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Ο καράφλας είναι πολύ καλός. Αρθρογράφος, συγγραφέας, κριτικός και διάφορα άλλα, επιδίδεται σε ξέφρενες αναλύσεις και κριτικές ως επί το πλείστον επί της αρχαίας ελληνικής γραμματείας και της μεταφοράς και απόδοσής της στη σύγχρονη εποχή από σκηνοθέτες, σεναριογράφους, αποψάκηδες που «πειράζουν» και προσαρμόζουν τα έργα σύμφωνα με το δικό τους αισθητήριο.Το Περιμένοντας τους Βαρβάρους είναι μέρος της αρθρογραφίας του στο New York Review of Books και μπορεί να διαβαστεί αποσπασματικά, για όταν έ...
An immersive experience for people who try to write intelligent cultural criticism (that includes me) as well as those who enjoy reading it. For popular culture fans, there's plenty here to think about; the middle section of essays on classics will be a chore, but a worthy one. It's difficult to quibble, since Daniel Mendelsohn could write circles around most of us, but I'm not sure every piece here was meant to live between hardcovers. Some of the insights he lands on are eloquently demonstrate...
i feel like i've expressed my wish to be a number of different literary figures at some point or another, but when you—or i guess when i—get right down to it, and keep in mind my actual interests & predilections, there is no one i want to be when i grow up more than daniel mendelsohn, really, who is perfect. everything about his career is everything i want (except for the teaching at Bard part, i could never teach, which doesn't really bode well). i'm having a hard time articulating just how goo...
(5 stars for the classical section, 3 stars for the final 2, averaging out to 4 stars overall rating) A reader's enjoyment of this collection of essays is really going to depend on his or her set of pre-established interests. Mendelsohn's writing is sharp and his thinking incisive, but I found my interest tapering off in the last two sections (reviews of contemporary fiction and memoirs). However, I positively really enjoyed the first section on modern day "Spectacles," i.e. theatrical productio...
I never tire of reading Daniel's criticism. Calling it criticism seems almost a disservice, and a term like cultural commentary seems more descriptive. Whether explaining the relevance of classicism to contemporary dilemmas, unearthing nuanced subtexts in popular culture, or contextualizing classics, his writing never fails to delight and enlighten.
In all honesty, this book is a 4.5 rather than a 4 or a straight 5. Daniel Mendelsohn writes incredibly refreshing and eloquent critics, and this is a collection of some of his best. Going from Cameron to Glass to Sontag, I felt like I learnt equally as much about myself as I did about the artists and their work. What struck me most is how balanced Mendelsohn's reviews tends to be, never focusing on a nitty-gritty detail, but always placing the artwork in the larger context of both the artist an...
Mendelsohn's critical essays are not easily read, at least not by this plebian reader, asunfamiliar with the works of Stendhal, Antonio Munoz Molina, or even Herodotus as I am, but if you are willing to plunge in, still worth the effort. At the very least, you will learn what books you are unlikely to enjoy reading (Johnathan Littell's THE KINDLY ONES, and Susan Sontag's novels, for example), and more importantly, you will learn WHY you, or someone else, may or may not appreciate those works. Re...
"Μια από τις αποστολές του λογίου, πέρα από την αυστηρή έρευνα, είναι και η πεφωτισμένη εκλαϊκευση", σημείωνε ο Ουμπέρτο Έκο κι είναι ένα χάρισμα που διαθέτει ο Daniel Mendelsohn. Αφορμή για τα περισσότερα κείμενα του είναι η κινηματογραφική ή θεατρική κριτική, εν τέλει όμως πρόκειται για δοκίμια που βοηθούν τον αναγνώστη/θεατή να εκλεπτύνει το αισθητήριο του και να εμπλουτίσει τα κριτήρια του ως προς την ποιητική δημιουργία. Με την ικανότητα του να πραγματεύεται κλασσικά έργα με σύγχρονους, οικ...
I never imagined I would read a collection of book reviews for pleasure, but Mendelsohn is such a good writer. The section on the classics in particular is amazing.