Joan Acocella
Joan Acocella was a staff writer at The New Yorker from 1995 until her death, in 2024. She served as the magazine’s dance critic from 1998 to 2019. Her books include “Twenty-eight Artists and Two Saints,” a collection of essays; “Mark Morris,” a biographical/critical study of the choreographer; “Willa Cather and the Politics of Criticism”; and “Creating Hysteria: Women and Multiple Personality Disorder.” She co-edited “André Levinson on Dance: Writings from Paris in the Twenties” and edited “The Diary of Vaslav Nijinsky,” the first unexpurgated version in English. Acocella wrote about dance, literature, and other arts for The New York Review of Books, the Times Book Review, Art in America, and the Times Literary Supplement. She was granted fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Academy in Berlin, the New York Institute for the Humanities, and the Cullman Center of the New York Public Library. She received awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the New York Book Critics Circle, the Congress on Research in Dance, and the American Psychoanalytic Association.
The Feminist Forerunner in Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales”
The Wife of Bath, one of the most beloved characters in English literature, asked provocative questions: Why shouldn’t widows remarry? Why must we procreate?
Italy’s Great Historical Novel
Henry James decried the nineteenth century’s “loose baggy monsters,” but a new translation of Alessandro Manzoni’s “The Betrothed” demonstrates the genre’s power.
The Two Sides of Ha Jin
His early stories of China deployed unsparing brutality, but his latest novel shows his affinity for stoicism, irony, and modesty.
Francis Bacon’s Frightening Beauty
Obsessed with the body and its torments, the artist said that he wanted to strike the viewer’s “nervous system.”
Graham Greene’s Dark Heart
Although the novelist grappled with the meaning of faith and with the global politics of his time, his true achievement is one of pure sensibility.
The Italian Genius Who Mixed Marxism and Children’s Literature
Gianni Rodari, who has been almost unknown in English till now, united a fantastical imagination with a deep interest in education.
Untangling Andy Warhol
The Pop iconoclast obsessively documented his life, but he also lied constantly, almost recreationally.
The Terror and the Fascination of Pompeii
Pliny’s eyewitness account of the 79 A.D. Vesuvius eruption tells us what happened, but the archeological remains conjure with agonizing intimacy the lives of those who perished.
What’s Lost and Gained in a Modern “Little Women”
Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s novel is less a movie than an avatar, the rebirth of a beloved cultural property—with a few liberties.
How to Read “Gilgamesh”
The heart of the world’s oldest long poem is found in its gaps and mysteries.
Rediscovering Natalia Ginzburg
In Ginzburg’s time, Italian literature was still largely a men’s club. So she wanted to write like a man.
Can Modern Dance Be Preserved?
In safeguarding the legacies of innovators like Merce Cunningham and Paul Taylor, we risk losing their spirit.
What Went Wrong at New York City Ballet
Amid allegations of sexual harassment and violence, the company is reckoning with its tone on and off the stage.
The Ailey Company’s New Artist-in-Residence, Rennie Harris, Stops Short of Salvation
In “Lazarus,” the choreographer combines emotion and intelligence, paying homage to Ailey but also questioning him.
Edward Gorey’s Enigmatic World
In his little books of sinister whimsy, Gorey was true to his belief in leaving things out, so that the reader’s thoughts could flower.
The Playful Legacy of Merce Cunningham
Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Riener are bringing a welcome dose of kids’-party high jinks to the modern-dance stage.
How “Little Women” Got Big
From Simone de Beauvoir to Stephenie Meyer, the world that Louisa May Alcott created has been an inspiration for generations of female writers.
The Feminist Forerunner in Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales”
The Wife of Bath, one of the most beloved characters in English literature, asked provocative questions: Why shouldn’t widows remarry? Why must we procreate?
Italy’s Great Historical Novel
Henry James decried the nineteenth century’s “loose baggy monsters,” but a new translation of Alessandro Manzoni’s “The Betrothed” demonstrates the genre’s power.
The Two Sides of Ha Jin
His early stories of China deployed unsparing brutality, but his latest novel shows his affinity for stoicism, irony, and modesty.
Francis Bacon’s Frightening Beauty
Obsessed with the body and its torments, the artist said that he wanted to strike the viewer’s “nervous system.”
Graham Greene’s Dark Heart
Although the novelist grappled with the meaning of faith and with the global politics of his time, his true achievement is one of pure sensibility.
The Italian Genius Who Mixed Marxism and Children’s Literature
Gianni Rodari, who has been almost unknown in English till now, united a fantastical imagination with a deep interest in education.
Untangling Andy Warhol
The Pop iconoclast obsessively documented his life, but he also lied constantly, almost recreationally.
The Terror and the Fascination of Pompeii
Pliny’s eyewitness account of the 79 A.D. Vesuvius eruption tells us what happened, but the archeological remains conjure with agonizing intimacy the lives of those who perished.
What’s Lost and Gained in a Modern “Little Women”
Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s novel is less a movie than an avatar, the rebirth of a beloved cultural property—with a few liberties.
How to Read “Gilgamesh”
The heart of the world’s oldest long poem is found in its gaps and mysteries.
Rediscovering Natalia Ginzburg
In Ginzburg’s time, Italian literature was still largely a men’s club. So she wanted to write like a man.
Can Modern Dance Be Preserved?
In safeguarding the legacies of innovators like Merce Cunningham and Paul Taylor, we risk losing their spirit.
What Went Wrong at New York City Ballet
Amid allegations of sexual harassment and violence, the company is reckoning with its tone on and off the stage.
The Ailey Company’s New Artist-in-Residence, Rennie Harris, Stops Short of Salvation
In “Lazarus,” the choreographer combines emotion and intelligence, paying homage to Ailey but also questioning him.
Edward Gorey’s Enigmatic World
In his little books of sinister whimsy, Gorey was true to his belief in leaving things out, so that the reader’s thoughts could flower.
The Playful Legacy of Merce Cunningham
Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Riener are bringing a welcome dose of kids’-party high jinks to the modern-dance stage.
How “Little Women” Got Big
From Simone de Beauvoir to Stephenie Meyer, the world that Louisa May Alcott created has been an inspiration for generations of female writers.