Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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70 of 74 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Do not be daunted by this book, 19 May 2007
This is an amazing book, unlike anything else Ive ever come across. Dont be put off by its sheer size, by its odd title, by the unfamiliarity of many of the names in its alphabetical list of subjects (writers, film stars, musicians, politicians, you name it), or by the fact that it looks at first glance like a work of reference. A better title would perhaps have been Reliable Memoirs, because what its really doing is filling in the gaps in Clive Jamess sequence of Unreliable Memoirs.
It consists of a hundred or more brief articles based on quotes noted down during a lifetimes extensive reading, any one of which is liable at any point to go off at a tangent on a hugely entertaining digression. Its not meant to be read from cover to cover, but youll have a great time dotting around in it. Guaranteed youll make loads of notes yourself in your own turn memorable quotes, jokes, revelatory perceptions, writers youd never heard of whom all of a sudden you really want to read.
If youve ever enjoyed any of Clive Jamess writing reviews, memoirs, songs, whatever dont hesitate. Its a book to keep with you always and to keep returning to.
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48 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
My book of the year, 12 Jul 2007
Following some explicit hints to my daughter, I was delighted to receive this as a Father's Day gift. I consider myself a fairly well-read person, but only in the extremely limited sense of having read just about everything Clive James has ever written, ranging from his TV reviews, literary criticism, autobiography, novels and verse to his lyrics for singer-songwriter Pete Atkin. More broadly, what I've read in his books has introduced me to other writers, and it's always been entertaining to see his opinion (particularly when it's not high) on books which I've already read.
There's more of the same in this book, but its scale and structure dwarfs anything he's produced up until now. Some four years in the writing, it's been viewed as the culmination of his life's work (although he's rumoured to have already started work on a second volume). At first glance, it's a collection of more than a hundred critical essays on selected cultural or historical figures, mostly from 20th century Europe. Digging deeper reveals other things, as he uses his ideas about the person as a jumping-off point for musings on other topics such as plagarism, fame, memory, reading, grammar and bibliophilia.
His range of reference is extraordinary, taking in books written in German, French, Italian and Spanish (all of which he apparently reads fluently). There's a strong didactic element running through this work, as he breaks off to give advice on the most profitable way to learn languages, the best dictionaries and translations, and which books are most easily used as a starting point for breaking into a specific language. He also tells stories of the tracking down of books in shops all over the world that are explicit - even loving - in their physical detail as he describes their bindings, typeface and paper, and how they look on his shelves at home.
His main theme here, however, is culture and the struggles of liberal humanism against totalitarianism. This is clearly a big subject, and each one of these essays illuminates it from a slightly different angle until you're left feeling wiser, older and sadder at the heroism and destruction that inspired this work. Along the way, his lively and playful turns of phrase are enough to make you start making notes in the margin yourself - to take just one example at random, on p498 he describes the constant need to refresh our memory of good things that we've read as "a polishing of the pipe, like El Dorado's throat". I'm sure I won't read a better book this year, and perhaps for some time to come afterwards as well.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Yes, look at just how clever Clive James is!!, 23 Jul 2008
This book is not so much of a polemic, but the presentation of various points of view with which the reader can debate with himself / herself and others (including the author himself). It is a book crying out for contention and argument. As a `dipping' book therefore it is one of the most intellectually worthy publications of the past few years, and I would recommend that 'dipping' in and out of its contents is the most rewarding way to approach it.
I personally do have my reservations about several points that James makes, for example I think his opinions on music (especially Jazz) are somewhat myopic, and he certainly has a big problem with both Sartre and Brecht, but the joy to be had here is to question your own perceptions of these subjects again in the light of your newly formed experiences.
James's observations remind me of George Orwell's essays in the sense that often James will push the reader to places where he does not want to go, and in so doing forces a re-evaluation of long-held and cherished opinions. This is very healthy. Also like Orwell, the points of view are written to set the blood pumping and hone the critical parts of one's brain to such an extent that it is almost irrelevant if you agree with what is being said or not.
If you re-read a chapter again a few months down the line, you may find that your opinions have changed again, just like when reading an Orwell essay.
The promotion of critical thought is the main object of this book, and Mr. James achieves it superbly with his style.
More problematical is that there are a few `typos' to be found in this edition which I hope will be corrected either in a later edition, Mr. James's website, or in the second volume that Mr. James is contemplating.
Another problem with the book is the stated aim that the book has been written to instruct the young. I feel that this objective may prove to be optimistic on Mr. James' part, not because I think that the young are not up to the challenges that a study of humanism entails, but the many faceted approach James adopts in his writing style requires the bringing to bear of accumulated life experiences which the younger reader may not have had the time to accumulate. I hope I'm wrong.
As for the `pissing contest' innuendo from a previous reviewer, all I can say to that is such a remark is proof (if proof were ever required) that the British trait of inverted snobbery is alive and well. It is more desirable alternative to have the guy dribble on about Margarita Pracatan for the rest of his career? Why is it that any display of erudition from a writer or commentator becomes something to be cynically condemned by a small but vocal part of society, as if sharing an intelligent mind is akin to the wanton display of some kind of hideous deformity. Is accumulated knowledge exclusively to be kept to one's self, or to be shared with others?
If that reviewer was to reach beyond his/her own snap judgement and actually pay attention what is actually being said, then he or she may learn something (shock, horror!), or (gasp!) may actually want to find out more.
Most of the `obscure references' referred to in the book are either available from this site or at your friendly neighbourhood second-hand bookseller. So most are not obscure at all, really.
If you are at all interested in the humanities, then this is a book to be thoroughly recommended. There is nothing to be afraid of within these pages, and if used as intended (supplemented with some of the works referred to) this book will be a passport (or postcard!) to the start of a wonderful voyage of self-discovery for any reader.
It has wit, charm, and variety in spades, and is an erudite affirmation of the human condition just when it is most needed. Congratulations to Mr. James.
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