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elaineisxyz's review against another edition
4.0
J.M. Coetzee is a masterful writer and a masterful critic, and this collection of essays on other writers gives you a fantastic scope of insight. The only criticism I have of it really is that 1) not all writers seemed to be worth the level of critique he gave to them and 2) it is predominantly white and male.
The last part is especially surprising because so many of the essays center around the experience of their authors' complicated relationships to the geopolitical realities of their time. The entire chapter about Holderlin was through the lens of its translation by a Scotsman. Much is made of Samuel Beckett's decision to consider France his true home. I would have loved to see this level of psychoanalysis applied to more than just one woman (Irene Nemirovsky), one South American (Antonio di Benedetto) and one African (Namaqua chief Hendrik Witbooi) - especially as those critiques show Coetzee's ability to bring the same level of nuance and perspective to their worlds.
Still, there are so many gems in this that I'd enthusiastically recommend it to anyone interested in literature. It's given much more color to the works of Hawthorne, Flaubert, Tolstoy and Beckett to know their authors' histories and the context they were writing in.
The last part is especially surprising because so many of the essays center around the experience of their authors' complicated relationships to the geopolitical realities of their time. The entire chapter about Holderlin was through the lens of its translation by a Scotsman. Much is made of Samuel Beckett's decision to consider France his true home. I would have loved to see this level of psychoanalysis applied to more than just one woman (Irene Nemirovsky), one South American (Antonio di Benedetto) and one African (Namaqua chief Hendrik Witbooi) - especially as those critiques show Coetzee's ability to bring the same level of nuance and perspective to their worlds.
Still, there are so many gems in this that I'd enthusiastically recommend it to anyone interested in literature. It's given much more color to the works of Hawthorne, Flaubert, Tolstoy and Beckett to know their authors' histories and the context they were writing in.
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