Items related to The Anti-Egotist: Kingsley Amis, Man of Letters
"Fussell is a wonderful writer," according to The Washington Post Book World, "at once elegant and earthy." With such books as Wartime and The Great War and Modern Memory, he established a reputation as an incisive critic with a razor-tipped pen. Now Paul Fussell turns his attention to one of his own literary heroes, a man of similar acidic wit, Kingsley Amis.
In The Anti-Egotist, Fussell captures the essence of Amis as a man of letters--"a serious critic," as John Gross writes, "operating outside the academic fold." Part biography, part critical appraisal, The Anti-Egotist traces the influences that have shaped Amis's writing, ranging from his schooldays through military service to university teaching, as he emerged as a novelist, poet, and essayist. By drawing our attention to the details first of Amis's life, then of his writing, Fussell reveals the profound moral sense that expresses itself so wonderfully in Amis's fiction and criticism. He mixes affection with insight as he paints a highly personal portrait of Amis as writer who despises self-promotion in all its forms, savaging the world's show-offs and blowhards with a particularly sharp-toothed bite. Amis's criticism, too, shook the British literary world with his "no-nonsense, can-the-bullshit tone," restoring skepticism and honesty to postwar English writing. Fussell guides us through Amis's immense output--portraying him as a book reviewer, custodian of language, gastronomic critic, anthologist, and poet--showing how his overriding concern is always for the public, deriding pretensions that come at a cost to the audience. And the power of Amis's writing, from his humor to his deft characterization, rings through in page after page of Fussell's accurate and evocative assessments.
In recent years, Kingsley Amis has drawn considerable fire, thanks to his outspoken conservative opinions; many critics see him as little more than a crusty old curmudgeon. In The Anti-Egotist, Paul Fussell does the reading public a double favor in restoring the reputation of this important writer: he effortlessly captures the literary virtuosity that lifted Amis to fame, and he reveals the moral convictions that make this seeming curmudgeon more relevant than ever.
In The Anti-Egotist, Fussell captures the essence of Amis as a man of letters--"a serious critic," as John Gross writes, "operating outside the academic fold." Part biography, part critical appraisal, The Anti-Egotist traces the influences that have shaped Amis's writing, ranging from his schooldays through military service to university teaching, as he emerged as a novelist, poet, and essayist. By drawing our attention to the details first of Amis's life, then of his writing, Fussell reveals the profound moral sense that expresses itself so wonderfully in Amis's fiction and criticism. He mixes affection with insight as he paints a highly personal portrait of Amis as writer who despises self-promotion in all its forms, savaging the world's show-offs and blowhards with a particularly sharp-toothed bite. Amis's criticism, too, shook the British literary world with his "no-nonsense, can-the-bullshit tone," restoring skepticism and honesty to postwar English writing. Fussell guides us through Amis's immense output--portraying him as a book reviewer, custodian of language, gastronomic critic, anthologist, and poet--showing how his overriding concern is always for the public, deriding pretensions that come at a cost to the audience. And the power of Amis's writing, from his humor to his deft characterization, rings through in page after page of Fussell's accurate and evocative assessments.
In recent years, Kingsley Amis has drawn considerable fire, thanks to his outspoken conservative opinions; many critics see him as little more than a crusty old curmudgeon. In The Anti-Egotist, Paul Fussell does the reading public a double favor in restoring the reputation of this important writer: he effortlessly captures the literary virtuosity that lifted Amis to fame, and he reveals the moral convictions that make this seeming curmudgeon more relevant than ever.
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About the Author:
About the Author:
Paul Fussell is the author of a number of books of literary and cultural criticism and social history. They include The Great War and Modern Memory (winner of the National Book Award), Abroad: British Literary Travelling Between the Wars, and Wartime: Understanding and Behavior in the Second World War.
Review:
About the Author:
Paul Fussell is the author of a number of books of literary and cultural criticism and social history. They include The Great War and Modern Memory (winner of the National Book Award), Abroad: British Literary Travelling Between the Wars, and Wartime: Understanding and Behavior in the Second World War.
"Paul Fussell once again has a book and a subject worth of his own razor-sharp gifts and insights...this is Fussell's most substantial work since Wartime..." SCENE (19 October 1994)
"Fussell is the perfect match for his subject--witty, thoughtful, brief, and, not least of it, accurate."--Kirkus Reviews
"The witty prose of National Book Award winner Fussell serves him well in this apologia for the equally incisive Amis. Focusing more on Amis's essays, poetry, book reviews and even restaurant reviews than on his fiction, Fussell attempts to refute the prevailing assessment of the British
writer as a baleful reactionary, a 'literary rottweiller.' He recasts Amis as a true man of letters, who wrote for the reading public rather than for the literary establishment, and as a blunt critic of self-promotion and pretention. It is hard to imagine a writer better suited than Fussell to
appraise Amis's career."--Publishers Weekly
"Paul Fussell has written a superb book on Kingsley Amis, establishing him firmly in the first rank of modern writers. We have all been aware of Amis as a fine novelist, and Fussell has much to say here. His purpose in this book, however, is to make us aware of the vast range of Amis' literary
activity: critic, poet, teacher, cultural commentator, even restaurant, architecture, and drink critic. Amis is a man of letters, his standards throughout inspiringly high. Fussell demonstrates this with luminous intelligence of his own."--Jeffrey Hart, author of Acts of Recovery: Essays on Culture
and Politics
"Paul Fussell doesn't set himself easy jobs. This book is one of the toughest. He has to write about a close friend whose antipathies are better known than his fine poems and his wonderful early novels. Fussell brings it off because he knows the man, the work, the life and letters, and the
life of letters.'--Richard Stern, author of A Father's Words: A Novel and Noble Rot: Stories
"This is a startling but admirable and original study which says something of real importance both about Kingsley Amis the author and about our contemporary society."--John Bayley, author of Housman's Poems abd Shakespeare and Tragedy
"This is a startling but admirable and original study which says something of real importance both about Kingsley Amis the author and about our contemporary society."--John Bayley, author of Housman's Poems and Shakespeare and Tragedy
"Fussell is the perfect match for his subject--witty, thoughtful, brief, and, not least of it, accurate."--Kirkus Reviews
"The witty prose of National Book Award winner Fussell serves him well in this apologia for the equally incisive Amis. Focusing more on Amis's essays, poetry, book reviews and even restaurant reviews than on his fiction, Fussell attempts to refute the prevailing assessment of the British
writer as a baleful reactionary, a 'literary rottweiller.' He recasts Amis as a true man of letters, who wrote for the reading public rather than for the literary establishment, and as a blunt critic of self-promotion and pretention. It is hard to imagine a writer better suited than Fussell to
appraise Amis's career."--Publishers Weekly
"Paul Fussell has written a superb book on Kingsley Amis, establishing him firmly in the first rank of modern writers. We have all been aware of Amis as a fine novelist, and Fussell has much to say here. His purpose in this book, however, is to make us aware of the vast range of Amis' literary
activity: critic, poet, teacher, cultural commentator, even restaurant, architecture, and drink critic. Amis is a man of letters, his standards throughout inspiringly high. Fussell demonstrates this with luminous intelligence of his own."--Jeffrey Hart, author of Acts of Recovery: Essays on Culture
and Politics
"Paul Fussell doesn't set himself easy jobs. This book is one of the toughest. He has to write about a close friend whose antipathies are better known than his fine poems and his wonderful early novels. Fussell brings it off because he knows the man, the work, the life and letters, and the
life of letters.'--Richard Stern, author of A Father's Words: A Novel and Noble Rot: Stories
"This is a startling but admirable and original study which says something of real importance both about Kingsley Amis the author and about our contemporary society."--John Bayley, author of Housman's Poems abd Shakespeare and Tragedy
"This is a startling but admirable and original study which says something of real importance both about Kingsley Amis the author and about our contemporary society."--John Bayley, author of Housman's Poems and Shakespeare and Tragedy
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherOxford University Press
- Publication date1994
- ISBN 10 0195087364
- ISBN 13 9780195087369
- BindingHardcover
- Edition number1
- Number of pages224
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