My Review of Christopher Beha's The Index of Self-Destructive Acts

The American Interest has published my review of Christopher Beha's most recent novel. As readers of this blog might remember, I wrote about Beha's first novel, What Happened to Sophie Wilder, a long while back. Beha occupies an interesting space in the current conversation surrounding Catholic fiction. He seems to be a practicing Catholic, and his cast of characters (which are somewhat continguous throughout his three novels), attended a Catholic prep school in Manhattan and occupy a variety of spots on the practicing/fallen-away spectrum. In my review, I attempt to make the argument that The Index of Self-Destructive Acts is a kind of existentialist-Catholic novel, and to do so I draw upon Beha's recent essay on Soren Kierkegaard in Harper's (which he edits).

Musical Recommendations and Upcoming Writing

I've contributed recently to The American Interest's nightly music recommendations, something the magazine has been doing during COVID-19. I've been playing piano, especially jazz, since I was quite young, and it's been great to have the chance to write about the music I love. Links to the write-ups are below.

Also watch out for some upcoming writing (book reviews and feature articles) at The American Interest and The Hedgehog Review. I will post all links here. Thanks for reading!

On the Jazz Trio:https://us10.campaign-archive.com/?u=f24302ce799fa4d884b86e032&id=03f101253f

On the Grateful Dead: https://mailchi.mp/the-american-interest/tais-musical-offering-harnoncourts-mozart-1285880

On the Left Hand in Jazz Piano: https://us10.campaign-archive.com/?u=f24302ce799fa4d884b86e032&id=4a0104ca3b

On New Orleans Jazz Pianists: https://us10.campaign-archive.com/?u=f24302ce799fa4d884b86e032&id=1973345242