Beyond All This Fiddle: Essays 1955-1967
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
Markings: No markings
A landmark collection of literary criticism, Beyond All This Fiddle: Essays 1955-1967 presents the sharp, uncompromising critical voice of A. Alvarez at the height of his intellectual powers. Written across more than a decade, the essays engage with poetry, fiction, and the broader cultural landscape of the mid-twentieth century, arguing passionately for a literature that confronts the full weight of modern experience rather than retreating into genteel convention. Alvarez champions writers who take risks—figures like Sylvia Plath, John Berryman, and Samuel Beckett—illustrating how the most vital art of the era emerged from a willingness to face extremity without flinching. The prose is incisive and authoritative, combining the rigor of academic analysis with the accessibility and urgency of a committed public intellectual. For readers interested in postwar literature and the critical debates that shaped it, this collection remains an essential and bracingly honest document of its time.
Author: A. Alvarez
Format: Hardback
Published: 1968, Allen Lane The Penguin Press
Genre: Essays
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
Markings: No markings
A landmark collection of literary criticism, Beyond All This Fiddle: Essays 1955-1967 presents the sharp, uncompromising critical voice of A. Alvarez at the height of his intellectual powers. Written across more than a decade, the essays engage with poetry, fiction, and the broader cultural landscape of the mid-twentieth century, arguing passionately for a literature that confronts the full weight of modern experience rather than retreating into genteel convention. Alvarez champions writers who take risks—figures like Sylvia Plath, John Berryman, and Samuel Beckett—illustrating how the most vital art of the era emerged from a willingness to face extremity without flinching. The prose is incisive and authoritative, combining the rigor of academic analysis with the accessibility and urgency of a committed public intellectual. For readers interested in postwar literature and the critical debates that shaped it, this collection remains an essential and bracingly honest document of its time.