Category: Book Reviewing
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The Ease of Criticism
Some remarks by Robert Minto on the simplicity of the disposition that lends itself to critical reading and writing.
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Beyond the Praise
An appreciation of Daniel Green’s reviews of Anna Burns’ Milkman and David Hayden’s short story collection Darker With the Lights On.
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The Songlines and the Songlines
It’s been thirty years since Bruce Chatwin published The Songlines. That’s the kind of anniversary that usually elicits either a renewed celebration and revival of a work or a fresh attempt to boot the author up the arse, a la Nicolas Rothwell upon the publication of Chatwin’s letters. Intriguingly, with consummate skill and nuance, Richard Cooke has…
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A Rarity
Tessa Hadley’s review of Jon McGregor’s Reservoir 13 is a model of what broadsheet criticism can accomplish.
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An Exemplary Intensity
A review of Daniel Green’s collection of literary criticism and metacriticism, Beyond the Blurb.
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Why Tenth of December?
Of all of George Saunders’ story collections, why was this the one that received the most media coverage, the most rave reviews, the most prestigious awards, the most commendations in end-of-year retrospectives, and arguably the most readers? Saunders’ theme, as usual, is the degradation of lives lived under the boot heel of neoliberal economics. His…
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End-of-Year Pleasures and One Disappointment
The recent flurry of ‘best of’ lists that appear without fail at this time of year has reminded me of many of the wonderful books I read in 2013 and alerted me to others I hope to turn to in 2014. Equally, though, it has made me aware of just how many of the best…
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Decline and Fall
Like the best examples of the genre [of the ‘decline of literary criticism’ polemic], [Gideon] Haigh’s glints with aphorisms, but it is also typically brief when it comes to articulating what is at stake. His piece informed a debate on Australian literary reviewing late in 2010, hosted by the Wheeler Centre in Melbourne. The participants…
Infinite Patience 