Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Great Books by David Denby ISBN: 0-684-83533-9 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 25 September, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.07 (44 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Not Merely a Shopping List
Comment: I have to admit I approached this book with some trepidation. I learned from the jacket liner that Denby was a film critic for New York Magazine (I vaguely remember reading some of his reviews) who had returned to the same Lit classes at Columbia he had attended in the late sixties. What was a film critic going to tell me about the classics that I didn't already know? I've read every classic I could get my hands on since I was 13. I expected something along the lines of Adler or Van Doren (brief accounts of the hundred or so "greatest books of all time"). I'm glad now that I gave Denby the benefit of the doubt. Like Denby, I returned to college as an older student and felt a blend of exhiliration and disorientation similar to his. He's particularly adroit in conveying how politics have changed the nature of classroom discourse. There's no need here to get into a debate over the neo-relativist, agenda-driven camp on one side of academia, vs. the liberal, canonical "traditionalists," although much of the book revolves around these arguements. What I'd like to comment on primarily is Denby's authentic love of literature and the power that it holds to shape lives. This is an old saw, but is still relevant and is eloquently expressed and demonstrated by the author. He argues that "great" literature is not primarily aimed at making us feel good about ourselves. On the contrary, growth usually comes about only after a period of some discomfort and anxiety. The message of great fiction is not that we or our society or culture are superior to other peoples or societies or cultures. In fact, the message is usually the opposite. I have to admit that I found some of Denby's recounting of his private life digressive and not especially engaging. His reading of King Lear, juxtaposed with his memories of his mother's final years, was heartfelt, but didn't quite come off in the final analysis. It seemed that the parallels he drew (friction between generations, the weakening of the intellect as one grows older, etc.) didn't seem particularly relevant or insightful. The chapter on Conrad was, for me, the crowning moment of the book. Denby covers a lot of ground in this chapter, particularly in light of what just proceeded in the chapter on deBeauvoir. He nails down the essence of the scholarly debate, while at the same time giving us a vivid picture of the response a highly-charged piece of fiction can provoke in dispirate readers. As I lover of "the classics" myself, I might be biased as to which side of the debate I stand on, but I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to read and think at the same time.
Rating: 4
Summary: Fun for book lovers,let it inspire you to read the originals
Comment: What makes some literature great ? Great literature is inspiring and life-changing, taking us to new places and leading us to think in new ways. It brings you not only into the author's mind but into their whole cultural millieu, to a time and place that we wouldn't have otherwise experienced or understood. Western culture is of course just part of the world's vast storehouse of ideas and stories, but it is one of the deepest and profoundest parts. In "Great Books," film critic David Denby unapologetically focuses on his experience at Columbia with some of the classics of Western literature.
Denby regales us with his enviable experience of being re-introduced to great literature as an adult, engaging the classics as an enthusiastic and willing observer instead of a bored and cynical youth obsessed with carving their own niche. Unlike his classmates, Denby has the luxury known mostly only to the mature, to actually enjoy the trip rather than using the readings as a springboard to show his own cleverness and garner good grades. His honest enthusiasm shows through as we experience a taste of great literature through his eyes.
While this book is somewhat a summary of some of the classics, it would fail on that basis alone, paling in comparison to the Cliff and Monarch notes, just as those notes pale in comparison to the original works. This is not a book to read to understand the classics of Western literature, nor to help with any scholarly pursuit of knowledge. This is a very pleasant and enjoyable excursion through great literature along with someone in the unique position to be an experienced critic, a skilled writer, and an enthusiastic student viewing the subjects as if for the first time. If reading this book and sharing the author's enthusiasm encourages you to read the classics, it has done a wonderful thing. If you read this book to get a condensed version of the originals, a vicarious education through Denby's interpretation, you will be sadly cheated.
This is a fun book for lovers of great books, but it is not itself a great book. I hope it inspires more people to understand why some of us love great books.
Rating: 4
Summary: Bedside book
Comment: Sure, Denby's preaching to the choir, but oh, what a lovely song! The reader likely to get the most out of this book is one who has read a few of the 'Canon' books covered-- Jane Austen and King Lear, say-- but is happy to be remined that she hasn't picked up the 'Decameron' yet. Thoughtful visits with old friends and inspiring introductions to new ones, the perfect bedside reading for 'bookish' people. Not that Denby is 'cute' at all, this is a more soul-searching work than the rather similar "Ex Libris" by Anne Fadiman.
With other reviewers, I should add that this is more of a travelogue than a travel guide-- these aren't Cole's Notes!
Anyone calling this book a 'polemic' is too used to reading nothing but. Of course, anyone whose politics are capable of overcoming their love of books will probably not enjoy this one.
 |
Title: Books That Changed the World by Robert B. Downs ISBN: 0451626982 Publisher: New American Library Pub. Date: June, 1992 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
 |
Title: The New Lifetime Reading Plan : The Classical Guide to World Literature, Revised and Expanded by Clifton Fadiman, John S. Major ISBN: 0062720732 Publisher: HarperResource Pub. Date: 01 July, 1999 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
 |
Title: American Sucker by David Denby ISBN: 0316192945 Publisher: Little Brown & Company Pub. Date: January, 2004 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
 |
Title: The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages by Harold Bloom ISBN: 1573225142 Publisher: Riverhead Books Pub. Date: September, 1995 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
 |
Title: The Reading List Contemporary Fiction: A Critical Guide to the Complete Works of 110 Authors by David Rubel ISBN: 0805055274 Publisher: Owl Books Pub. Date: June, 1998 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
