For fans of high culture, pop culture and American genius, a personal and idiosyncratic exploration of two of the 20th century's most distinguished cultural icons.
With wit and style worthy of his subjects, Craig Seligman explores the enduring influence of two critics who defined the cultural sensibilities of a generation: Susan Sontag and Pauline Kael. Though outwardly they had several things in common--they were both Westerners who came east, both schooled in philosophy, both secular Jews, and both single mothers--they were polar opposites in temperament and approach. From the very beginning Seligman makes his sympathies clear: Sontag is a writer he reveres; but Kael is a writer he loves.
He approaches both critics through their work, whose fundamental parallels serve to sharpen their differences. Tone is the most obvious area where they're at odds. Kael practiced a kind of verbal jazz, exuberant, excessive, intimate, emotional, and funny. Sontag is formal and a little icy--a model of detachment. Kael never changed her approach from her first review to her last, while mutability has been one of the defining motifs of Sontag's career. Moral questions obsess Sontag; they interested Kael but didn't trouble her. Then there's the matter of self-revelation. Under Sontag's aloofness smolders an impulse toward autobiography so strong that it isn't an exaggeration to call it confessional. Kael seems to be terribly intimate and forthcoming, and yet she turns out, when you peer closely, to be surprisingly guarded.
But the question that Seligman keeps coming back to is: Can criticism be art? In seeking to answer it, he performs an unusual and remarkable feat: he has produced a nuanced, luminously written examination that stands as an answer in itself.
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语言的肌理感是这本书最令人难忘的特质之一。你会发现,作者似乎对每一个词语都进行了精心的“打磨”和“淬火”,使得句子结构异常精炼,充满了古典主义的韵律美,但同时又带着一股现代主义的疏离感。有些段落读起来,简直就像是在欣赏一幅运用了极细致光影对比的油画,每一个名词和动词的位置都经过了近乎数学般精准的计算,以达到最大的情感穿透力。我注意到,作者似乎非常钟情于使用那些在日常对话中早已被淘汰的、略显生僻的词汇,但奇怪的是,这些词汇在这里非但没有显得矫揉造作,反而恰到好处地烘托出那种特定的历史氛围和智识深度。这种阅读体验,与其说是“阅读”,不如说是一种对语言本身复杂性和可能性的深度挖掘。
评分这本书最让我感到震撼的,是一种近乎“历史宿命感”的悲凉美学。它没有激烈的冲突和戏剧性的高潮,但却弥漫着一种对人类处境的深刻洞察——那种关于创作的局限性、记忆的不可靠性以及文化迭代的无情规律的思考。作者似乎在用一种冷静到近乎冷酷的笔触,描绘着宏大叙事崩塌后的残骸,但在这片荒芜之上,又奇迹般地绽放出一些微小、但异常坚韧的智慧之花。读完后,那种感觉不是“我学到了什么新知识”,而是“我对世界产生了一种新的、更沉重的感知”。它不是一本能让你感到愉悦的书,但绝对是一本能让你感到“被提升”的书,就像是完成了一次对心智的严格体能训练,尽管过程痛苦,但收获的耐力却是实实在在的。
评分这家伙,简直是把文学的各个角落都翻了个底朝天,然后用一种近乎偏执的精确度把它们重新排列组合起来。我拿到这本书的时候,首先被它那种沉甸甸的质感给镇住了,感觉自己捧着的不是一本简单的阅读材料,而是一块经过时间打磨的化石。翻开扉页,那种排版风格就透露出一种不同寻常的严肃性,每一个字似乎都在用力地呼吸,带着一股子陈旧书页特有的霉味和墨香。阅读的过程更像是一场需要高度集中注意力的探险,作者似乎非常热衷于在看似不相关的领域之间建立起错综复杂的联系,比如某个十九世纪的哲学流派如何微妙地影响了二十世纪初期的电影剪辑手法。你得不断地停下来,查阅背景资料,甚至会怀疑自己是不是漏掉了什么关键的线索。
评分我得承认,在阅读过程中,有那么几次,我几乎要被那种无边无际的知识密度给压垮了。它不像某些热门的非虚构作品那样,总是在关键节点给你提供一个清晰的“速查表”或者总结性的论断。恰恰相反,它似乎故意设置了层层叠叠的知识壁垒,每当你以为自己终于触及核心的时候,它又巧妙地引向了一个新的、更深远的领域。这迫使我不断地跳出原有的思维框架,去重新审视那些看似已经被定论的文化现象。这本书更像是一面棱镜,它不是简单地反射光线,而是将你熟悉的现实光谱打散、重组,让你以一种近乎陌生的角度去看待我们习以为常的符号和意义。它挑战的不是你的理解力,而是你的“接受度”——你愿意被引导到多远,愿意去质疑多少你一直深信不疑的常识。
评分这本书的叙事节奏真是让人捉摸不透,时而像一场舒缓的、漫无边际的德式午后散步,观察着街角那株老梧桐树上每一片叶子的枯荣;时而又像一次突如其来的、高强度的闪回,将你猛地拽入某个历史的旋涡中心,让你来不及喘息。我尤其欣赏作者处理那些微妙的“间隙”的方式,那些没有被明确说出,却充斥着巨大张力的对话或场景。它没有试图给你一个明确的答案,反而是抛出了一系列更复杂、更引人入胜的问题。读完一个章节,我常常会合上书本,盯着天花板发呆好几分钟,试图梳理脑海中那些碎片化的图像和概念。这绝对不是那种可以轻松窝在沙发里消磨时间的读物,它需要你付出时间和心力,像是在和一个老谋深算的棋手对弈,每一步棋都蕴含着深远的意图。
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