8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
What's in a word?, June 29, 2009
A few months ago, I had the pleasure of reading
The Collected Stories, so I was very interested to see how Michaels' prose work would compare with his fiction. I was not disappointed. Michaels writes with the passion and precision of a highly literate person who realizes the power of language and takes the world of ideas very seriously.
The essays assembled here, edited by his wife, Katharine Ogden Michaels and ranging over several decades of the author's career, are witty, erudite, and thought-provoking, touching on topics from art, literary, and film criticism to Heidegger, the cultural and personal significance of Yiddish, and Michaels' experiences writing the screenplay for the movie based on his novel,
The Men's Club. Central to his personal and literary development was his Jewish upbringing in New York in the 1930s and '40s, and these autobiographical essays are some of his best. He also has some scathingly funny reminiscences of his years working in academia.
I have only two minor criticisms of this book. One is Michaels' seemingly uncritical acceptance of Jewish exceptionalism, and his failure to confront what this has meant in terms of world politics; he could hardly have been unaware of authors such as Noam Chomsky and Edward Said, for instance. Yet, given the time in which he grew up, and his family's personal experiences of anti-Semitism and the Holocaust, this is forgivable. Politics, after all, was one topic Michaels didn't write much about. My other criticism has to do with what I see as the culturally conservative stance the author took in some of his later essays, bemoaning a loss of intellectual seriousness and the depreciation of solititude in contemporary culture. Now, I happen to agree with much of what Michaels says on these matters, but I believe some of his comments are too one-sided, and fail to grasp the inherent creative possiblities of modern life, instead harking back to some mythical Golden Age of 1950s intellectualism.
All in all, I found reading this collection a rewarding and inspiring experience.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pure Enjoyment, May 17, 2010
I found both Michaels's critical and personal essays completely enrapturing. Maybe it was his time period, his NYC, SF, U of Mich perspective, the fact that I'm the opposite of well read (I wrote down countless words and refs and had a blast wiki-ing them later), how easy he is to read, or some other quality I'll put my finger on later, but I thought this collection was amazing. I'd read a handful of his short stories as well as his "Sylvia" and "The Men's Club" novels (both short), and liked them, but something about the essays super clicked.
I bought a second copy through Amazon Marketplace and plan on foisting it on friend and foe alike. I'm aghast there aren't more reviews of this title.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
