Synopses & Reviews
Over the past decade and a half, Daniel Mendelsohn’s reviews for
The New York Review of Books,
The New Yorker, and
The New York Times Book Review have earned him a reputation as “one of the greatest critics of our time” (
Poets& Writers). In
Waiting for the Barbarians, he brings together twenty-four of his recent essays—each one glinting with “verve and sparkle,” “acumen and passion”—on a wide range of subjects, from
Avatar to the poems of Arthur Rimbaud, from our inexhaustible fascination with the
Titanic to Susan Sontag’s
Journals. Trained as a classicist, author of two internationally best-selling memoirs, Mendelsohn moves easily from penetrating considerations of the ways in which the classics continue to make themselves felt in contemporary life and letters (Greek myth in the
Spider-Man musical, Anne Carson’s translations of Sappho) to trenchant takes on pop spectacles—none more explosively controversial than his dissection of
Mad Men.
Also gathered here are essays devoted to the art of fiction, from Jonathan Littell’s Holocaust blockbuster The Kindly Ones to forgotten gems like the novels of Theodor Fontane. In a final section, “Private Lives,” prefaced by Mendelsohn’sNew Yorker essay on fake memoirs, he considers the lives and work of writers as disparate as Leo Lerman, Noël Coward, and Jonathan Franzen. Waiting for the Barbarians once again demonstrates that Mendelsohn’s “sweep as a cultural critic is as impressive as his depth.”
Synopsis
FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD
AND THE PEN ART OF THE ESSAY AWARD
Over the past decade and a half, Daniel Mendelsohn's reviews for The New York Review of Books, The New Yorker, and The New York Times Book Review have earned him a reputation as "one of the greatest critics of our time" (Poets & Writers). In Waiting for the Barbarians, he brings together twenty-four of his recent essays--each one glinting with "verve and sparkle," "acumen and passion"--on a wide range of subjects, from Avatar to the poems of Arthur Rimbaud, from our inexhaustible fascination with the Titanic to Susan Sontag's Journals. Trained as a classicist, author of two internationally best-selling memoirs, Mendelsohn moves easily from penetrating considerations of the ways in which the classics continue to make themselves felt in contemporary life and letters (Greek myth in the Spider-Man musical, Anne Carson's translations of Sappho) to trenchant takes on pop spectacles--none more explosively controversial than his dissection of Mad Men.
Also gathered here are essays devoted to the art of fiction, from Jonathan Littell's Holocaust blockbuster The Kindly Ones to forgotten gems like the novels of Theodor Fontane. In a final section, "Private Lives," prefaced by Mendelsohn's New Yorker essay on fake memoirs, he considers the lives and work of writers as disparate as Leo Lerman, Noel Coward, and Jonathan Franzen. Waiting for the Barbarians once again demonstrates that Mendelsohn's "sweep as a cultural critic is as impressive as his depth."
Synopsis
Waiting for the Barbarians: Essays on Culture High and Low, 1996–2011 is a collection of Daniel Mendelsohn’s critical essays, taken mostly from the pages of The New York Review of Books and The New Yorker. Unlike his previous collection of writings, How Beautiful It Is and How Easily It Can Be Broken, which focused on the interesting failures of contemporary artists to grasp the classical tradition, Waiting for the Barbarians focuses on the sublime, and on the successful (and sometimes unsuccessful) modern interpretations of the classical mode. In this way Mendelsohn explores the changing judgment of value in art, using his background as a classicist to test our contemporary popular culture against lasting tradition.
Synopsis
In Waiting for the Barbarians, Daniel Mendelsohn--hailed by The Economist as one of the finest critics writing in the English language today--brings together twenty-four of his recent critical essays. In this collection, Mendelsohn moves from penetrating considerations of the ways in which the classics continue to make themselves felt in contemporary life and letters (Anne Carson's translations of Sappho, the marketing of the 2004 Summer Olympic Games) to trenchant takes on pop "spectacles" such as Avatar, Spider-Man, and Mad Men, a series whose success, Mendelsohn argued, has less to do with any formal excellence than with a profoundly sentimental appeal. Also gathered here are essays devoted to the art of fiction, from blockbusters such as Jonathan Littell's The Kindly Ones to underappreciated gems like the novels of Theodor Fontane. In a final section, "Private Lives," prefaced by his lengthy New Yorker essay on phony memoirs, Mendelsohn considers the lives and work of authors as disparate as Noel Coward, Susan Sontag, and Jonathan Franzen.
Synopsis
In Waiting for the Barbarians, Daniel Mendelsohn--considered by some to be one of the greatest critics of our time (Poets & Writers)--brings together twenty-four of his recent essays on a dazzlingly broad range of subjects from Avatar to Stendhal and from the Titanic to Susan Sontag. In this collection, Mendelsohn moves from penetrating considerations of the ways in which the classics continue to make themselves felt in contemporary life and letters (Anne Carson's translations of Sappho, Greek myth in Spider-Man) to trenchant takes on pop spectacles--none more controversial than his brilliant essay on Mad Men, Tina Brown's first choice for NPR's Must Reads. Also gathered here are essays devoted to the art of fiction, from Jonathan Littell's blockbuster The Kindly Ones to forgotten gems like the novels of Theodor Fontane. In a final section, Private Lives, prefaced by his major New Yorker essay on phony memoirs, Mendelsohn considers the lives and work of authors as disparate as Sontag, Noel Coward, and Jonathan Franzen.
About the Author
Daniel Mendelsohn’s reviews and essays on literary and cultural subjects appear frequently in The New York Review of Books and The New Yorker. His books include a memoir, The Elusive Embrace, a Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year; the international best seller The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million; an acclaimed translation of the works of C. P. Cavafy; and a previous collection of essays, How Beautiful It Is and How Easily It Can Be Broken. He teaches at Bard College.