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Tag Archives: criticism
on Zadie Smith and “Ideological Inconsistency” (Michael Wood)
‘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 cpb, criticism, michael wood, nonfiction, Writing, zadie smith
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Jason Guriel on Johnston and Dodds
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 criticism, george johnston, jason guriel, jeramy dodds, poetry, review
1 Comment
Marvelous Criticism II
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 cpb, criticism, critics, marjorie perloff, poetry, reviews
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Marvelous Criticism
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 cpb, criticism, reviews, television
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Reading Log: On Being Blue (William Gass)
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 booklog, color, criticism, essay, language, nonfiction, Philosophy, william gass
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A Surfeit of Seeming
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 books, cpb, criticism, ibn hassan, literature, Philosophy, reading, Writing
3 Comments
"Introduction" to Borges’ Ficciones (Anthony Kerrigan)
[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 anthony kerrigan, cpb, criticism, ficciones, jorge luis borges
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Confusing Criticism
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
Bill Knott on Robert Hass
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 bill knott, criticism, poetry, poets, reviews, robert hass
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Trust, Nihilism and Criticism
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
on avoiding a Ph.D in literary criticism (Kay Ryan)
“I couldn’t bear the idea of being a doctor of something I couldn’t fix.” –Kay Ryan from Salon
Slate Audio Book Club and Not Getting It
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 audio, books, criticism, david foster wallace, dfw, infinite jest
9 Comments
on "The New Fiction" (Elizabeth Hardwick)
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 cpb, criticism, elizabeth hardwick, writers on writing
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Dickman, Schiavo, and Bad Reviews
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 criticism, matthew dickman, michael schiavo, poetics, reviews
3 Comments