Many see the meeting between literature and politics as fraught. In this engagement with novels and their authors, Christopher Hitchens takes inspiration from Shelley's description of the poet as an "unacknowledged legislator" and shows, that while the encounter between writers and those in power is not always smooth, it generally embodies a dialectic that is worth pursuit. Christopher Hitchens provides evidence that his own sallies as a political journalist are nourished by a close engagement with a broad sweep of novelists. Here, Norman Mailer and Gore Vidal's encounters with American revolution are scrutinised in interview; George Orwell's role as a fulcrum between left and right is carefully weighed-up; an appraisal of the fatwah issued against Salman Rushdie becomes a meditation on the West's misunderstood encounter with Islam; and Ernest Hemmingway is defended against the vagaries of fashion, as Hitchens turns an illuminating eye to lines from Oscar Wilde and P.G. Wodehouse, through Philip Larkin and Patrick O'Brien, to Walter Mosley, Tom Wolfe, Gore Vidal and Susan Sontag.
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Lionel Trilling once observed in his diaries that, to his genuine surprise, he was no longer simply a critic of literature but had become a fact of literature himself ... Christopher Hitchens, political and literary journalist extraordinaire, should now be considered a fact of political and cultural reality. His astounding capacity for work has produced a body of work; his vastly ranging, deeply driven devastations and illuminations make up a reliable outlook on the world. --Lee Siegel
About the Author
Christopher Hitchens lives in Washington, is Professor of Liberal Studies at the New School in New York, and writes columns for Vanity Fair. His previous books include Hostage to History, The Elgin Marbles, For the Sake of Argument, The Missionary position, No One Left to Lie To, and The Trial of Henry Kissinger, all published by Verso
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32 of 36 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
Christopher Hitchens, without doubt the finest journalist at work in English today, has one book out at present, Unacknowledged Legislation, a collection of his recent pieces from a variety of sources, and one forthcoming, on one of his betes noir, The Trial of Henry Kissinger. This is cause for rejoicing and an opportunity for those unacquainted with him to see what the fuss is about. Unacknowledged Legislation - the reference is to the poet Shelley's characterisation of poets- provides a fair sample of his gifts, with most articles on literature and politics showing his considerable wit and erudition; they do not, for the most part show what makes him special. No, it is in the last part of the book that he moves into overdrive, with two pieces on Norman Podhoretz, the right-wing cultural commentator, and Tom Clancy, the novelist, that we see what marks Hitchens out.
'Unmaking Friends, on Podoretz, is vintage Hitchens: hugely intelligent, stylish and a joy to read. It is also severe to the point of cruelty, as are his most memorable essays, in Prepared for the Worst and For the Sake of Argument. At his best he is as good an essayist as Britain has produced, combining an unsurpassable clarity of argument with a wit that leaves lesser writers like P.J. O' Rourke looking like journeymen- he is often hilariously, laugh-out-loud-funny. He is merciless in pursuit of his victims, too, although they might be consoled to know that they will live on in these excoriations; as Paul Johnson and Podhoretz could testify, he is able to wield both rapier and bludgeon.
A few years ago, the waspish critic and poet, Tom Paulin, chose Hitchens' attack on Paul Johnson as an exemplary polemic; it is indispensable, educative and fun. And the new collection is like that, at its best, written with the zest of a tirade but with the style and skill of a work of art. Get it; better get all his books.
By R. Burdon
Format:Hardcover
I read this collection when it first came out in hardback some years ago, and it's a terrific book which I've often dipped into since. I would highly recommend it to anyone who loves the literary essay form. The reviewer below who awards it 1 star clearly cannot even have read this book (perhaps couldn't read it, I'd hazard a guess). And that, in my opinion, makes his mindless review completely worthless, and him exactly the kind of pseudo-intellectual fraud he warns of in his review title. Anyway, a great book, don't be put off!
0 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By Zero
Format:Hardcover
The quote from Lee Siegal states that Hitchens' opinions constitute a reliable outlook on the world. This is clearly incorrect. Hitchens was a believer in invisible Iraqi WMDs and falsely characterised religious people frequently. If you're impressed by smoke and mirrors tricks to confirm your New Atheist cult's prejudices and bigotry then you might like this, but most people won't.
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