{"product_id":"the-irresponsible-self-on-laughter-and-the-novel-9781844130979","title":"The Irresponsible Self: On Laughter and the Novel","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen James Wood's first collection of essays,\u003ci\u003e The Broken Estate\u003c\/i\u003e, was published in 1999, the reviewers hailed a master critic. The common thread in Wood's latest collection of essays is what makes us laugh - and the book is an attempt to distinguish between the perhaps rather limited English comedy (as seen in Waugh, for example) and a 'continental' tragic-comedy, which he sees as real, universal and quixotic. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA particularly acerbic, and very funny, essay - which has been widely celebrated - deals with Zadie Smith, Rushdie, Pynchon and DeLillo; its title, 'Hysterical Realism', has already entered the phrasebook of literary language. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith its brilliant studies of Shakespeare, Dickens and Dostoevsky, Naipaul, Pritchett and Bellow, \u003ci\u003eThe Irresponsible Self\u003c\/i\u003e offers more exhilarating despatches from one of our finest living critics.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWood is one of the finest critics at work today, heir to Coleridge, Hazlitt and V. S. Pritchett...He combines the breadth and seriousness of Edmund Wilson with the pellucid prose style of Cyril Connolly...Wood pursues his craft with a high seriousness the like of which we had not thought to see again after the death of Lionel Trilling -- John Banville * Irish Times *\u003cbr\u003eBreathtakingly good... James Wood is pretty much as good a general critic of literary fiction as you'll find writing in English at the moment * The Times *\u003cbr\u003eA stylish writer as well as a clear-sighted reader. His prose bristles with the sort of epigrammatic brilliance that asks challenging questions even when providing answers * Spectator *\u003cbr\u003eThe most urgent and morally demanding critic around is the brilliant James Wood... A second powerful collection * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003eThis is a collection to be read by anyone who wouldn't normally dream of reading literary criticism * Financial Times *","brand":"Vintage Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51926311731543,"sku":"9781844130979","price":999.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/the-irresponsible-self-on-laughter-and-the-novel-9781844130979","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}