The Irresponsible Self by James Wood

The Irresponsible Self by James Wood

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Zusammenfassung

The common thread in Wood's latest collection of essays is what makes us laugh - and the book is an attempt to distinguish between the perhaps rather limited English comedy (as seen in Waugh, for example) and a 'continental' tragic-comedy, which he sees as real, universal and quixotic.

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The Irresponsible Self by James Wood

When James Wood's first collection of essays, The Broken Estate, was published in 1999, the reviewers hailed a master critic. The common thread in Wood's latest collection of essays is what makes us laugh - and the book is an attempt to distinguish between the perhaps rather limited English comedy (as seen in Waugh, for example) and a 'continental' tragic-comedy, which he sees as real, universal and quixotic. A particularly acerbic, and very funny, essay - which has been widely celebrated - deals with Zadie Smith, Rushdie, Pynchon and DeLillo; its title, 'Hysterical Realism', has already entered the phrasebook of literary language. With its brilliant studies of Shakespeare, Dickens and Dostoevsky, Naipaul, Pritchett and Bellow, The Irresponsible Self offers more exhilarating despatches from one of our finest living critics.
Wood is one of the finest critics at work today, heir to Coleridge, Hazlitt and VS. Pritchett...He combines the breadth and seriousness of Edmund Wilson with the pellucid prose style of Cyril Connolly...Wood pursues his craft with a high seriousness the like of which we had not thought to see again after the death of Lionel Trilling -- John Banville * Irish Times *
Breathtakingly good... James Wood is pretty much as good a general critic of literary fiction as you'll find writing in English at the moment * The Times *
A stylish writer as well as a clear-sighted reader. His prose bristles with the sort of epigrammatic brilliance that asks challenging questions even when providing answers * Spectator *
The most urgent and morally demanding critic around is the brilliant James Wood... A second powerful collection * Guardian *
This is a collection to be read by anyone who wouldn't normally dream of reading literary criticism * Financial Times *
James Wood has been a staff writer at the New Yorker since 2007. In 2009, he won the National Magazine Award for reviews and criticism. He was the chief literary critic at the Guardian from 1992 to 1995, and a book critic at the New Republic from 1995 to 2007. He has published a number of books with Cape, including How Fiction Works, which has been translated into thirteen languages.
SKU Nicht verfügbar
ISBN 13 9781844130979
ISBN 10 1844130975
Titel The Irresponsible Self
Autor James Wood
Buchzustand Nicht verfügbar
Bindungsart Paperback
Verlag Vintage Publishing
Erscheinungsjahr 2005-09-01
Seitenanzahl 320
Hinweis auf dem Einband Die Abbildung des Buches dient nur Illustrationszwecken, die tatsächliche Bindung, das Cover und die Auflage können sich davon unterscheiden.
Hinweis Nicht verfügbar