Richard Bourke
Convince Me
How Words Make Things Happen
By David Bromwich
Oxford University Press 144pp £20 order from our bookshop
David Bromwich is among the most accomplished literary critics writing in the United States today. More than that, he is a major intellectual voice there. He brings considerable reserves of historical knowledge and philosophical insight to the various issues that concern him. Partly because of this, his work extends beyond the confines of any disciplinary boundary. He has written eloquently on Hazlitt, Wordsworth, Burke and Shakespeare, and has been a prominent commentator on academic and political life in America. He is a challenging and multifaceted thinker, but he is distinguished, above all, by his moral seriousness.
One of Bromwich’s staple preoccupations is on display in this short book, based on the Clarendon Lectures that he delivered at the University of Oxford in 2013. In five sharp chapters, he explores an eclectic array of writers, including poets, novelists, orators and politicians. As this list suggests,
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
'The day Simon and I Vespa-d from Daunt to Daunt to John Sandoe to Hatchards to Goldsboro, places where many of the booksellers have become my friends over the years, was the one with the high puffy clouds, the very strong breeze, the cool-warm sunlight.'
https://literaryreview.co.uk/temple-of-vespa
Some salient thoughts on book collecting from Michael Dirda with a semi tragic conclusion that I suspect many of us can relate to from the @Lit_Review #WednesdayMotivation
Sign up to our newsletter! Get free articles, selections from the archive, subscription offers and competitions delivered straight to your inbox.
http://ow.ly/zZcW50JfgN5