The Pritchett Century (Modern Library) - Hardcover

Pritchett, V.S.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0679602445 ISBN 13: 9780679602446

Publisher: Modern Library, 1997

Synopsis

"If, as they say, I am a Man of Letters, I come, like my fellows, at the tail-end of a long and once esteemed tradition in English and American writing. We have no captive audience. We do not teach. We write to be readable and to engage the interest of what Virginia Woolf called 'the common reader.'"
    In a life that spanned almost the entire course of the twentieth century--he was born in 1900 and died in 1997--Sir Victor Pritchett mastered nearly every form of literature: the novel, short fiction, travel writing, biography, criticism, and memoir. Now, Sir Victor's son Oliver has selected representative samples to illustrate the tremendous scope of his father's brilliance. Included in this volume are sections of Pritchett's memoirs, A Cab at the Door and Midnight Oil; his reflections on turning eighty; and an account of a visit to the Appalachians written in 1925. There are also portraits of Dublin, New York, the Amazon, and Spain; selections from the novels Dead Man Leading and Mr. Beluncle; thirteen complete short stories; excerpts from biographies of Turgenev and Chekhov; and critical pieces on Twain, Scott, Dickens, Eliot, Henry James, Tolstoy, Saul Bellow, Salman Rushdie, and others.
    "Pritchett has lived as a man of letters must, by his pen, and he has done it with a freshness of interest and an infectious curiosity that have never waned," observed novelist Mar- garet Drabble. Taken together with Oliver Pritchett's appreciation of his father, and John Bayley's "In Memoriam," The Pritchett Century stands as the most comprehensive collection of Sir Victor's work available in one volume.
The Modern Library has played a significant role in American cultural life for the better part of a century. The series was founded in 1917 by the publishers Boni and Liveright and eight years later acquired by Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer. It provided the foun-dation for their next publishing venture, Random House. The Modern Library has been a staple of the American book trade, providing readers with affordable hard-bound editions of important works of liter-ature and thought. For the Modern Library's seventy-fifth anniversary, Random House redesigned the series, restoring as its emblem the running torchbearer created by Lucian Bernhard in 1925 and refurbishing jackets, bindings, and type, as well as inau-gurating a new program of selecting titles. The Modern Library continues to provide the world's best books, at the best prices.

About this title

From the Back Cover

they say, I am a Man of Letters, I come, like my fellows, at the tail-end of a long and once esteemed tradition in English and American writing. We have no captive audience. We do not teach. We write to be readable and to engage the interest of what Virginia Woolf called 'the common reader.'"
    In a life that spanned almost the entire course of the twentieth century--he was born in 1900 and died in 1997--Sir Victor Pritchett mastered nearly every form of literature: the novel, short fiction, travel writing, biography, criticism, and memoir. Now, Sir Victor's son Oliver has selected representative samples to illustrate the tremendous scope of his father's brilliance. Included in this volume are sections of Pritchett's memoirs, A Cab at the Door and Midnight Oil; his reflections on turning eighty; and an account of a visit to the Appalachians written in 1925. There are also portraits of Dublin, New York, the Amazon, and Spain; selections from the novels Dead Man Leading

Reviews

Pritchett has collected his favorite pieces from the impressive oeuvre of his father, noted critic and writer V.S. Pritchett (1900-97): parts of a Dickensian autobiography, travel pieces covering everything from the Amazon to the Appalachians, book reviews whose subjects range from Balzac to Rushdie, and, of course, his short stories. Raised in squalid surroundings he remembers with hardheaded affection, Pritchett became a revered knight of the realm. His own style was that of the great 19th-century realists?he remained so true to the traditions that a reader will have the impression of opening a book written in an earlier era?but he was open to stylistic innovations, as can be seen from the selections on Saul Bellow and Garcia Marquez. His short stories will undoubtedly remain for some time a model of the genre. With convincing dialog and apt descriptions, they begin near a turning point, presenting a slice-of-life that gives readers a great deal to discuss about human behavior. Recommended for public and academic libraries.?Marilyn Gaddis Rose, SUNY at Binghamton
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Never lofty, he was able in his critical work to convey his excited participation in this three-part agreement--writing to reading to writing again--and, in turn, to link on the next reader, the one now taking in his review, as an indissoluble part of the process. And he could write. Again and again, he is capable of the acute perception, the absolutely convincing illumination of thought, that can transform the eye's journey down a page into a sensual and startling experience.

Edition details

• Publisher: Modern Library
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0679602445
• ISBN 13: 9780679602446
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 704