What makes someone a great reader? Ask a pro. The answer lies in his new memoir of the literary life, one he depicts as a dazzling treasure hunt and exercise of our sympathies.
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Overview
"Michael Dirda may be as close to the ideal critic as we are likely to get."—Annie Proulx
Surveying the dizzying universe of classic books, Michael Dirda, the Pulitzer Prize-winning literary essayist, proves himself to be one of the most engaging critics of our time—and great fun to read. Opening with an impassioned critique of modern reading habits, he then presents many of the great, and idiosyncratic, writers he loves most. In this showcase of one hundred of the world's most astonishing books, Dirda covers a remarkable range of literature, including popular genres such as the detective novel and ghost story, while never neglecting the deeper satisfactions of sometimes overlooked classics. Short-listed for the Los Angeles Times Book Award for criticism, Bound to Please is a glorious celebration of just how much fun reading can be.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780393329636 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc. |
| Publication date: | 05/17/2007 |
| Edition description: | Reprint |
| Pages: | 558 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.20(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.50(d) |
About the Author
Michael Dirda, who won a Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism at the Washington Post Book World, is the author of An Open Book, Bound to Please, and Readings: Essays and Literary Entertainments. He lives in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Table of Contents
Introduction XV
Reading Beyond the Best-Seller List: A Polemic and a Plea XXIII
Old Masters 1
Herodotus: The Histories Robin Waterfield 5
The Bible Tells Us So 9
Tales from Ovid Ted Hughes 17
The Rise of Western Christendom: Triumph and Diversity, A.D. 200-1000. Second Edition Peter Brown 22
The Arabian Nights: A Companion Robert Irwin 27
The Name of the Rose Umberto Eco William Weaver 31
The Civilization of Europe in the Renaissance John Hale 34
William Tyndale: A Biography David Daniell 38
A Dead Man in Deptford Anthony Burgess 42
The Complete Works of Francois Rabelais Donald M. Frame 46
Professionals at Work 51
Vermeer: A View of Delft Anthony Bailey 54
Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self Claire Tomalin 57
Boswell's Presumptuous Task: The Making of the Life of Dr. Johnson Adam Sisman 60
Mason & Dixon Thomas Pynchon 64
Blake Peter Ackroyd 70
The Lunar Men: Five Friends Whose Curiosity Changed the World Jenny Uglow 74
Romantic Dreamers 79
Pushkin: A Biography T. J. Binyon 82
The Manuscript Found in Saragossa Jan Potocki Ian Maclean 87
Victor Hugo Graham Robb 91
Les Fleurs du Mal Charles Baudelaire Richard Howard 96
Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoevsky Richard Pevear Larissa Volokhonsky 102
The Letters of Gustave Flaubert, 1830-1857 Francis Steegmuller 107
The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis Gregory Rabassa 111
Dom Casmurro Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis John Gledson
Visionaries and Moralists 115
Emerson: The Mind on Fire Robert D. Richardson Jr. 118
Lewis Carroll: A Biography Morton N. Cohen 122
John Ruskin: The Early Years Tim Hilton 126
John Ruskin: The Later Years Tim Hilton
An Autobiography Anthony Trollope 131
William Morris: A Life for Our Time Fiona MacCarthy 135
Oscar Wilde Richard Ellmann 139
A. E. Housman: A Critical Biography Norman Page 145
Bernard Shaw. Volume 2, 1898-1918: The Pursuit of Power Michael Holroyd 149
Madame Blavatsky's Baboon: A History of the Mystics, Mediums, and Misfits Who Brought Spiritualism to America Peter Washington 153
We Moderns 157
Marcel Proust: A Life Jean-Yves Tadie Euan Cameron 160
Marcel Proust: Selected Letters. Volume 4, 1918-1922 Philip Kolb Joanna Kilmartin
Proust's Way: A Field Guide to "In Search of Lost Time." Roger Shattuck
Remembrance of Things Past Neville Jason
Memoir of Italo Svevo Livia Veneziani Svevo Isabel Quigley 165
The Letters of T. S. Eliot. Volume 1, 1898-1922 Valerie Eliot 168
Eliot's New Life Lyndall Gordon
Ford Madox Ford Alan Judd 174
The Complete Short Stories Ronald Firbank Steven Moore 179
The Selected Prose of Fernando Pessoa Richard Zenith 183
No Laughing Matter: The Life and Times of Flann O'Brien Anthony Cronin 187
Collected Fictions Jorge Luis Borges Andrew Hurley 193
Djuna: The Life and Work of Djuna Barnes Phillip Herring 197
Nightwood: The Original Version and Related Drafts Djuna Barnes Cheryl J. Plumb
Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett James Knowlson 201
Serious Entertainers 207
Hauntings Vernon Lee 211
Yours, Plum: The Letters of P. G. Wodehouse Frances Donaldson 216
Algernon Blackwood: An Extraordinary Life Mike Ashley 220
Tarzan Forever: The Life of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Creator of Tarzan John Taliaferro 224
Cornell Woolrich: First You Dream, Then You Die Francis M. Nevins Jr. 228
The Avram Davidson Treasury Robert Silverberg Grania Davis 231
The Wine-Dark Sea Robert Aickman 235
Chester Himes: A Life James Sallis 238
Suspects Thomas Berger 242
Sergio Leone: Something to Do with Death Christopher Frayling 245
Grievance K. C. Constantine 250
Second Sight Charles McCarry 254
Night Watch Terry Pratchett 258
Critical Observers 263
Theory of Prose Viktor Shklovsky Benjamin Sher 266
Kipling, Auden & Co.: Essays and Reviews, 1935-1964 Randall Jarrell 269
Lectures on Literature Vladimir Nabokov Fredson Bowers 274
The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages Harold Bloom 278
Up in the Old Hotel Joseph Mitchell 283
My Ears Are Bent Joseph Mitchell
One Art: Letters Elizabeth Bishop Robert Giroux 288
The Sixties: The Last Journal, 1960-1972 Edmund Wilson Lewis M. Dabney 292
United States: Essays, 1952-1992 Gore Vidal 296
The War Against Cliche: Essays and Reviews, 1971-2000 Martin Amis 300
Lovers, Poets, and Madmen 303
Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette Judith Thurman 306
Robert Graves: The Years with Laura Richard Perceval Graves 311
Between Moon and Moon: Selected Correspondence (1946-1971) Robert Graves Paul O'Prey
The Locusts Have No King Dawn Powell 316
The Golden Spur Dawn Powell
Angels on Toast Dawn Powell
A Howard Nemerov Reader 320
Possession: A Romance A. S. Byatt 323
The Complete Fiction of W. M. Spackman Steven Moore 327
Lost Property: Memoirs and Confessions of a Bad Boy Ben Sonnenberg 330
Licks of Love: Stories and a Sequel, "Rabbit Remembered." John Updike 333
Magicians of the Word 337
Saint Glinglin Raymond Queneau James Sallis 340
Surviving: The Uncollected Writings of Henry Green Matthew Yorke 345
Loving / Living / Party Going Henry Green
Nothing / Doting / Blindness Henry Green
Georges Perec: A Life in Words David Bellos 350
Mulligan Stew Gilbert Sorrentino 354
Riddley Walker Russell Hoban 358
Larva: Midsummer Night's Babel Julian Rios Richard Alan Francis Suzanne Jill Levine 363
Landor's Tower, or The Imaginary Conversations Iain Sinclair 367
Europeans 371
The Tale of the 1002nd Night Joseph Roth Michael Hofmann 374
Life of a Poet: Rainer Maria Rilke Ralph Freedman Helen Sword 378
Uncollected Poems Rainer Maria Rilke Edward Snow
Embers Sandor Marai Carol Brown Janeway 383
The Complete Works of Isaac Babel Nathalie Babel Peter Constantine 387
Mikhail Bulgakov: A Critical Biography Lesley Milne 392
Regions of the Great Heresy: Bruno Schulz, A Biographical Portrait Jerzy Ficowski Theodosia Robertson 395
The Last Leopard: A Life of Giuseppe di Lampedusa David Gilmour 399
Paul Celan: Poet, Survivor, Jew John Felstiner 402
That Mighty Sculptor, Time Marguerite Yourcenar Walter Kaiser 405
Extinction Thomas Bernhard David McClintock 408
Austerlitz W. G. Sebald Anthea Bell 412
Writers of Our Time 417
What's Bred in the Bone Robertson Davies 421
Little Kingdoms: Three Novellas Steven Millhauser 425
The Famished Road Ben Okri 429
Accordion Crimes E. Annie Proulx 433
Cities of the Plain. Volume 3 of the Border trilogy Cormac McCarthy 437
Mrs. Ted Bliss Stanley Elkin 441
The Tunnel William H. Gass 444
Reader's Block David Markson 449
A Frolic of His Own William Gaddis 452
The Amber Spyglass. Book 3 of His Dark Materials Philip Pullman 456
Underworld Don DeLillo 461
Performing Selves 465
Ackerley: The Life of J. R. Ackerley Peter Parker 468
The Knox Brothers Penelope Fitzgerald 471
The Means of Escape: Stories Penelope Fitzgerald
Collected Tales and Fantasies Lord Berners 475
Cyril Connolly: A Life Jeremy Lewis 479
The Letters of Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh Charlotte Mosley 484
Bruce Chatwin: A Biography Nicholas Shakespeare 489
The Diaries of Kenneth Tynan John Lahr 493
The Letters of Kingsley Amis Zachary Leader 497
Coda 501
Classrooms and Their Discontents 504
The Dirda Dozen 512
A Renaissance Reading List 518
Journeying Toward God: Ten Classics of Faith and Doubt 521
A Science Fiction Reading List 522
Acknowledgments 527
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