In yet another sign of our artistically arid times, “Finch” gives us no glimpse into human nature or soul, and all attempts at it are extremely simplistic.
Lovecraft was a deeply philosophical writer, and his stories prove that probing into human consciousness can lead into the dark abyss that may or may not look back into us.
If Jasper Johns can be said to have “redefined the art of our time,” it is because of the steady pressure that the growing embrace and exaltation of his work has exerted on contemporary taste.
Abramson’s achievement is to show that trust in the neutral institutions that adjudicate knowledge has collapsed, and to adroitly locate our universities at the center of this calamity.