Critics, Monsters, Fanatics, and Other Literary Essays - Rilegato

Ozick, Cynthia

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0544703715 ISBN 13: 9780544703711

Casa editrice: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016

Riassunto

In a collection that includes new essays written explicitly for this volume, one of our sharpest and most influential critics confronts the past, present, and future of literary culture.

If every outlet for book criticism suddenly disappeared — if all we had were reviews that treated books like any other commodity — could the novel survive? In a gauntlet-throwing essay at the start of this brilliant assemblage, Cynthia Ozick stakes the claim that, just as surely as critics require a steady supply of new fiction, novelists need great critics to build a vibrant community on the foundation of literary history. For decades, Ozick herself has been one of our great critics, as these essays so clearly display. She offers models of critical analysis of writers from the mid-twentieth century to today, from Saul Bellow, Bernard Malamud, and Kafka, to William Gass and Martin Amis, all assembled in provocatively named groups: Fanatics, Monsters, Figures, and others. Uncompromising and brimming with insight, these essays are essential reading for anyone facing the future of literature in the digital age.

Su questo libro

Recensione:

"“A sorceress of silken prose, wholly incapable of platitude, of cliché, of even the stray dead phrase, Ozick can make anything happen with a sentence.”—The New Republic "A forceful and witty collection of literary criticism by a brilliant critic and novelist."—Shelf Awareness "Often intricate and lovely leaves from the author's literary tree."—Kirkus Reviews "'Serious criticism is surely a form of literature,' she posits, and serious readers will agree and find it practiced here."—Publishers Weekly

National Book Award finalist (1972, 1997)

National Book Critics Circle Award winner (2001) and finalist (1982, 1983, 1990, 1997) Pulitzer Prize finalist (1996) Shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize (2005) "Cynthia Ozick is, for my money, the most accomplished and graceful literary stylist of our time." —John Sutherland, New York Times Book Review

"If there is such a thing as a literary pantheon in America, then Cynthia Ozick is surely its Athena . . . Ozick casts sentences that fairly pulse with the electricity of a highly charged mind."

—Marie Arana-Ward, Washington Post "Cynthia Ozick is double-barreled. She's an inventive and revelatory fiction writer and an exacting, battle-ready critic; an impish writer of conscience and a creative intellectual."—Donna Seaman, Los Angeles Times "As an essayist, Cynthia Ozick is a very good storyteller. Her arguments are plots . . . They twist and turn, digress, slow down and speed up, surprise with sudden illuminations, and only occasionally end predictably." —Robert Kiely, New York Times Book Review "Even when you disagree with [Ozick], she electrifies your mind." —Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, New York Times

"A forceful and witty collection of literary criticism by a brilliant critic and novelist."—Shelf Awareness "Often intricate and lovely leaves from the author's literary tree."—Kirkus Reviews "'Serious criticism is surely a form of literature,' she posits, and serious readers will agree and find it practiced here."—Publishers Weekly

National Book Award finalist (1972, 1997)

National Book Critics Circle Award winner (2001) and finalist (1982, 1983, 1990, 1997) Pulitzer Prize finalist (1996) Shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize (2005) "Cynthia Ozick is, for my money, the most accomplished and graceful literary stylist of our time." —John Sutherland, New York Times Book Review

"If there is such a thing as a literary pantheon in America, then Cynthia Ozick is surely its Athena . . . Ozick casts sentences that fairly pulse with the electricity of a highly charged mind." —Marie Arana-Ward, Washington Post

"Cynthia Ozick is double-barreled. She's an inventive and revelatory fiction writer and an exacting, battle-ready critic; an impish writer of conscience and a creative intellectual."—Donna Seaman, Los Angeles Times "As an essayist, Cynthia Ozick is a very good storyteller. Her arguments are plots . . . They twist and turn, digress, slow down and speed up, surprise with sudden illuminations, and only occasionally end predictably." —Robert Kiely, New York Times Book Review "Even when you disagree with [Ozick], she electrifies your mind." —Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, New York Times

Dalla seconda/terza di copertina:

Cynthia Ozick is one of the sharpest and most distinguished critics in American letters. For decades, her extraordinary readerly sensitivity and deep well of knowledge have informed penetrating judgments that delight and spark debate. Assembling ten years’ worth of Ozick’s nonfiction writing in one volume, Critics, Monsters, Fanatics, and Other Literary Essays is both an exemplar of brilliant criticism and a powerful argument for the vitally important role of the critic, as much now as ever.

With the gauntlet-throwing essay that opens this book, Ozick contends that if literary fiction is to thrive in a culture awash in uncertainty and disruption, we need true critics to make sense of the present, illuminate the past, and point the way forward. The essays that follow reveal Ozick in peak form as she examines writers from the early twentieth century to today. Saul Bellow is here, and Bernard Malamud; Auden and Kafka; William Gass, Martin Amis, and more—all gathered in provocatively named groups with new introductions: Figures, Fanatics, Monsters, Souls. Uncompromising and brimming with insight, these essays are marvels of elegant prose and discerning intellect from one of our most treasured writers.
 

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Data di pubblicazione: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0544703715
• ISBN 13: 9780544703711
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 211