An excellent exploration of the writing process that will particularly interest those who have toyed with the idea of...
An insightful examination of personal narratives.
In the course of her discussion, teacher and journalist Gornick (The End of the Novel of Love, 1997, etc.) observes, “Thirty years ago people who thought they had a story to tell sat down to write a novel. Today they sit down to write a memoir.” She does not try to explain this shift towards personal narrative, but concentrates instead on what distinguishes a successful memoir from a failed one. Not surprisingly, she holds that a successful author draws upon personal experience to illustrate broader truths, which involves engaging “one’s own part in the situation—that is, one’s own frightened or cowardly or self-deceived part.” To illustrate her point, she has culled a variety of personal essays and memoirs that go beyond a simple recital of events. These range from George Orwell’s well-known “Shooting an Elephant” to Lynn Darling’s “For Better and Worse.” To Gornick’s credit, her selection of narratives provides an invigorating reminder of just how subtle and varied the genre can be. As V.S. Pritchett once put it, “It’s all in the art. You get no credit for living.” Thus, Gornick reads Edward Hoagland’s “The Courage of Turtles” as an exploration of the contours of human intimacy. Likewise, James Baldwin’s “Notes of a Native Son” goes beyond the author’s own experience of racial prejudice to confront the complexities of civil society. In personal narratives, a reader must sense the author engaging his or her life dynamically. It is this quality that triggers the reader’s empathy and transforms the work from the purely personal—the Mommie Dearest syndrome—to the universal.
An excellent exploration of the writing process that will particularly interest those who have toyed with the idea of documenting their own experience.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-374-16733-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s...
Music journalist and musician Wald (Talking 'Bout Your Mama: The Dozens, Snaps, and the Deep Roots of Rap, 2014, etc.) focuses on one evening in music history to explain the evolution of contemporary music, especially folk, blues, and rock.
The date of that evening is July 25, 1965, at the Newport Folk Festival, where there was an unbelievably unexpected occurrence: singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, already a living legend in his early 20s, overriding the acoustic music that made him famous in favor of electronically based music, causing reactions ranging from adoration to intense resentment among other musicians, DJs, and record buyers. Dylan has told his own stories (those stories vary because that’s Dylan’s character), and plenty of other music journalists have explored the Dylan phenomenon. What sets Wald's book apart is his laser focus on that one date. The detailed recounting of what did and did not occur on stage and in the audience that night contains contradictory evidence sorted skillfully by the author. He offers a wealth of context; in fact, his account of Dylan's stage appearance does not arrive until 250 pages in. The author cites dozens of sources, well-known and otherwise, but the key storylines, other than Dylan, involve acoustic folk music guru Pete Seeger and the rich history of the Newport festival, a history that had created expectations smashed by Dylan. Furthermore, the appearances on the pages by other musicians—e.g., Joan Baez, the Weaver, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Dave Van Ronk, and Gordon Lightfoot—give the book enough of an expansive feel. Wald's personal knowledge seems encyclopedic, and his endnotes show how he ranged far beyond personal knowledge to produce the book.
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s personal feelings about Dylan's music or persona.Pub Date: July 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-236668-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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