The literary life of Michiko Kakutani: the book critic's best feuds and reviews

The New York Times writer is stepping down from her role, leaving behind a remarkable career characterized by razor-sharp reviews and intra-literary rowsMichiko Kakutani, the New York Times’ revered chief book critic, announced she was stepping down from her post on Thursday after 38 years, marking the end of a career that inspired both admiration and fear in the hearts of the writers whose books she reviewed.Kakutani was America’s most powerful literary critic, someone who, with the stroke of a pen, wielded immense influence over the careers of both budding and established novelists. Over the course of her tenure at the Times, Kakutani was remarkably guarded, making few appearances in public and allowing her reviews to speak for themselves. In honor of a critic so widely celebrated – the scribe behind pieces that launched the careers of David Foster-Wallace, George Saunders and Zadie Smith and angered quite a few others – here are her best feuds and reviews, broken down. Related: In defense of Jonathan Franzen – the internet's collective punching bag “Writing in prose that is at once visceral and lapidary, Mr Franzen shows us how his characters strive to navigate a world of technological gadgetry and ever-shifting mores, how they struggle to balance the equation between their expectations of life and dull reality, their political ideals and mercenary personal urges. He proves himself as adept at adolescent comedy (what happens to Joey after he accidentally swallows his... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2017-07-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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