num_pages: 211
description: In a collection that includes new essays written explicitly for this volume one of our sharpest and most influential critics confronts the past present and future of literary culture.If every outlet for book criticism suddenly disappeared  if all we had were reviews that treated books like any other commodity  could the novel survive? In a gauntlet-throwing essay at the start of this brilliant assemblage Cynthia Ozick stakes the claim that just as surely as critics require a steady supply of new fiction novelists need great critics to build a vibrant community on the foundation of literary history. For decades Ozick herself has been one of our great critics as these essays so clearly display. She offers models of critical analysis of writers from the mid-twentieth century to today from Saul Bellow Bernard Malamud and Kafka to William Gass and Martin Amis all assembled in provocatively named groups: Fanatics Monsters Figures and others. Uncompromising and brimming with insight these essays are essential reading for anyone facing the future of literature in the digital age.
language: English
title: Critics, Monsters, Fanatics, and Other Literary Essays
publisher: Mariner Books