Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Weekend reading on nybooks.com: The Review’s June 19 issue features Michael Kimmelmanon “degenerate” art, Martin Filler on the history of the office, Ingrid Rowland on El Greco, and a poem by Michelangelo. On the NYRblog, Tim Judah reports on Ukraine after the elections, Charles Simic remembers two idiosyncratic poets, and Mary Beard looks at the rise of xenophobia in Britain. Our calendar is filled with the best in film, dance, television and more, with selections by Toni Bentley, J. Hoberman, Laura Marsh, Madeleine Schwartz, and James Walton. THIS ISSUE SPONSORED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS

The Art Hitler Hated Michael Kimmelman Degenerate art, Himmler wrote, spread through the culture; it had the same effect as the “mixing of blood.” Art remained a moving target for the Nazis, an existential threat, which haunted Germany’s fate and still does.   ADVERTISEMENT   The Road to the Zombie Office Martin Filler If we are what we eat—a notion that seems irrefutable in today’s food-fixated United States—then another corollary, at a time when personal identity often derives more from professional pursuits than private matters, would be that we are where we work.   Irresistible El Greco Ingrid D. Rowland For many of the 400 years since the death of Domenikos Theotokopoulos, the artist known to his Spanish neighbors as El Greco, his work was regarded with disdain. In the 19th century, his monumental Burial of the Count of Orgaz lay rolled up and despised in a basement.   ADVERTISEMENT   To Giovanni da Pistoia Michelangelo (translated by Joel Agee) I’ve grown a goiter from this trap I’m in, as cats do from foul water in Lombardy, or some such place, wherever it may be. My stomach’s almost up against my chin,   My beard points skyward, at my nape the store of memory dangles, I’ve grown a harpy’s breast, and from above, my dripping brush, for jest, transforms my face into a mosaic floor. ...   Ukraine: Progress Without Peace Tim Judah President Petro Poroshenko has his work cut out for him. He needs to end the rebellion in the east, make deals with Ukraine’s powerful oligarchs, fend off a possible threat from Yulia Tymoshenko, shore up a sinking economy, and talk to the Kremlin.   The Poets in the Distance Charles Simic Two poets, Russell Edson and Bill Knott, both of whom I was friendly with and whose poetry was very important to me, died this spring, each one leaving behind many original and memorable poems and many devoted readers, despite keeping their distance from our literary scene.   Britain Lurches Mary Beard The xenophobic, anti-immigration United Kingdom Independence Party has just become the largest British party in the European Parliament. What explains the popularity of the party and its leader, Nigel Farage?   Summer Events May 28-June 3: The new film byManoel de Oliveira, still active at 104, is an ode to mortality (Anthology Film Archives) May 30-June 1: Dancers, critics and choreographers honor Frederic Franklin, custodian of ballet traditions(Pace University) June 3: Tim Judah and others mark the 100th anniversary of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand(Austrian Cultural Forum)