Description
A witty and stylish assessment of the work of two icons of cultural criticism: Susan Sontag and Pauline Kael. Though outwardly they had some things in common--they were both Westerners who came east, both schooled in philosophy, both secular Jews and both single mothers--they were polar opposites in temperament and approach. Seligman approaches both women through their widely discussed work. Kael practiced a kind of verbal jazz--exuberant, excessive, intimate, emotional and funny. Sontag is formal and rather icy. From the beginning it's clear where Seligman's sympathies lie: Sontag is a critic he reveres; but Kael is a critic he loves. But for all his reservations about Sontag, he considers both writers magnificent and his exploration of their differences results in this luminously written landmark of criticism.
Author: Craig Seligman
Publisher: Catapult
Published: 07/01/2005
Pages: 256
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.63lbs
Size: 8.02h x 5.36w x 0.60d
ISBN13: 9781582433127
ISBN10: 1582433127
BISAC Categories:
- Literary Criticism | Women Authors
- Literary Criticism | American | General
- Performing Arts | Film | History & Criticism
Author: Craig Seligman
Publisher: Catapult
Published: 07/01/2005
Pages: 256
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.63lbs
Size: 8.02h x 5.36w x 0.60d
ISBN13: 9781582433127
ISBN10: 1582433127
BISAC Categories:
- Literary Criticism | Women Authors
- Literary Criticism | American | General
- Performing Arts | Film | History & Criticism
About the Author
Craig Seligman was born in Louisiana and educated at Stanford and Oxford. He has been an editor at The New Yorker, Food & Wine, and Salon. He's written criticism for a wide variety of publications, including the San Francisco Examiner (where he was a staff film and book critic in the 1980s), The New Republic, the Threepenny Review, the Village Voice, Artforum, Bookforum, and The New York Times Book Review (where he remains a frequent contributor). He lives in Brooklyn, New York with his partner, Silvana Nova.