Research Catalog

Why I Read : the serious pleasure of books

Title
Why I Read : the serious pleasure of books / Wendy Lesser.
Author
Lesser, Wendy.
Publication
New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2014.
Supplementary Content
Cover image

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StatusFormatAccessCall NumberItem Location
TextUse in library JFD 15-4216Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315

Details

Description
223 pages; 22 cm
Summary
"An exhilarating volume that will ratchet up the joy for all reading groups "Wendy Lesser's extraordinary alertness, intelligence, and curiosity have made her one of America's most significant cultural critics," writes Stephen Greenblatt. In Why I Read, Lesser draws on a lifetime of pleasure reading and decades of editing one of the most distinguished little magazines in the country, The Threepenny Review, to describe a life lived in and through literature. As Lesser writes in her foreword, "Reading can result in boredom or transcendence, rage or enthusiasm, depression or hilarity, empathy or contempt, depending on who you are and what the book is and how your life is shaping up at the moment you encounter it." Here the reader will discover a definition of literature that is as broad as it is broad-minded. In addition to novels and stories, Lesser explores plays, poems, and essays along with mysteries, science fiction, and memoirs. As she examines these works from such perspectives as "Character and Plot," "Novelty," "Grandeur and Intimacy," and "Authority," Why I Read sparks an overwhelming desire to put aside quotidian tasks in favor of reading. A book in the spirit of E. M. Forster's Aspects of the Novel and Elizabeth Hardwick's A View of My Own, Why I Read is iconoclastic, conversational, and full of insight. It will delight those who are already avid readers as well as neophytes in search of sheer literary fun"--
Subjects
Note
  • Includes index.
Call Number
JFD 15-4216
ISBN
  • 9780374289201
  • 0374289204
LCCN
2013033000
OCLC
2013033000
Author
Lesser, Wendy.
Title
Why I Read : the serious pleasure of books / Wendy Lesser.
Publisher
New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2014.
Edition
First edition.
Type of Content
text
Type of Medium
unmediated
Type of Carrier
volume
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Cover image
Research Call Number
JFD 15-4216
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