“The Original of Laura.”  The Boston Review.  [Forthcoming Fall 2009]
“The Sound of the Furies.”  [Review of Jonathan Littell’s The Kindly Ones.]  Bookforum.  February/March 2009
"An Introduction to Maurizio Cattelan.”  Modern Painters.  February 1, 2009.
Review of Mustapha Chérif’s Islam and the West:  A Conversation with Jacques Derrida.  Bidoun. Winter 2008. Issue 16. 119-120.
“Otherwise.”  Cabinet.  Issue 31.  Fall 2008.  34-42.

[Essay on the noble savage in modern art.]

“Rummaging Through Rauschenberg's Trash." Modern Painters. July/August 2008. 73-75.
[Essay on the artistic heritage of Robert Rauschenberg.]
“Ghost Stories for the Very Adult.”  The Believer.  January 2008.  Volume 6, Number 1.  26-30.
[Essay on the eccentric art historian, adventurer and librarian Aby Warburg.]
"Readymade Remade: Pierre Pinoncelli and the Legacy of Duchamp's 'Fountains.'" Cabinet. Number 27. Winter 2007. 27-32.
"Being There. On the trail of Heidegger." Cabinet. Number 25. Spring 2007. 44-51
[Essay on life, philosphy and the woodland retreat of Martin Heidegger.]

“Iambic Imbroglio. Wrangling Over the Claims of Readers—and Dead Poets.” Harvard Magazine. January-February 2007. 20-21.

[Article discussing Elizabeth Bishop's posthumous poetry.]
"The Insider: Jonathan Littell's Les Bienveillantes."  Bookforum.  December/January 2007.

“Cult of Impersonality.” The Boston Globe. Ideas section. D2. July 2, 2006.

[Article discussing Samuel Beckett's literary fame—and his ambivalent feelings about that fame.]

“Our Signature Tower.” The Boston Globe. Ideas section C2. May 14, 2006.
“Stars and Snipes.”  Bookforum. April/May 2006.  7
[Interview with Bernard-Henri Lévy concerning his American Vertigo:  Traveling America in the Footsteps of Tocqueville.]

“Nevermind Euclid, Here's the Cubists.” The Boston Globe. Ideas section. D2. December 25, 2005

[Article on the origins of Cubism.]

“Swinging and Nothingness.” Village Voice. December 23, 2005

[Article on the lives of French philosophers Jean-Paul Sartre, Descartes and Pascal.]  

“Is Tennis Really Less Fun Than It Used To Be?” The Boston Globe.  Ideas section.  September 11, 2005.  E4.

“The Original of Lolita. Fifty years after that triple trip of the tongue, Nabokov's nymphet is as mesmerizing as ever.” Village Voice September 9, 2005

[Article on the various influences—and claims to influence—on Nabokov's Lolita.]

“The seduction. At 50, Nabokov's 'Lolita' still seduces -- and disturbs.” Boston Sunday Globe. August 28, 2005. Ideas section. (syndicated by the Belgian daily De Standaard and the Australian weekly The Weekend Australian)

[Article on the reception of Lolita.]

“The Omen. What's in a name?” Village Voice. August 5, 2005

[Article on Pope Benedict XVI and the history of papal naming.]

“Pope and Circumstance. When the pontiff dies, the rituals commence.” Village Voice April 11, 2005
[Article on the history of papal successions.]

“Of Spirit” Village Voice. November 16, 2004.

[Article on Jacques Derrida and his Parisian seminars.]
Book Review of Michael Gorra's The Bells in Their Silence. Travels Through Germany and Steven Ozment's A Mighty Fortress: A New History of the German People. Rain Taxi. Fall 2004.

“The Devils of Tennis.” Boston Sunday Globe. July 4 th , 2004. Ideas section. G4.

[Article reviewing the history of tennis writing—from 13 th century theological treatises to contemporary autobiographies by John McEnroe, Ilie Nastase and Boris Becker.]

“Doing the Nasty. Who's that with Bubba? A fellow memoirist—and Wimbledon bad boy—returns.” Village Voice. June 28th, 2004

[Article discussing books—autobiographical and other—on tennis.]

“The Cleansing of the Elephants. Trumpeting, flapping, crying: a cultural history of the elephant from Ding Yunpeng to Gus Van Sant.” Village Voice. November 17th, 2003.

“Murder in the Library.” Boston Sunday Globe. Novembre 2, 2003. Ideas section. G2-G3.

[Article discussing the genre of academic detective fiction.]

“The Man Who Fell to Earth.” Boston Sunday Globe. June 29th, 2003. Ideas section. D2-D3

[Article treating unlikely connections between German skydivers, politicians and performance artists.]

“It Came From the Abyss: Can Philosophy Be Filmed?” Boston Sunday Globe. February 2, 2003. Ideas section. D4.

[Article on the documentary film Derrida, and the compatibility of Derrida's philosophy with the filmmakers' task.]