Arthur Krystal

Except When I Write (eBook, PDF)

Reflections of a Recovering Critic

• Format: PDF

Produktbeschreibung

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.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Oxford University Press
• Seitenzahl: 208
• Erscheinungstermin: 1. Juni 2011
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9780199782628
• Artikelnr.: 38128482

Autorenporträt

Arthur Krystal has written for The New Yorker, Harpers, the American Scholar, the Times Literary Supplement, The New York Times Book Review, and other publications. He is the author of The Half-Life of an American Essayist and Agitations: Essays on Life and Literature. The title essay of Except When I Write was selected for inclusion in the 2010 edition of Best American Essays. He lives in New York City.

Inhaltsangabe

Introduction
Chapter 1: Carpe Noctern: A little night history
Chapter 2: En Garde!The history of duelling
Chapter 3: Too True: The Art of the Aphorism
Chapter 4: Jacques Barzun
Chapter 5: The Great Depression
Chapter 6: Slow Fade: F. Scott Fitzgerald in Hollywood
Chapter 7: The Long Goodbye: Notes on the Sixties
Chapter 8: Except When I Write
Index