Falling upwards: essays in defense of the imagination PDF
Preview Falling upwards: essays in defense of the imagination
FA L L I N G U PWA R D S $25.00 US Praise for $30.00 CAN SPECS: “As the Hollywoodization of our culture continues its inexorable progress—a world in 100lb superwhite matte polypro lam which the dominant principle of creators and critics alike seems to be ‘I won’t expose your con if you don’t expose mine’—Lee Siegel’s collection of essays is a reminder of what critics S ex and the City, Saul Bellow, Eyes Wide Shut, Dante 4/C process PLUS 1 used to do and what they are supposed to do. The best literary critics of the past, whether and the American self, Barbara Kingsolver, acting metallic (PMS 877) of the right or the left, have almost always been good social critics as well. With Falling in Hollywood, Soviet painting in Soho, Jane Upwards, Siegel demonstrates that he belongs in their company. To read him is to be Austen in the present, J.K. Rowling—nothing escapes Lee reminded of what criticism used to aspire to in terms of range, learning, high standards, and good writing and—dare one say it?—values.” —DAVID RIEFF, Siegel’s incandescent eye. Siegel possesses an intellectual author of Slaughterhouse: Bosnia and the Failure of the West range and independent perspective unmatched by his peers. and ABed for the Night: Humanitarianism in Crisis Falling Upwards brings together the best of Siegel’s essays, all of them rich with the trademark wit and intelligence that “Lee Siegel writes two kinds of essays. In one, he holds the feet of the overpraised and under- have won him many friends and more than a few enemies. talented to the fire of his wicked wit. In the other, he elucidates canonical works— Chekhov’s stories and The Sopranos among them—with brilliant cogency. In every case, In these essential writings, Siegel deftly uses the occasion of Siegel is wildly and satisfyingly unpredictable.” —JANET MALCOLM, a book, film, painting, or television show not merely to author of The Journalist and the Murdererand The Silent Woman appraise, but to make sense of life in a way that is more defi- ant of impoverished cultural “norms” than most contempo- “Lee Siegel’s essays are always charged with one rare quality: a sense of surprise. His subjects rary artistic expression. range from high culture to popular culture, but he digs into each with intelligence and wit, LEE SIEGEL is a celebrated critic and essayist whose always finding something that might elude even the best readers. He never takes his ideas Guided by the belief that a calculating self-interest in off the rack.Savor his vigorous prose, and prepare to be surprised.” —PETE HAMILL, art-making diminishes the prospects for the imagination in writing has appeared in Harper’s, The New Republic, author of ADrinking Lifeand Snow in August life, Siegel celebrates authentic sensibilities and lambastes Time, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, and The New York manufactured sentiments. In a hypercritical age—when the Times, among other publications. He received the 2002 “Lee Siegel writes with exuberant wit, and a particular relish for the author and work at supercritical media exert more cultural force than any artistic National Magazine Award for Reviews and Criticism. hand. He has tremendous range, as the essays on Malamud, Kubrick, and D. H. Lawrence movement—Siegel values intuition and true feeling over Siegel is a senior editor at The New Republicand lives with attest; all his appreciations are felt, and even his satire savor of ‘the thing itself.’ He has the eyes and ears to bring the phenomena of cultureto life as few other critics can.” dry, practical intellect. With uncanny insight, yet also with his wife in New York City. —DAVID BROMWICH,Sterling Professor of English, Yale University, and author of incomparable logic and analytical rigor, he has invented a Hazlitt: The Mind of a Criticand Politics by Other Means: Higher Education and Group Thinking new idiom in which the language of criticism embodies the Jacket design by PracherDesigns playful, creative, synthesizing power that has been largely US $25.00 / $30.00 CAN Author photograph by Jill Krementz ISBN-13: 978-0-465-07800-4 abdicated by the arts in our time. In writing about works of ISBN-10: 0-465-07800-1 AMember of the Perseus Books Group culture, Siegel has created a standard by which to judge them. www.basicbooks.com 8/06 0465078001-text 6/27/06 2:24 PM Page i Falling Upwards 0465078001-text 6/27/06 2:24 PM Page ii 0465078001-text 6/27/06 2:24 PM Page iii Falling Upwards Essays in Defense of the Imagination (cid:1)(cid:2)(cid:3) Lee Siegel A Member of the Perseus Books Group New York 0465078001-text 6/27/06 2:24 PM Page iv Copyright © 2006by Lee Siegel Published by Basic Books A Member of the Perseus Books Group With the exception of the Introduction,the essays in this book originally appeared,sometimes in substantially different form,in the following publications:The New Republic,Harper’s,The Atlantic Monthly,The New Yorker, The Nation,The Los Angeles Times Book Review,Talk,Slate,andDoubleTake. “D.H.Lawrence and the Romantic Option”originally appeared as the introduction to the Modern Library edition of D.H.Lawrence’s The Lost Girl. All rights reserved.Printed in the United States of America.No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.For information,address Basic Books,387 Park Avenue South,New York,NY 10016-8810. Books published by Basic Books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in the United States by corporations,institutions,and other organizations.For more information,please contact the Special Markets Department at the Perseus Books Group,11Cambridge Center,Cambridge MA 02142,or call (617) 252-5298or (800) 255-1514,or e-mail [email protected]. A CIP data record for this title is available from the Library of Congress ISBN-13:978-0-465-07800-4;ISBN-10:0-465-07800-1 06070809/ 10987654321 0465078001-text 6/27/06 2:24 PM Page v For Christina 0465078001-text 6/27/06 2:24 PM Page vi 0465078001-text 6/27/06 2:24 PM Page vii To live.To please.To be loved.To love.To write.Not to be duped. To be oneself—and yet,to be successful.How to be read? And how to live,despising or hating all sides. – Paul Valéry,“On Stendhal” 0465078001-text 6/27/06 2:24 PM Page viii 0465078001-text 6/27/06 2:24 PM Page ix Contents Introduction xi Part One: The Imagination and Its Obstacles (cid:1)(cid:2)(cid:3) Harry Potter and the Fear of Not Flying 3 A Book ofVirtues for the Right-thinking Left 17 Seize the Day Job: Sacrificing Saul Bellow on the Altar of One’s Own Career 26 Persecution and the Art of Painting 48 Part Two:Faking It (cid:1)(cid:2)(cid:3) Prophets of Profit:How Artists Slyly Critique Their Wealthy Patrons 79 From Stalin to SoHo 84 Barbara Kingsolver’s Icy Virtue 105 Television and the Pope 131 [ ix]
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