and ...

Stupidity, I am sorry to say, is no joke, as it is portrayed on stage, screen and TV. It is the second worst crime against ...

Pity the poor necktie, hanging on for dear life. Consider that male attire, unlike female, is, unless completely wacko, ...

One of our greatest quandaries concerns illusion. Is it treacherous, undesirable, even harmful; or optimistic, consolatory,...

The question of whether pets go to heaven seems these days to be getting ever greater attention, almost as much as in long ...

To the question “What is poetry?” there is, let’s face it, no definitive answer. A bad novel is still a novel, a poor story...