# I Need a Critic: June, 2026, Edition

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/critics-at-large-the-new-yorker-6612611/i-need-a-critic-june-2026-edition
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/critics-at-large-the-new-yorker-6612611/i-need-a-critic-june-2026-edition.md
Podcast: [Critics at Large | The New Yorker](https://stenobird.com/podcast/critics-at-large-the-new-yorker-6612611)
Published: 2026-06-04T09:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://play.prx.org/listen?ge=prx_5868_9d792a7c-e3ee-467e-8c55-780c0d9ec0b8&uf=https%3A%2F%2Fpublicfeeds.net%2Ff%2F5868%2Fcritics-at-large
Audio file: https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/pdrl.fm/cf3795/tracking.swap.fm/track/uJwtcKQUPuqBQPfusm59/dovetail.prxu.org/5868/9d792a7c-e3ee-467e-8c55-780c0d9ec0b8/tnycriticsatlarge_060426_ineedacritic_june26_v3.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/critics-at-large-the-new-yorker-6612611/episodes/i-need-a-critic-june-2026-edition
Duration seconds: 2971

## Resource

This week, Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz kick off the summer months with a new installment of the Critics at Large advice series. Listeners’ questions run the gamut: a high-school economics teacher seeks films for his students which aren’t set in the world of finance; a caller from Iran looks for cultural works to help endure periods of extreme uncertainty; and two friends on the cusp of college graduation ask for recommendations to guide them in their next chapter. “Art is not a thing separate from our troubles or from our awareness of the insane contingencies of life,” Cunningham says. “It’s meant as a companion and a response to those. I think that’s shining through in some of these questions.” Read, watch, and listen with the critics: “Sorry to Bother You” (2018) “My Architect: A Son’s Journey” (2003) “Les dites cariatides” (1984) “ Twenty Minutes in Manhattan ,” by Michael Sorkin The photography of Eugène Atget The music of the Notorious B.I.G., Heavy D, Fat Joe, and Big Pun “ Sentimental Education ,” by Gustave Flaubert Václav Havel’s “ Audience ” “ The Best of Everything ,” by Rona Jaffe “ How to Murder Your Life ,” by Cat Marnell “ Becoming a Centenarian ,” by Calvin Tomkins ( The New Yorker ) “ This Old Man ,” by Roger Angell ( The New Yorker ) “ Tabula Rasa ,” by John McPhee ( The New Yorker ) “Kramer vs. Kramer” (1979) “ Divorcing ,” by Susan Taubes Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels “ Ghost World ,” by Daniel Clowes “Frances Ha” (2012) “Asparagus” (1979) Roger Payne’s “Songs of the Humpback Whale” “ Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction ,” by J. D. Salinger The poetry of Sylvia Plath, particularly “ Tulips ” Tony Kushner’s “ Angels in America ” “I Will,” by the Beatles “St. Judy’s Comet,” by Paul Simon “Sai…

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## Transcript

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