About
I decided to start a blog for three reasons:
1) People felt that there should be a part of the Threepenny website that was available only online, not in the printed magazine.
2) Some of the things I wanted to write about seemed as if they would benefit from a slightly more timely response than our usual quarterly publication permitted.
3) I was seeing and hearing so much interesting art — especially in the areas of dance and music, though also in literature, theater, and the visual arts — that I couldn't fit everything I wanted to say into The Threepenny Review without taking over the whole publication. And if you are not Diderot or Karl Kraus (and I am certainly neither), it is never a good idea to write the whole magazine yourself. But I figured the rules of blogs would allow me to monopolize one of those.
I struggled to come up with a good title for the blog and at first resisted using my own name, feeling (as those named Lesser are bound to feel) that diminishment is not necessarily a selling point. But then I figured that if people named Grudge or Drudge can use their names on websites, I should certainly not be abashed at calling this The Lesser Blog. So here it is, and I hope you enjoy it.
Wendy Lesser
Editor, The Threepenny Review-
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Category Archives: The Lesser Blog
More Reading Matter
On the advice of one of Threepenny‘s long-term subscribers, I have started reading The Magic Mountain. I would say re-reading, but I never managed to make it through this massive Thomas Mann novel before. Though I am an immense fan … Continue reading
The Mirror and the Light
If you have not yet read Hilary Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell trilogy, now is the time to start. And time is what you have now, right? Wolf Hall, the first book in the series, features the profound effects of the plague in … Continue reading
The last time I was at the Met…
Since the Metropolitan Opera—not to mention the Metropolitan Museum and anything else with Metropolitan or New York or City in its title—is on indeterminate hiatus during the current crisis, I thought I would reflect on the last opera I saw … Continue reading
Beethoven and the Danes
All concert attendance is a betting game, but some bets are riskier than others. Earlier this month, I bet on something I thought would surely pay off: I traveled to New York from California just to hear the Danish String … Continue reading
Photography Heaven
It seems unbelievable that ten years have already passed since Pier 24 opened its doors in San Francisco. Perhaps that’s because this great venue for looking at photography remains so exciting, and so welcome, that it still feels like a recent addition to … Continue reading
The Dolphin Letters
Most people who were interested in poetry in the late twentieth century know at least the vague outlines of this story. In 1974, Robert Lowell published a book of poems called The Dolphin, a series which cannibalized the letters he had … Continue reading
A Bright White Light
Just about any concert performance of Pergolesi’s amazing Stabat Mater, I have learned, is worth going to. When you combine that with Vivaldi’s movingly lovely Gloria—and when you further add in the stellar skills of the Orchestra and Choir of the Age … Continue reading
Britten’s Billy Budd
I am not used to thinking of the twentieth century as a period that produced great operas, but two of my favorites—Alban Berg’s Wozzeck and Benjamin Britten’s Billy Budd—were first performed in 1925 and 1951, respectively. I have never seen … Continue reading
Cop Shows
When I’m in New York or Berlin, I’m out just about every night, soaking up the music, dance, theater, and miscellaneous events that are available in those cities. I hardly ever watch TV during those seasons. But the whole time I’m … Continue reading