Tag Archives: criticism

on Zadie Smith and “Ideological Inconsistency” (Michael Wood)

Posted on 4/18/2010 by chris

‘Changing My Mind is a very good title for a collection of essays, a genre in which one is supposed to be trying things out or trying things on. But the intimation is not as simple as it seems. “I’ve … Continue reading →

Posted in Commonplace Book | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Jason Guriel on Johnston and Dodds

Posted on 11/3/2009 by chris

The October 2009 issue of Poetry has a great book review by Jason Guriel, exemplifying just the kind of review I like to read: respectful, insightful, honest and entertaining. Guriel’s quite perceptive, getting to the heart of the craft of … Continue reading →

Posted in Art & Life & Politics | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Marvelous Criticism II

Posted on 8/30/2009 by chris

From a mailing list I belong to: “Marjorie Perloff thinks that so much depends upon the red wheelbarrow because agriculture is important.”

Posted in Art & Life & Politics, Commonplace Book | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Marvelous Criticism

Posted on 8/30/2009 by chris

I refuse to admit how and why I came to be in the “Letters” section of a television review of a show I’ve never seen (or plan to see), but this bit made it all worthwhile: …the theme song. Good … Continue reading →

Posted in Art & Life & Politics, Commonplace Book | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Reading Log: On Being Blue (William Gass)

Posted on 7/30/2009 by chris

I don’t remember the chain of events that brought me to this extended rumination on "blue"– as color, characteristic and quality– but it wasn’t, as a I first suspected, a treatise on depression. Rather, Gass’ short (91pp) book considers blue … Continue reading →

Posted in reading log | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Surfeit of Seeming

Posted on 7/28/2009 by chris

Ihab Hassan (who you might remember from a previous entry here) hits another one out of the park with this piece in The Georgia Review, “The Way We Have Become: A Surfeit of Seeming”. A good bit: Here I reveal … Continue reading →

Posted in Art & Life & Politics, Commonplace Book | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

"Introduction" to Borges’ Ficciones (Anthony Kerrigan)

Posted on 7/24/2009 by chris

[photo by TheAlieness GiselaGiardino]  I’ve recently rediscovered Jorge Luis Borges, who I read avidly in my late teens but rarely revisited since. With some life, experience—and simply some time—under my belt, I have a vastly greater appreciation for his work. … Continue reading →

Posted in Art & Life & Politics | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Confusing Criticism

Posted on 7/12/2009 by chris

Despite focusing in part on a poem that illustrates why I have to give August Kleinzahler poetic props even if he does come across as a bit of an ass sometimes, this is the kind of criticism I find—umm—confusing. I’m … Continue reading →

Posted in Art & Life & Politics | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Bill Knott on Robert Hass

Posted on 7/5/2009 by chris

I recently ‘fessed up to a friend that I sometimes enjoy William Logan’s vicious reviews. I don’t necessarily agree with the substance of Logan’s criticism—in fact I agree with most of the well-publicized pans—but I admire his verbal facility, his … Continue reading →

Posted in Art & Life & Politics | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Trust, Nihilism and Criticism

Posted on 5/4/2009 by chris

There’s a brilliant essay by Ihab Hassan on "Literary Theory in an Age of Globalization" in Philosophy and Literature. A few bits and bobs: I seem to have cornered myself into the position that aesthetics generally, and literary theory in … Continue reading →

Posted in Art & Life & Politics | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

on avoiding a Ph.D in literary criticism (Kay Ryan)

Posted on 3/25/2009 by chris

“I couldn’t bear the idea of being a doctor of something I couldn’t fix.” –Kay Ryan from Salon

Posted in Commonplace Book | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Slate Audio Book Club and Not Getting It

Posted on 3/24/2009 by chris

I’ve just finished listening to an absolutely maddening episode of the Slate Audio Book Club:  on Infinite Jest which reaches epic heights of cluelessness. You’d think that with three reviewers–Troy Patterson, Katie Roiphe and James Surowiecki–there’d be a bit more … Continue reading →

Posted in Art & Life & Politics | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

on "The New Fiction" (Elizabeth Hardwick)

Posted on 3/20/2009 by chris

What is honorable in "so it goes" and in the mournful brilliance of Barthelme’s stories … in Speedboat, in the conundrums of V. is the intelligence that questions the shape of life at every point. It is important to concede … Continue reading →

Posted in Commonplace Book | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Dickman, Schiavo, and Bad Reviews

Posted on 3/9/2009 by chris

A post on a mailing list brought my attention to Michael Schiavo’s body-slamming take down of Matthew Dickman’s recent volume of poetry All-American Poem. I don’t have any real problem with negative reviews, though I do find them generally less-than-productive … Continue reading →

Posted in Art & Life & Politics | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments