The Art of Cruelty by Maggie Nelson
Genre-busting author Maggie Nelson brilliantly navigates this contemporary predicament, with an eye to the question of whether or not focusing on representations of cruelty makes us cruel. In a journey through high and low culture (Kafka to reality TV), the visual to the verbal (Paul McCarthy to Brian Evenson), and the apolitical to the political (Francis Bacon to Kara Walker), Nelson offers a model of how one might balance strong ethical convictions with an equally strong appreciation for work that tests the limits of taste, taboo, and permissibility.
"An important and frequently surprising book… could be read as the foundation for a post-avant-garde aesthetics… Nelson, who is also a poet, is such a graceful writer that I…just sat back and enjoyed the show" -- Laura Kipnis - New York Times Book Review
"[Nelson’s] critiques of individual artists are delightfully fierce without being mean spirited… Fascinating and bracingly intelligent…The Art of Cruelty’s prose is often gorgeous." -- Troy Jollimore - Boston Globe
"A lean-forward experience, and in its most transcendent moments, reading it can feel like having the best conversation of your life." -- Rachel Syme - NPR Books
"I hope that critics, and aspiring critics, and those who are interested in the relationship between art and ethics, read [The Art of Cruelty]." -- Susie Linfield - New Republic
"[Nelson] dexterously, and creatively, manages to hold a mirror to our culture’s fascination with cruelty and invites us to reflect on our personal reasons for indulging it." -- Eleni Theodoropoulos - Literary Hub
"[Nelson’s] critiques of individual artists are delightfully fierce without being mean spirited… Fascinating and bracingly intelligent…The Art of Cruelty’s prose is often gorgeous." -- Troy Jollimore - Boston Globe
"A lean-forward experience, and in its most transcendent moments, reading it can feel like having the best conversation of your life." -- Rachel Syme - NPR Books
"I hope that critics, and aspiring critics, and those who are interested in the relationship between art and ethics, read [The Art of Cruelty]." -- Susie Linfield - New Republic
"[Nelson] dexterously, and creatively, manages to hold a mirror to our culture’s fascination with cruelty and invites us to reflect on our personal reasons for indulging it." -- Eleni Theodoropoulos - Literary Hub
Maggie Nelson is the author of many acclaimed books of poetry and prose, including Like Love, The Argonauts, and Bluets. She currently teaches at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780393343144 |
| ISBN 10 | 0393343146 |
| Title | The Art of Cruelty |
| Author | Maggie Nelson |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | WW Norton & Co |
| Year published | 2012-09-18 |
| Number of pages | 304 |
| Prizes | Winner of New York Times Notable Selection 2011 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |