Truth and Lies in Literature: Essays and Reviews

by Stephen Vizinczey and Vizincze

Book Overview

"Gathered here is a selection of the essays of] the distinguished Hungarian born novelist Stephen Vizinczey. . . . Taken together they have a weight and amplitude of a very high order. . . . What is most impressive about these essays (apart from their range and erudition) is the way that literature and life are so subtly intertwined with each other. The passion for the one is the passion for the other. As it ought to be in criticism, but seldom is."--Mark...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226858847
• ISBN13: 9780226858845
• Release Date: February 1988
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 350 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Nouvelle interpretation

J'ai ete ebloui par la lecture de l'Eloge des femmes mures, mqis le recueil d'essais de Vizinczey m'a emerveille davantage. J'y ai trouve une definition de la litterature des plus judicieuses. "Il y a fondamentalement deux sortes de litterature. L'une vous aide a comprendre, l'autre vous aide a oublier; la premiere vous aide a devenir une personne et un citoyen libre, l'autre aide les gens a vous manipuler. L'une s'apparente a l'astronomie, l'autre a l'astrologie." Quelqu'un l'avait-il jamais mieux exprimé? La critique brillante et sauvage de nos coqueluches litteraires m'a fait bien rire. L'auteur sait evoquer la joie unique que l'on ressent a la lecture d'un bon livre. C'est difficile de croire aue l'auteur est etranger. Je n'avais pas lu Stendhal depuis le lycee et l'essai de Vizinczey m'a fait realise combien j'avais manqué! J'ai recommence la lecture de le Rouge et le Noir et c'est bien plus drole que cela ne l'etait a 16 ans.

What A Feast!

Vizinczey's passionate essays remind us of why we read literature. His articulate enthusiasm for great writers will inspire and invigorate you- and it will also surely make you seek out the best in literature (which, of course, includes Vizinczey's own two novels)

Learning to read great novels with Vizinczey

We hear nowadays numerous comments on the fate of reading in our schools and universities. The ubiquity of digital technology, the lack of silence, concentration, and solitude, and the substitution of books by videos and compact disks are considered by some critics as the main reasons for the gradual decline in the habit of reading.In addition, the various programs of study often fail to awaken in the students a genuine and lasting interest in serious texts. Notwithstanding the claims of some academics, it is not the pedantic literary scholarship that makes them turn to the great novels. They come to appreciate masterpieces thanks to the repeated invitations delivered to them in lively lectures and absorbing essays. Students need enthusiastic and intelligent teachers and writers who are able to show that novels, plays and poems are sources of inspiration and wisdom and, above all, contain answers to their most disquieting questions.Stephen Vizinczey is one of these writers. His Truth and Lies in Literature is not only a collection of beautifully written essays and incisive reviews but also a strong contender for the best introduction to literature that I have ever read. I would recommend this book to all my students. I am convinced that it would stimulate many of them to become passionate readers, ones who would "grab" (Vizinczey's verb) any classic that they could lay their hands on.Leslie Pennington

Essays spiked with with wit, reality, charm and erudition

Vizinczey shares his views on a variety of topics from the works of fellow writers to ills of society, to rules for living for young writers. His essays and books(In Praise of older Women, An Innocent Millionaire) have always captivated me because of his riveting views and open criticism of human shortcomings. A refreshing quality is his strong commitments in an increasingly non-committal society where everything is slowly turning grey, and where most questions are responded to with the phrase: "It depends..." His style is powerful with masterfully wowen sentences that hold the readers attention from the first word to the last letter. The essay "A Writers Ten Commandments" is definetely a keeper. It offers rules of living to budding writers that can be applied in a much broader sense to life in general. If you want to read a good book, be entertained, amused,learn a little and mostly make some sense from this rapidly moving and changing "human scene" of ours, than Truth and Lies... is a must read.