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James Wood

Serious Noticing: Selected Essays, 1997-2019 Hardcover – January 14, 2020

by James Wood (Author)

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The definitive collection of literary essays by The New Yorker’s award-winning longtime book critic

Ever since the publication of his first essay collection, The Broken Estate, in 1999, James Wood has been widely regarded as a leading literary critic of the English-speaking world. His essays on canonical writers (Gustav Flaubert, Herman Melville), recent legends (Don DeLillo, Marilynne Robinson) and significant contemporaries (Zadie Smith, Elena Ferrante) have established a standard for informed and incisive appreciation, composed in a distinctive literary style all their own.

Together, Wood’s essays, and his bestselling How Fiction Works, share an abiding preoccupation with how fiction tells its own truths, and with the vocation of the writer in a world haunted by the absence of God. In Serious Noticing, Wood collects his best essays from two decades of his career, supplementing earlier work with autobiographical reflections from his book The Nearest Thing to Life and recent essays from The New Yorker on young writers of extraordinary promise. The result is an essential guide to literature in the new millennium.

Print length

528 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date

January 14, 2020
Dimensions

5.8 x 1.68 x 8.47 inches
ISBN-10

0374261164
ISBN-13

978-0374261160
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"James Wood is perhaps one of the most intelligent and passionate literary critics working today . . . In its entirety this is a masterful 'greatest hits' collection . . . One has the very strong sense that no essay placement was accidental . . . They are independent pieces, and it is easy enough to read any particular essay in any order, but there is a certain, almost meditative, pleasure in reading the book cover to cover." ―Angela M. Giles, Los Angeles Review of Books

"Two voices vie in [Serious Noticing] . . . the professor, stately and composed, guiding the reader through forensically close readings of the text, pointing out fiction’s innovations and revolutions―the “failed privacies” of Chekhov’s characters, the “unwrapped” consciousness in Virginia Woolf’s novels. The other voice―pitched about half an octave higher, blunt, reedy, very winning ― pops up in the essays . . . The reviews and essays settle into a rolling rhythm, pleasing counterpoints." ―Parul Sehgal, The New York Times Book Review

"[Serious Noticing] is in effect a super-selection: The Best of . . . perhaps, or Wood on Wood, complete with an introductory account of his formation and general understanding of the practice of criticism . . . [Wood] has a notable capacity for articulate enthusiasm and a withering tongue to balance it." ―Francis Mulhern, New Left Review

"What makes Wood . . . formidable? The most obvious answer is the crackling sensuousness of his prose. He writes unusually tactile criticism, thick with images you can almost reach out and grasp. . . With criticism like this, who needs fiction?" ―Becca Rothfeld, Bookforum

"In the unspooling sentences and paragraphs of the many fine and often seriously dandy essays that follow in this collection . . . Wood shows himself a maestro of tone and inflection. His sustained close attention as he interrogates the writers he loves is genuinely something to behold . . . Wood set off writing in that high canonical tradition that sought to replace Bible study with practical criticism and preachers with English teachers.'" ―Tim Adams, Observer

About the Author

James Wood is a staff writer at The New Yorker and Professor of the Practice of Literary Criticism at Harvard University. He is the author of How Fiction Works, as well as two essay collections, The Broken Estate and The Irresponsible Self, and a novel, The Book Against God.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Farrar, Straus and Giroux (January 14, 2020)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 528 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0374261164
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0374261160
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.4 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.8 x 1.68 x 8.47 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #243,294 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #217 in General Books & Reading
- #736 in Essays (Books)

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5 star		68%
4 star		17%
3 star		10%
2 star		3%
1 star		3%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Serious surplus

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 25, 2020

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James Wood is a renown journalist, essayist, and literary critic. His essays are a delight to read and his fans look forward to the next book. This book is a disappointment only because it is really a collection of his essays from other books. There are only five or six of 28 essays that I have not read from his previous books. The title of this book, for example, is a wonderful essay on Chekhov’s short story, ‘The Kiss’, but ‘Serious Noticing was previously published in another of Wood’s book, ‘The Nearest Thing to Life’. ‘Fun Stuff’ is an essay from his book, by the same name. ‘Wounder and Wounded’ was also from ‘Fun Stuff’, the book. Many other essays were from either, ‘The Broken Estate’ or ‘The Irresponsible Self’. This book is only useful for readers who have not read Wood’s essays – I that case, this would be an excellent book, and merits a 3-star rating. The problem, of course, is that after reading this the reader might want his other books – rendering this book an excess.

5 people found this helpful

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diane n.

Great book source

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 29, 2022

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The book arrived promptly and in excellent condition.

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Brian in Newton NJ

Beautiful writing - great insight

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 19, 2020

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I had read several other essays and books (How Fiction Works...) by James Wood and always gravitated towards his style of writing. This compilation was wonderful. The selection of authors critiqued was broad-sweeping - from well known authors like Chekhov and Bellow to lesser known authors like Hrabal and Krasznahorkai. I found that even the early essays (1990s) were still very fresh and did not seem dated. I would highly recommend this collection to anyone who loves literature.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Asterisk AntonineTop Contributor: Batman

Tedious. Indulgent. (I'm the Fellini guy behind Woody Allen in the "Annie Hall" line).

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 14, 2020

Verified Purchase

James Wood. What can I say, we hardly knew ye?
I wanted more.
I wanted to see you pick up Knausgaard and slam him....
I wanted to see you recant your take on DF Wallace.
You're cruel. Less even than, say, Roger Ebert - no snickering NYker readers; Ebert was significant; Ebert brought "Andre" to the normies. Worse still the discussion of academic criticism infecting what used to be the easily superior criticism at the semi-serious rags bores. Where is our ode to Gaddis? You're a mean, man, Mr. Wood. You've got cobwebs in your heart, your breath smells of sweet tarts, Mr. Wooooodd... I'd rather read a long holding forth from Chabon on Finnegan's Wake at the NY Review of Books... ok I'm lying there; you lap Chabon, but, seriously, let's toss this tome in the much ado about not much pile.

5 people found this helpful

Helpful

Denson Fujikawa

James Salter said that James Wood and Louis Menand were the only reviewers he respected.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 17, 2020

Verified Purchase

James Wood's reviews of books and authors are always original and interesting. Curiously, a YouTube lecture he gave at the 92nd Street YMCA in Manhattan not long ago was disjointed, rambling and not very interesting. Writers often are not very good speakers and he is apparently one of those.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Hande Z

Serious surplus

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 25, 2020

Verified Purchase

James Wood is a renown journalist, essayist, and literary critic. His essays are a delight to read and his fans look forward to the next book. This book is a disappointment only because it is really a collection of his essays from other books. There are only five or six of 28 essays that I have not read from his previous books. The title of this book, for example, is a wonderful essay on Chekhov’s short story, ‘The Kiss’, but ‘Serious Noticing was previously published in another of Wood’s book, ‘The Nearest Thing to Life’. ‘Fun Stuff’ is an essay from his book, by the same name. ‘Wounder and Wounded’ was also from ‘Fun Stuff’, the book. Many other essays were from either, ‘The Broken Estate’ or ‘The Irresponsible Self’. This book is only useful for readers who have not read Wood’s essays – I that case, this would be an excellent book, and merits a 3-star rating. The problem, of course, is that after reading this the reader might want his other books – rendering this book an excess.

11 people found this helpful

Amazed

Who's a smart ***k!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 20, 2020

Verified Purchase

Good, it's just so good. Makes ordinary newspaper features amateurish.

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