An Artificial Wilderness (A Nonpareil Book, #59) - Softcover

Birkerts, Sven

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0879238070 ISBN 13: 9780879238070

Publisher: David R. Godine, Publisher, 1990

Synopsis

A celebration in text and art of the many facets of English country life, from bee-keeping to cider-making. With thirty-three wood engravings of exquisite detail.

About this title

From Library Journal

Poststructural critics and post-modern American novelists irritate Birkerts because they insert a "membrane of self" between the work and the reader. His favorite critics are those who, like Walter Benjamin, display "a sensibility as opposed to an intelligence," or, like Roger Shattuck, explore the "margins of culture." His favorite novelistsalmost all Europeanreach beyond a facile vision of the abyss to a more complex and comprehensive prospect of futurity. What marks the nearly 30 novelists he discusses is their commitment to an intuitive, poetic language that fleshes out an image of a world flawed but rich in potential. Birkerts's prose is lucid and aphoristic, his criticism rich in apercus but often flawed by excess. Though he undervalues American fiction, and overvalues European, he makes his case with passion and clarity. Arthur Waldhorn, City Coll., CUNY
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly

"If recent fiction consisted exclusively of American postmodernists, modern literature would be in deep trouble, contends Birkerts. In this latest gathering of brilliant essays, he examines the decline of humanist faith, a theme that links an international community of writers," remarked PW.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: David R. Godine, Publisher
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0879238070
• ISBN 13: 9780879238070
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 430