“Theory sometimes seems to me a way of taking revenge on literature—the critic masters the text and rewrites it in his own image, instead of submitting to it and listening to what it has to say. The aggressive ungainliness of… — Adam Kirsch Copy Share Image
“According to Proust, one proof that we are reading a major new writer is that his writing immediately strikes us as ugly. Only minor… — Adam Kirsch Copy Share
The unadmitted reason why traditional readers are hostile to e-books is that we still hold the superstitious idea that a book is like a… — Adam Kirsch Copy Share
Once a poet calls his myth a myth, he prevents the reader from treating it as a reality; we use the word 'myth' only… — Adam Kirsch Copy Share
Teaching and writing have tended to proceed on parallel lines, but there have been times when there was indeed carry-over from the classroom to… — Adam Kirsch Copy Share
In the 1970s, for example, I found myself learning to relish the poetry of Andrew Marvell and Sir Thomas Wyatt, and getting a handle… — Adam Kirsch Copy Share
So how can a poet-an intelligent, serious poet-write mystical verse now? The poetry of Adam Zagajewski provides the beginning of an answer to this… — Adam Kirsch Copy Share
“To those who fought World War II, it was plain enough that Allied bombs were killing huge numbers of German civilians, that Churchill was… — Adam Kirsch Copy Share
With luck, a writer capable of producing both Slouching Towards Kalamazoo and The Blood of the Lamb will not remain unappreciated for long. — Adam Kirsch Copy Share
“Drakulić titled her book “They Would Never Hurt a Fly,” after Arendt’s description of a typical Nazi functionary who “does not regard himself as… — Adam Kirsch Copy Share
“The lesson Arendt drew was that a beautiful soul is not enough, for "it was precisely the soul for which life showed no consideration."… — Adam Kirsch Copy Share
“Theory sometimes seems to me a way of taking revenge on literature—the critic masters the text and rewrites it in his own image, instead… — Adam Kirsch Copy Share
