An Artificial Wilderness (A Nonpareil Book, #59) - Softcover

Poststructural critics and post-modern American novelists irritate Birkerts because they insert a "membrane of self" between the work and the reader. His favorite critics are those who, like Walter Benjamin, display "a sensibility as opposed to an intelligence," or, like Roger Shattuck, explore the "margins of culture." His favorite novelistsalmost all Europeanreach beyond a facile vision of the abyss to a more complex and comprehensive prospect of futurity. What marks the nearly 30 novelists he discusses is their commitment to an intuitive, poetic language that fleshes out an image of a world flawed but rich in potential. Birkerts's prose is lucid and aphoristic, his criticism rich in apercus but often flawed by excess. Though he undervalues American fiction, and overvalues European, he makes his case with passion and clarity. Arthur Waldhorn, City Coll., CUNY
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"If recent fiction consisted exclusively of American postmodernists, modern literature would be in deep trouble, contends Birkerts. In this latest gathering of brilliant essays, he examines the decline of humanist faith, a theme that links an international community of writers," remarked PW.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.