Priya Raghunathan

Chief Critic · New York

Priya Raghunathan reviews television, literature, and opera from her base in New York. Her criticism appears regularly in The New Yorker, The Nation, and Bookforum. She has written two books—"Watching Watchfully" and "The Operatic Moment"—and has received fellowships from the Guggenheim and the Bogliasco Foundation. Her essays examine narrative form and the politics of representation. She holds a doctorate in comparative literature and teaches at Columbia.

culture

The Tyranny of the Limited Series

Eight hours is the new two. Prestige television has forgotten how to end, mistaking runtime for rigor and a sequel option for a real conclusion.

Priya Raghunathan · July 12, 2026 · 4 min read

culture

Rereading Baldwin in an Age of Broadband

The essays were written for a slower world. Reread now, against the scroll, Baldwin’s prose moves faster than almost anything produced for a screen.

Priya Raghunathan · April 12, 2026 · 5 min read

culture ◆ Members

Opera for People Who Hate Opera

Forget the tuxedos. Start with the death scenes. A defector’s guide to the most extreme art form we have, and why its refusal to look away is the whole point.

Priya Raghunathan · February 15, 2026 · 5 min read

culture

Notes on Prestige Horror

The monster is trauma now. It was scarier when it was a monster. A case against the genre's decade-long turn toward grief metaphors, elevated dread, and the slow disappearance of the thing in the room.

Priya Raghunathan · November 30, 2025 · 5 min read