Lucy Sante on Pauline Kael, Film Criticism, and Pop Culture

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In the second season premiere of Private Life , host Jarrett Earnest is joined by the writer and critic Lucy Sante to discuss Pauline Kael’s career, pop culture writing, and Sante’s writing for the Review , where she has been a frequent contributor since the 1980s. The conversation focuses on “The Perils of Pauline” (published in the magazine’s August 14, 1980, issue), Renata Adler’s blistering assessment of Kael’s film criticism; the legacy of staff film critics; and Sante’s relationship with popular music from Elvis to The Velvet Underground. Lucy Sante is the author of Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York (1991), Six Sermons for Bob Dylan (2024), and the memoir I Heard Her Call My…