barcode: dc. However, essays in biography, I occasionally felt that the title to this book should instead be Essays from Biographies, rather than Essays in Biography. Sort order. Search Metadata Search text contents Search TV news captions Search archived websites Advanced Search. Error rating book.
Item Preview
Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Preview — Essays in Biography by Joseph Epstein. Essays in Biography by Joseph Epstein. Who is the greatest living essayist writing in English? Unquestionably Joseph Epstein. Epstein is penetrating. He is witty. He has a magic touch with words, that hard to define but immediately recognizable quality called style. Above all, he is impossible to put down. How easy it is today to forget the simple delight of reading for no intended purpose. Each of the 39 piece Who is the essays in biography living essayist writing in English?
Each of the 39 pieces in this book is a pure pleasure to read. Get A Copy. Hardcoverpages. Published October 16th by Axios Press first published September 14th essays in biography More Details Other Editions 2. All Editions Add a New Edition Combine. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign essays in biography. To ask other readers questions about Essays in Biographyplease sign up. Lists with This Book. This book is not yet essays in biography on Listopia. Add this book to your favorite list ». Community Reviews. Showing Average essays in biography 3. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Start your review of Essays in Biography. Oct 29, Carl Rollyson rated it it was amazing.
Joseph Epstein is one of the best essayists in contemporary American letters. A traditionalist who adopts a wary view of literary trends and personalities, he takes no prisoners when confronting unwarranted reputations, essays in biography. Here is how his review essays in biography Sigrid Nunez's memoir of Susan Sontag begins: "Susan Sontag, as F. Leavis said of the Sitwells, belongs less to the history of literature than to that of publicity. Epstein is, in some respects, a throwback to the Leavis era, with its touting of a "great tradition" in literature. But Mr, essays in biography.
Epstein is not a throwback insofar as he is constantly engaged with the present and with an impressive array of subjects: from Malcolm Gladwell to George Washington, from Alexander Solzhenitsyn to Joe DiMaggio "Essays in Biography" is divided into sections on Americans the largestEnglishmen, popular culture and "Others. Epstein's ability to capture a subject in a memorable 3, words should be the envy of biographers, who write at greater length but sometimes with no greater effect. Biographies are vats of facts that take patience to digest; Mr.
Epstein's essays are brilliant distillations. Biographers are rarely as nimble and pithy as he can be, and they labor under constraints he would surely chafe at. Indeed, the author once returned the advance for a biography of John Dos Passos that he had agreed to write, an enterprise that would surely have taxed his desire to say what he really thinks. Biographers don't say what they think? A biography—whatever its rewards—usually comes complete with shackles. Biographers have opinions, but bald judgments are usually eschewed. The biography of Susan Sontag that I co-wrote "Susan Sontag: The Making of an Icon" could not have begun with Mr.
Epstein's first sentence; it would have been called tendentious and worse. The biographical narrative is supposed to unfold without editorializing, and most biographers will say it isn't their place to judge but to understand—although Mr. Epstein might counter that judgment is a form of understanding. The value Mr. Epstein brings to biography is an incisive grasp of person and prose. This essays in biography comes out in his review of Saul Bellow's letters. Epstein knew Bellow and was in a position to observe the touchy novelist's interactions with friends. As a result, the review comes to life as both criticism and biography: "Saul had two valves on his emotional trumpet: intimacy and contempt.
Epstein thinks "Herzog" works so well because of the letters the title character writes to all sorts of addressees, concluding that, "in some ways," the letter was Bellow's "true métier. Epstein is to be prized for his ability to stand back from the biographical field, so to speak, while taking aboard the insights of biographers. He brings to biography what he calls "the amateur view" in an essay on George Washington, in which he draws on historians like Barry Schwartz and Gordon S. Epstein cites a chapter from Lord Bryce's "The American Commonwealth" called "Why Great Men Are Not Chosen Presidents" and embarks on an extended meditation on just why it is not quite so easy to determine if Washington was a great man. Bryce asserts that the American voter does not mind settling for mediocrity and actually prefers someone who is safe over someone with an original or profound mind.
Of Washington, Mr. Epstein asks: "Was he an authentically great man, or instead merely the right man for his time? Epstein implies that historian Forrest McDonald came close to suggesting Washington was a myth that the country needed to believe in. Perhaps only Mr. Epstein would then refer to "Pride and Prejudice," comparing the reader's tendency to identify with Elizabeth Bennet, because she is left undescribed, to Americans' desire to read into Washington traits the country most covets. Then comes a classic Epstein formulation: "Washington was famous even before he was great, monumental while still drawing breath, apotheosized while still very much alive, essays in biography. Epstein builds a biographical schema that does not have to be labored over for pages. The essayist concludes that Washington's greatness inheres in his moral character, in his "genius for discerning right action.
flag 3 likes · Like · see review. View 1 comment. Dec 02, Joan Colby rated it it was amazing. Joseph Essays in biography must be acknowledged as the supreme essayist of our time. In this book, he tackles individuals ranging from George Washington to Alfred Kinsey and various in between with his customary combination of erudition and elan. Many of these essays honor and admire their subjects, essays in biography, a few skin them alive, essays in biography. I particularly enjoyed the profiles of Washington, Santayana, Bellow, Malamud, Max Beerbohm, T. Eliot, George Gershwin and Erich Heller. flag 1 like · Like · see review, essays in biography.
Oct 11, Lauren Albert rated it liked it Shelves: biography-autobiographyessays. I've read all of Epstein's essay collections and this was the one I have liked least. He wears his biases on his sleeve here--something that annoys me regardless of whether I agree with them or not. Perhaps it is not a coincidence that his humor was not as evident here as in his other collections. View 2 comments. Mar 24, John rated it really liked it. The biographer's curse is to never really get across everything they might wish to say about their subject. Fortunately, Joseph Epstein is not a carrier of this curse. Requiring only pages per subject, the essays in biography of Essays in Biography essays in biography allowed an interesting, critical, and enlightening look into a plethora of individuals of differing character, essays in biography, abilities, and contributions to society.
With a cast as diverse as George Washington, Saul Bellow, T. Eliot, and Xenophon, there really is eno The biographer's curse is to never really get across everything they might wish to say about their subject.
persuasive argument essay examples
classification: Biography Collection dc. keywords: Lives Of Economists dc. keywords: Newton The Man dc. keywords: Bonar Law dc. keywords: Edwin Montagu dc. keywords: Winston Churchill dc. title: Essays In Biography dc. type: Print - Paper dc. type: Book dc. diskno: NE-DLI-TR Uploaded by Public Resource on January 26, Internet Archive's 25th Anniversary Logo. Internet Archive logo A line drawing of the Internet Archive headquarters building façade. Search icon An illustration of a magnifying glass. User icon An illustration of a person's head and chest. Sign up Log in. Web icon An illustration of a computer application window Wayback Machine Texts icon An illustration of an open book.
Books Video icon An illustration of two cells of a film strip. Video Audio icon An illustration of an audio speaker. Audio Software icon An illustration of a 3. Software Images icon An illustration of two photographs. Images Donate icon An illustration of a heart shape Donate Ellipses icon An illustration of text ellipses. Search Metadata Search text contents Search TV news captions Search archived websites Advanced Search. Essays In Biography Item Preview. remove-circle Share or Embed This Item. EMBED for wordpress. com hosted blogs and archive. Want more? Web icon An illustration of a computer application window Wayback Machine Texts icon An illustration of an open book. Books Video icon An illustration of two cells of a film strip. Video Audio icon An illustration of an audio speaker.
Audio Software icon An illustration of a 3. Software Images icon An illustration of two photographs. Images Donate icon An illustration of a heart shape Donate Ellipses icon An illustration of text ellipses. Search Metadata Search text contents Search TV news captions Search archived websites Advanced Search. Essays in biography Item Preview. remove-circle Share or Embed This Item. EMBED for wordpress. com hosted blogs and archive. Want more? Advanced embedding details, examples, and help! vii, p. Full catalog record MARCXML.
No comments:
Post a Comment