Tom Phillips is a New York writer, journalist and critic-at-large. He holds a BA from Grinnell College and an MA from the New School for Social Research. He wrote for CBS News and the New York Times, and from 1979 to 1986 taught at Columbia University School of Journalism. In 1967 he wrote a landmark review of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" for the Village Voice, and went on to write about popular culture for the Times and Rolling Stone. In the 1970s he was a contributing editor of Jazz & Pop magazine. Since 2004 he has written about ballet and modern dance for danceviewtimes.com and The Dance Enthusiast. His literary criticism has been published in The Explicator, ANQ, and the F. Scott Fitzgerald Review. His memoir, "A Beginner's Life," was published in 2015.
This is the story of a middle-class apartment dwelling, built in 1903 and scheduled for demolitio... more This is the story of a middle-class apartment dwelling, built in 1903 and scheduled for demolition in 1967 as part of an urban renewal scheme. Residents organized and ultimately thwarted a plan by Columbia University and other large neighborhood institutions, which would have displaced more than 10 thousand poor and middle-class people. They saved not only the building at 507 West 111th Street, but the character of the block and the neighborhood.
The coachman's speech in Part One of Mansfield Park is the most extended use of the vernacular in... more The coachman's speech in Part One of Mansfield Park is the most extended use of the vernacular in the whole Austen canon. Somehow it has been universally ignored by Austen critics. I contend this has more to do with their upper-class interests than Austen's. In my view this bit of Hrse Sense absolutely refutes critics who say Austen is blind to the English class structure, that she sees only “one class” of people.
Isadora Duncan was and is an outlier -- 100 years ago, a rebel against the academic dance establi... more Isadora Duncan was and is an outlier -- 100 years ago, a rebel against the academic dance establishment, and now, a pure classicist in a free-wheeling, eclectic dance environment. Today, no one embodies Isadora’s life and work more than Lori Belilove, director of the Isadora Duncan Dance Company and Foundation. Working out of a loft-studio in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, she has spent decades as a dancer, teacher, and choreographer, re-inventing Duncan Dance for the 21st Century.
" If journalism is a type of literature, irony is its main theme."
Irony is widely used in jo... more " If journalism is a type of literature, irony is its main theme."
Irony is widely used in journalistic writing, and "the twisteroo" adds value to any story. This paper distinguishes between three types of irony: surface, dramatic, and cosmic. In each case our expectations are upset or reversed. The condition for irony is the condition of existence: the continual interplay of between chance and order, and our imperfect ability to separate the two.
In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses a technique of "narrative syncopation" to deliver k... more In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses a technique of "narrative syncopation" to deliver key information on the offbeat , away from the emphasis of a scene or a sentence, slipping it under the reader's attention. Th is is both a "jazz" style and a strategy for concealing potentially scandalous material, such as the racial secret of the novel: the family relationship between Daisy and Jordan Baker. In the same way a jazz band can transform a sentimental pop song, Fitzgerald takes a sentimental love story and weaves it into a racial and social history of "Th e Jazz Age. " Daisy's "low, thrilling" voice holds the reader on the romantic theme, while in the background, off the beat, Fitzgerald constructs and deconstructs a jazz history of the world, that is, the New World: America.
The hero of Malamud's "A New Life," Seymour Levin, is seen as the soul of Joyce's Leopold Bloom, ... more The hero of Malamud's "A New Life," Seymour Levin, is seen as the soul of Joyce's Leopold Bloom, transmigrated from the European Diaspora to the American Frontier. Malamud writes his work not as a reenactment of Ulysses – in the way Joyce’s work reenacts The Odyssey – but as a comedy with an open ending. It could stand for the story of American Jews in the 20th Century – trading the purity of their heritage in the Old World for a part in shaping a new New World.
The contrast between the two farmers in Robert Frost's Mending Wall has been much discussed -- b... more The contrast between the two farmers in Robert Frost's Mending Wall has been much discussed -- but the contrast between their farms has barely been noted. In “Mending Wall,” he uses the symbolism of the apple tree and the pine to underscore the qualities of the two men. He also uses it to mimic and challenge a foundational text — the dialogue between the serpent and Eve in the Garden of Eden:
ANQ: A QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF SHORT ARTICLES, NOTES, AND REVIEWS, 2020
Bernard Malamud's 1961 novel A New Life can be read as a satire on
American Philistia from a Jew... more Bernard Malamud's 1961 novel A New Life can be read as a satire on American Philistia from a Jewish point of view, but in the end it goes beyond satire. The coupling of Seymour Levin with Pauline Josephson, the wife of his boss and enemy, and their absconding with her children, suggests a prophecy of a new age in which Jew and gentile combine in a generational assault on American values. In short, the Sixties.
The 1960s turn 60 in 2020, with their meaning and value still in dispute. It might help to divide... more The 1960s turn 60 in 2020, with their meaning and value still in dispute. It might help to divide the decade in two; the first half peace and love, the last fear and loathing. Still, in both phases, the '60s were an age of prophecy. New voices came out of nowhere, and found rapt listeners in the massive generation born after the Second World War, the baby boomers. The prophets were not boomers themselves, but the big brothers and sisters of the boomers, the lean cohort born during the war. These war babies knew the world they were born into was not fit for future generations. Children of war, they became prophets of peace.
At the 140th anniversary of her birth, we can begin to see Isadora Duncan as the true mother of m... more At the 140th anniversary of her birth, we can begin to see Isadora Duncan as the true mother of modern dance. Lori Belilove makes the case that Duncan's kinetic flow is both more classical and more American than Martha Graham's sculptural tableaux.
This article was written in response to the New York Times' negative review of "Sgt. Pepper's Lon... more This article was written in response to the New York Times' negative review of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." The Times article, published June 18, 1967, called the Beatles album "dazzling, but ultimately fraudulent." Four days later, on June 22, the Village Voice published my review under the headline "Beatles' Sgt. Pepper: The Album as Art Form." Contrary to some Rock histories, this was NOT one of a chorus of rave reviews that appeared immediately after the album's release. As far as I know it was the only favorable review, and the only one to offer a critical analysis of the album's revolutionary form and content.
Looking at it through American eyes in the 21st Century, it is possible to see “Godot” not just a... more Looking at it through American eyes in the 21st Century, it is possible to see “Godot” not just as a philosophical drama, but as the experience of a historical epoch.
In 1934, George Balanchine's "Serenade" was much more than an experimental work; it was a challen... more In 1934, George Balanchine's "Serenade" was much more than an experimental work; it was a challenge to the whole conception of dance in America, and the beginning of a revolution. Its opening tableau foreshadows the dance drama and history to come -- the transcendence of modernism by classicism.
The character of Jordan Baker in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby has long resisted interpr... more The character of Jordan Baker in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby has long resisted interpretation and critical analysis; but a close reading focused on descriptive detail and historical context suggests that Baker is central to the novel’s concern with identity. Amid the racial and sexual upheavals of the 1920's, she may be the novel’s most successful imposter – a light-skinned, mixed-race woman “passing as white.” Fitzgerald touches extensively on Baker’s skin, which is repeatedly described as both “brown” and “wan” – like the complexion of many mixed-race African-Americans, known as “high yellow” in Harlem slang. Like Nick’s homosexuality, Jordan’s race is never fully revealed in the novel, perhaps in deference to conventional mores of the time. If Gatsby is a novel about the homosexual closet which is itself in the closet, it is also a novel about passing for white which itself passes for white.
This is the story of a middle-class apartment dwelling, built in 1903 and scheduled for demolitio... more This is the story of a middle-class apartment dwelling, built in 1903 and scheduled for demolition in 1967 as part of an urban renewal scheme. Residents organized and ultimately thwarted a plan by Columbia University and other large neighborhood institutions, which would have displaced more than 10 thousand poor and middle-class people. They saved not only the building at 507 West 111th Street, but the character of the block and the neighborhood.
The coachman's speech in Part One of Mansfield Park is the most extended use of the vernacular in... more The coachman's speech in Part One of Mansfield Park is the most extended use of the vernacular in the whole Austen canon. Somehow it has been universally ignored by Austen critics. I contend this has more to do with their upper-class interests than Austen's. In my view this bit of Hrse Sense absolutely refutes critics who say Austen is blind to the English class structure, that she sees only “one class” of people.
Isadora Duncan was and is an outlier -- 100 years ago, a rebel against the academic dance establi... more Isadora Duncan was and is an outlier -- 100 years ago, a rebel against the academic dance establishment, and now, a pure classicist in a free-wheeling, eclectic dance environment. Today, no one embodies Isadora’s life and work more than Lori Belilove, director of the Isadora Duncan Dance Company and Foundation. Working out of a loft-studio in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, she has spent decades as a dancer, teacher, and choreographer, re-inventing Duncan Dance for the 21st Century.
" If journalism is a type of literature, irony is its main theme."
Irony is widely used in jo... more " If journalism is a type of literature, irony is its main theme."
Irony is widely used in journalistic writing, and "the twisteroo" adds value to any story. This paper distinguishes between three types of irony: surface, dramatic, and cosmic. In each case our expectations are upset or reversed. The condition for irony is the condition of existence: the continual interplay of between chance and order, and our imperfect ability to separate the two.
In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses a technique of "narrative syncopation" to deliver k... more In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses a technique of "narrative syncopation" to deliver key information on the offbeat , away from the emphasis of a scene or a sentence, slipping it under the reader's attention. Th is is both a "jazz" style and a strategy for concealing potentially scandalous material, such as the racial secret of the novel: the family relationship between Daisy and Jordan Baker. In the same way a jazz band can transform a sentimental pop song, Fitzgerald takes a sentimental love story and weaves it into a racial and social history of "Th e Jazz Age. " Daisy's "low, thrilling" voice holds the reader on the romantic theme, while in the background, off the beat, Fitzgerald constructs and deconstructs a jazz history of the world, that is, the New World: America.
The hero of Malamud's "A New Life," Seymour Levin, is seen as the soul of Joyce's Leopold Bloom, ... more The hero of Malamud's "A New Life," Seymour Levin, is seen as the soul of Joyce's Leopold Bloom, transmigrated from the European Diaspora to the American Frontier. Malamud writes his work not as a reenactment of Ulysses – in the way Joyce’s work reenacts The Odyssey – but as a comedy with an open ending. It could stand for the story of American Jews in the 20th Century – trading the purity of their heritage in the Old World for a part in shaping a new New World.
The contrast between the two farmers in Robert Frost's Mending Wall has been much discussed -- b... more The contrast between the two farmers in Robert Frost's Mending Wall has been much discussed -- but the contrast between their farms has barely been noted. In “Mending Wall,” he uses the symbolism of the apple tree and the pine to underscore the qualities of the two men. He also uses it to mimic and challenge a foundational text — the dialogue between the serpent and Eve in the Garden of Eden:
ANQ: A QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF SHORT ARTICLES, NOTES, AND REVIEWS, 2020
Bernard Malamud's 1961 novel A New Life can be read as a satire on
American Philistia from a Jew... more Bernard Malamud's 1961 novel A New Life can be read as a satire on American Philistia from a Jewish point of view, but in the end it goes beyond satire. The coupling of Seymour Levin with Pauline Josephson, the wife of his boss and enemy, and their absconding with her children, suggests a prophecy of a new age in which Jew and gentile combine in a generational assault on American values. In short, the Sixties.
The 1960s turn 60 in 2020, with their meaning and value still in dispute. It might help to divide... more The 1960s turn 60 in 2020, with their meaning and value still in dispute. It might help to divide the decade in two; the first half peace and love, the last fear and loathing. Still, in both phases, the '60s were an age of prophecy. New voices came out of nowhere, and found rapt listeners in the massive generation born after the Second World War, the baby boomers. The prophets were not boomers themselves, but the big brothers and sisters of the boomers, the lean cohort born during the war. These war babies knew the world they were born into was not fit for future generations. Children of war, they became prophets of peace.
At the 140th anniversary of her birth, we can begin to see Isadora Duncan as the true mother of m... more At the 140th anniversary of her birth, we can begin to see Isadora Duncan as the true mother of modern dance. Lori Belilove makes the case that Duncan's kinetic flow is both more classical and more American than Martha Graham's sculptural tableaux.
This article was written in response to the New York Times' negative review of "Sgt. Pepper's Lon... more This article was written in response to the New York Times' negative review of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." The Times article, published June 18, 1967, called the Beatles album "dazzling, but ultimately fraudulent." Four days later, on June 22, the Village Voice published my review under the headline "Beatles' Sgt. Pepper: The Album as Art Form." Contrary to some Rock histories, this was NOT one of a chorus of rave reviews that appeared immediately after the album's release. As far as I know it was the only favorable review, and the only one to offer a critical analysis of the album's revolutionary form and content.
Looking at it through American eyes in the 21st Century, it is possible to see “Godot” not just a... more Looking at it through American eyes in the 21st Century, it is possible to see “Godot” not just as a philosophical drama, but as the experience of a historical epoch.
In 1934, George Balanchine's "Serenade" was much more than an experimental work; it was a challen... more In 1934, George Balanchine's "Serenade" was much more than an experimental work; it was a challenge to the whole conception of dance in America, and the beginning of a revolution. Its opening tableau foreshadows the dance drama and history to come -- the transcendence of modernism by classicism.
The character of Jordan Baker in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby has long resisted interpr... more The character of Jordan Baker in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby has long resisted interpretation and critical analysis; but a close reading focused on descriptive detail and historical context suggests that Baker is central to the novel’s concern with identity. Amid the racial and sexual upheavals of the 1920's, she may be the novel’s most successful imposter – a light-skinned, mixed-race woman “passing as white.” Fitzgerald touches extensively on Baker’s skin, which is repeatedly described as both “brown” and “wan” – like the complexion of many mixed-race African-Americans, known as “high yellow” in Harlem slang. Like Nick’s homosexuality, Jordan’s race is never fully revealed in the novel, perhaps in deference to conventional mores of the time. If Gatsby is a novel about the homosexual closet which is itself in the closet, it is also a novel about passing for white which itself passes for white.
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Irony is widely used in journalistic writing, and "the twisteroo" adds value to any story. This paper distinguishes between three types of irony: surface, dramatic, and cosmic. In each case our expectations are upset or reversed. The condition for irony is the condition of existence: the continual interplay of between chance and order, and our imperfect ability to separate the two.
Diaspora to the American Frontier. Malamud writes his work not as a reenactment of Ulysses – in the way Joyce’s work reenacts
The Odyssey – but as a comedy with an open ending. It could stand for the story of American Jews in the 20th Century – trading the purity of their heritage in the Old World for a part in shaping a new New World.
American Philistia from a Jewish point of view, but in the end it goes beyond satire. The coupling of Seymour Levin with Pauline Josephson, the wife of his boss and enemy, and their absconding with her children, suggests a prophecy of a new age in which Jew and gentile combine in a generational assault on American values. In short, the Sixties.
Contrary to some Rock histories, this was NOT one of a chorus of rave reviews that appeared immediately after the album's release. As far as I know it was the only favorable review, and the only one to offer a critical analysis of the album's revolutionary form and content.
Irony is widely used in journalistic writing, and "the twisteroo" adds value to any story. This paper distinguishes between three types of irony: surface, dramatic, and cosmic. In each case our expectations are upset or reversed. The condition for irony is the condition of existence: the continual interplay of between chance and order, and our imperfect ability to separate the two.
Diaspora to the American Frontier. Malamud writes his work not as a reenactment of Ulysses – in the way Joyce’s work reenacts
The Odyssey – but as a comedy with an open ending. It could stand for the story of American Jews in the 20th Century – trading the purity of their heritage in the Old World for a part in shaping a new New World.
American Philistia from a Jewish point of view, but in the end it goes beyond satire. The coupling of Seymour Levin with Pauline Josephson, the wife of his boss and enemy, and their absconding with her children, suggests a prophecy of a new age in which Jew and gentile combine in a generational assault on American values. In short, the Sixties.
Contrary to some Rock histories, this was NOT one of a chorus of rave reviews that appeared immediately after the album's release. As far as I know it was the only favorable review, and the only one to offer a critical analysis of the album's revolutionary form and content.