The Wreckage of the L.A. Fires

Plus: Justin Chang’s Oscars wishlist; remembering Richard Foreman; and an arson attack in Puerto Rico. View in browser | Update your preferences Thursday, January 9, 2025 In today’s newsletter, Ian Buruma on his favorite Yukio Mishima novels. But, first, Emily Witt reports on the destruction in Los Angeles. Plus: • An arson attack in Puerto Rico • Justin Chang’s Oscars wishlist • Remembering the theatre titan Richard Foreman The Lede On the Ground During L.A.’s Wildfire Emergency With four fires raging, tens of thousands have evacuated and others are confronting the precarity of where they live. By Emily Witt Support The New Yorker’s award-winning journalism. Subscribe today » The Lede Reporting and commentary on what you need to know today. An Arson Attack in Puerto Rico Photograph by Carlos E. Berríos Polanco On New Year’s Day, as Puerto Rico was recovering from an island-wide blackout, a small restaurant in a town on the southwest coast was engulfed in flames, along with three adjacent businesses. It appears to have been arson, the suspect a white tourist with whom staff had had an altercation earlier in the evening. The attack highlights rising tensions between the U.S. territory and the mainland. Graciela Mochkofsky reports » The Political Scene Podcast: Tyler Foggatt sits down with Adam Gopnik to discuss whether Justin Trudeau’s resignation will lead to the MAGA-fication of Canada. Listen and follow » The Critic Recommends Ian Buruma Buruma writes about the culture of Asia. Yukio Mishima. Photograph by Sven Simon / Camera Press / Redux Yukio Mishima was a great writer, but the manner of his death, by seppuku, slitting his stomach with a samurai sword, may now be better known to most people than his novels or plays—a pity, because many of his novels are very much worth reading. However, as his work is soaked in fantasies about violent death, his final act is hard to disentangle from his books. These bloody political, erotic, and literary entanglements are the subject of my article for this week’s issue. My favorite Mishima novel is the one that made him famous, “Confessions of a Mask,” from 1949. In this early example of auto-fiction, Mishima offers a poetic analysis of his sentimental education as a young man whose sadomasochistic gay fantasies clash with the conventions of his upper-class upbringing. The other novel I would recommend is “The Temple of the Golden Pavilion,” from 1956, in which the main character is a young Buddhist acolyte who tries to liberate himself from his obsession with the beauty of a temple in Kyoto by destroying it. The annihilation of beauty was Mishima’s enduring theme, and perhaps one of the motives for his own gruesome end. Read “Yukio Mishima’s Death Cult” Culture Dept. The Current Cinema Who and What Should Be Nominated for the 2025 Oscars Critics don’t vote for the Academy Awards—but here’s how one critic would fill out his imaginary ballot. By Justin Chang If you know someone who would enjoy this newsletter, please share it. Was it forwarded to you? Sign up. Postscript The Era of Richard Foreman Photograph © Marcello Mencarini / Bridgeman Images The avante-garde theatre director died on January 4th, at the age of eighty-seven. He was “was one of the last living crossover theatrical eccentrics, an outsider artist,” Helen Shaw writes. Read the story » Fun & Games Dept. Mini Crossword A Smallish Puzzle Key ingredient in cortados and cappuccinos: eight letters. By Kate Chin Park Shouts & Murmurs Just in Case How about this for fun: let’s try pasteurizing our own milk. By Jay Katsir Daily Cartoon Thursday, January 9th By Emily Flake P.S. The SAG Award nominees were announced virtually yesterday, after the in-person event was cancelled owing to the wildfires. Cate Blanchett has been recognized for her role in the psychological-thriller series “Disclaimer.” “Performance is not, and never has been, really, all of who I am,” the actor told John Lahr, in 2007. But Blanchett prefers to keep unknown the rest of who she is: “I do like to preserve the mystique of the thing, for myself as much as anyone else.” 🤐 Today’s newsletter was written by Hannah Jocelyn. What did you think of today’s newsletter? Let us know. If you like the daily newsletter, browse more New Yorker newsletters. You’re receiving this e-mail because you signed up for the daily newsletter from The New Yorker. Manage your preferences | View our Privacy Policy | Unsubscribe Copyright © Condé Nast 2025. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.