One of the least-examined assumptions among academics today is that being “formulaic” — using established formulas to structure thought — is always a bad thing. In the field of rhetoric and ...

Few living directors have a filmography that can touch Bernardo Bertolucci’s: “The Conformist,” “Last Tango in Paris,” “The Last Emperor.” A back injury has sidelined him for years; Bertolucci ...

Formulaic. The word sends shivers down the spines of artists, authors, inventors, and innovators everywhere. Creative types tend to want to do things differently than have ever been done before, and ...