This Week’s Issue: The Fight for Hong Kong’s Soul

Plus: The Kremlin’s creative director, how William Gibson keeps his science fiction real, and “Jagged Little Pill.” View in browser | Update your preferences A Reporter at Large Hong Kong’s Protest Movement and the Fight for the City’s Soul After six months of unrest, anti-Beijing protesters are increasingly unwilling to compromise. By Jiayang Fan Letter from Moscow The Kremlin’s Creative Director How the television producer Konstantin Ernst went from discerning auteur to Putin’s unofficial minister of propaganda. By Joshua Yaffa Comment The 2020 Democrats and the New Politics of Gun Violence The movement for tighter gun legislation has been revitalized, and supporting gun control is not the risk it once was. By Margaret Talbot Profiles How William Gibson Keeps His Science Fiction Real Midway through his career, the inventor of “cyberspace” turned his attention to a strange new world: the present. By Joshua Rothman Onward and Upward with the Arts The Safdie Brothers’ Full-Immersion Filmmaking After a decade of acclaimed do-it-yourself productions, two directors make their big move. By Kelefa Sanneh The Theatre Women’s Worlds in “Jagged Little Pill” and “Fefu and Her Friends” A musical inspired by Alanis Morissette explores women’s inner lives and imperilled freedom, and a revival rips away the artifice that pillows our notions of theatre. By Vinson Cunningham Books Marriage, Betrayal, and the Letters Behind “The Dolphin” How the correspondence between Robert Lowell and Elizabeth Hardwick gave rise to a scandal about the ethics of turning life into art. By Thomas Mallon PAID POST Read the new novel from critically-acclaimed author Olaf Olafsson A young nun is sent to investigate allegations of misconduct at a Catholic school in Iceland. During her time there, a priest falls to his death. Two decades later she returns and must reckon with his death and the abuses of power that may have brought it on. Humor from The New Yorker Shouts & Murmurs The Electable Female Candidate She pays herself only ten per cent less than what she pays the men who work for her. By Claire Friedman Cartoons From The Issue Cartoons From the Issue Drawings and drollery from this week’s magazine. Sign up for more newsletters from The New Yorker. Visit The New Yorker shop. Question about your subscription? Contact Customer Care. New Yorker digital subscribers get unlimited access to everything on newyorker.com. Log in to your account here. We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please send your thoughts and suggestions to TNYinbox@newyorker.com. This e-mail was sent to you by The New Yorker. To ensure delivery to your inbox (not bulk or junk folders), please add our e-mail address, NewYorker@newsletters.newyorker.com, to your address book. View our Privacy Policy Unsubscribe Copyright © Condé Nast 2019. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.