To Criticize the Critic and Other Writings
To Criticize the Critic and Other Writings

Author: Thomas Stearns Eliot

Publisher: U of Nebraska Press

Published: 1992-01-01

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 9780803267213

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These influential essay and lectures by T. S. Eliot span nearly a half century--from 1917, when he published The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, to 1961, four years before his death. With the luminosity and clarity of a first-rate intellect, Eliot considers the uses of literary criticism, the writers who had the greatest influence on his own work, and the importance of being truly educated. Every thoughtful person who yearns to do more than simply get through the day will be reinforced by The Aims of Education. Other pieces include To Criticize the Critic, From Poe to Valäry, American Literature and the American Language, What Dante Means to Me, The Literature of Politics, The Classics and the Man of Letters, Ezra Pound: His Metric and Poetry, and Reflections on Vers Libre.

Except When I Write
Except When I Write

Author: Arthur Krystal

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2011-06-01

Total Pages: 213

ISBN-13: 0199782628

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When cultural critics with such wildly divergent views as Jacques Barzun, Christopher Hitchens, Joseph Epstein, Dana Gioia, and Morris Dickstein all agree about the merits of one contemporary essayist, shouldn't you find out why? "I never think except when I sit down to write." -- Attributed to Montaigne by Edgar Allan Poe From Montaigne in the sixteenth century to Orwell, Eliot, and Trilling in the twentieth, the best literary essayists combine a gift for observation with an abiding commitment to books. Although it may seem that books are becoming less essential and that a revolution in sensibility is taking place, the essays of Arthur Krystal suggest otherwise. Companionable without being chummy, engaged without being didactic, erudite without being stuffy, he demonstrates that literature, even in the digital age, remains the truest expression of the human condition. Covering subjects as diverse as aphorisms, dueling, the night, and the 1960s, the essays gathered here offer the common reader uncommon pleasure. In prose that is both vibrant and elegant, Krystal negotiates among myriad subjects-from historical writing as exemplified by Jacques Barzun to the art of screenwriting as not so happily represented by F. Scott Fitzgerald. His cardinal rule as a writer? William Hazlitt's "Confound it, man, don't be insipid." No fear of that. Except When I Write is thoughtful in the most joyful sense-brimming with ideas in order to give us the flow and cadence of someone actually thinking. Keenly observant and death on pretension, Krystal examines the world of books without ever losing sight of the world beyond them. Literature may be the bedrock on which these essays rest, but as F. R. Leavis aptly noted, "One cannot seriously be interested in literature and remain purely literary in interests." Except When I Write is a reminder of both the pleasure and the power of a well-tuned essay.

Toxic Criticism
Toxic Criticism

Author: Eric Maisel

Publisher: McGraw Hill Professional

Published: 2006-09-20

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 0071465553

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We've all felt the sting of criticism . . . Sometimes painful barbs from friends, family, coworkers, or strangers can lodge in our minds and eat away at our core. When you allow criticism--even self-criticism--to affect you that powerfully, it can be toxic. And if you don't break the cycle, toxic criticism can make you sick, strain relationships, and prevent you from fulfilling your dreams. But you don't have to live that way! By using the proven strategies in Toxic Criticism, you can deflect any hurtful comment that comes your way, rationally decide whether the criticism has any validity, and, if you choose, give a calculated response or use it as an opportunity to make a positive change. Once you've mastered the techniques in Toxic Criticism, you'll be able to: Dismiss negative comments before they make you upset Take away the power of criticism by believing in yourself Live a positive life, driven by feeling of self-worth instead of self-loathing Silence your inner critic, and listen to the voice of confidence

Better Living Through Criticism
Better Living Through Criticism

Author: A. O. Scott

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2017-02-07

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 0143109979

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The New York Times film critic shows why we need criticism now more than ever Few could explain, let alone seek out, a career in criticism. Yet what A.O. Scott shows in Better Living Through Criticism is that we are, in fact, all critics: because critical thinking informs almost every aspect of artistic creation, of civil action, of interpersonal life. With penetrating insight and warm humor, Scott shows that while individual critics--himself included--can make mistakes and find flaws where they shouldn't, criticism as a discipline is one of the noblest, most creative, and urgent activities of modern existence. Using his own film criticism as a starting point--everything from his infamous dismissal of the international blockbuster The Avengers to his intense affection for Pixar's animated Ratatouille--Scott expands outward, easily guiding readers through the complexities of Rilke and Shelley, the origins of Chuck Berry and the Rolling Stones, the power of Marina Abramovich and 'Ode on a Grecian Urn.' Drawing on the long tradition of criticism from Aristotle to Susan Sontag, Scott shows that real criticism was and always will be the breath of fresh air that allows true creativity to thrive. "The time for criticism is always now," Scott explains, "because the imperative to think clearly, to insist on the necessary balance of reason and passion, never goes away."

Lucky Breaks
Lucky Breaks

Author: Yevgenia Belorusets

Publisher: New Directions Publishing

Published: 2022-03-01

Total Pages: 163

ISBN-13: 0811229858

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Powerful, off-beat stories about women living in the shadow of the now-frozen, now-thawing war in Ukraine Out of the impoverished coal regions of Ukraine known as the Donbass, where Russian secret military intervention coexists with banditry and insurgency, the women of Yevgenia Belorusets’s captivating collection of stories emerge from the ruins of a war, still being waged on and off, ever since the 2014 Revolution of Dignity. Through a series of unexpected encounters, we are pulled into the ordinary lives of these anonymous women: a florist, a cosmetologist, card players, readers of horoscopes, the unemployed, and a witch who catches newborns with a mitt. One refugee tries unsuccessfully to leave her broken umbrella behind as if it were a sick relative; a private caregiver in a disputed zone saves her elderly charge from the angel of death; a woman sits down on International Women’s Day and can no longer stand up; a soldier decides to marry war. Belorusets threads these tales of ebullient survival with a mix of humor, verisimilitude, the undramatic, and a profound Gogolian irony. She also weaves in twenty-three photographs that, in lyrical and historical counterpoint, form their own remarkable visual narrative.

Ecstasy and Terror
Ecstasy and Terror

Author: Daniel Mendelsohn

Publisher: New York Review of Books

Published: 2019-10-08

Total Pages: 385

ISBN-13: 1681374099

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“The role of the critic,” Daniel Mendelsohn writes, “is to mediate intelligently and stylishly between a work and its audience; to educate and edify in an engaging and, preferably, entertaining way.” His latest collection exemplifies the range, depth, and erudition that have made him “required reading for anyone interested in dissecting culture” (The Daily Beast). In Ecstasy and Terror, Mendelsohn once again casts an eye at literature, film, television, and the personal essay, filtering his insights through his training as a scholar of classical antiquity in illuminating and sometimes surprising ways. Many of these essays look with fresh eyes at our culture’s Greek and Roman models: some find an arresting modernity in canonical works (Bacchae, the Aeneid), while others detect a “Greek DNA” in our responses to national traumas such as the Boston Marathon bombings and the assassination of JFK. There are pieces on contemporary literature, from the “aesthetics of victimhood” in Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life to the uncomfortable mixture of art and autobiography in novels by Henry Roth, Ingmar Bergman, and Karl Ove Knausgård. Mendelsohn considers pop culture, too, in essays on the feminism of Game of Thrones and on recent films about artificial intelligence—a subject, he reminds us, that was already of interest to Homer. This collection also brings together for the first time a number of the award-winning memoirist’s personal essays, including his “critic’s manifesto” and a touching reminiscence of his boyhood correspondence with the historical novelist Mary Renault, who inspired him to study the Classics.

The Successful Author Mindset
The Successful Author Mindset

Author: Joanna Penn

Publisher:

Published: 2018-12-06

Total Pages: 164

ISBN-13: 9781912105427

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Being a writer is not just about typing. It's also about surviving the roller-coaster of the creative journey. Self-doubt, fear of failure, the need for validation, perfectionism, writer's block, comparisonitis, overwhelm, and much more. This book offers a survival strategy and ways to deal with them all.

On Criticism
On Criticism

Author: Noel Carroll

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2009-06-02

Total Pages: 239

ISBN-13: 1134221304

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In a recent poll of practicing art critics, 75 percent reported that rendering judgments on artworks was the least significant aspect of their job. This is a troubling statistic for philosopher and critic Noel Carroll, who argues that that the proper task of the critic is not simply to describe, or to uncover hidden meanings or agendas, but instead to determine what is of value in art. Carroll argues for a humanistic conception of criticism which focuses on what the artist has achieved by creating or performing the work. Whilst a good critic should not neglect to contextualize and offer interpretations of a work of art, he argues that too much recent criticism has ignored the fundamental role of the artist's intentions. Including examples from visual, performance and literary arts, and the work of contemporary critics, Carroll provides a charming, erudite and persuasive argument that evaluation of art is an indispensable part of the conversation of life.