Enemies of Promise - Softcover

Connolly, Cyril

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0226115046 ISBN 13: 9780226115047

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2008

Synopsis

"Whom the gods wish to destroy," writes Cyril Connolly, "they first call promising." First published in 1938 and long out of print, Enemies of Promise, an "inquiry into the problem of how to write a book that lasts ten years," tests the boundaries of criticism, journalism, and autobiography with the blistering prose that became Connolly's trademark. Connolly here confronts the evils of domesticity, politics, drink, and advertising as well as novelists such as Joyce, Proust, Hemingway, and Faulkner in essays that remain fresh and penetrating to this day.
 
 "A fine critic, compulsive traveler, and candid autobiographer. . . . [Connolly] lays down the law for all writers who wanted to count. . . . He had imagination and decisive images flashed with the speed of wit in his mind."-V. S. Pritchett, New York Review of Books
 
"Anyone who writes, or wants to write, will find something on just about every single page that either endorses a long-held prejudice or outrages, and that makes it a pretty compelling read. . . . You end up muttering back at just about every ornately constructed pensée that Connolly utters, but that's one of the joys of this book."-Nick Hornby, The Believer
 
"A remarkable book."-Anthony Powell  
 

About this title

Review:

"A remarkable book."--Anthony Powell
0;A remarkable book.1;2;Anthony Powell
-- Anthony Powell

0;A fine critic, compulsive traveler, and candid autobiographer. . . . [Connolly] lays down the law for all writers who wanted to count. . . . He had imagination and decisive images flashed with the speed of wit in his mind.1;2;V. S. Pritchett, "New York"" Review of Books""" -- V. S. Pritchett "NYRB"

0;Anyone who writes, or wants to write, will find something on just about every single page that either endorses a long-held prejudice or outrages, and that makes it a pretty compelling read. . . . You end up muttering back at just about every ornately constructed pensee that Connolly utters, but that7;s one of the joys of this book.1;2;Nick Hornby, "Believer"""
-- Nick Hornby "Believer"

0;You cannot read Cyril Connolly for very long without wanting to acquire2;and then developing2;a relationship with the personality of the man himself. This small, podgy, balding, pug-faced, funny, gossipy, lazy, clever, cowardly, hedonistic, fractious, difficult man somehow manages to enshrine in his words and life everything that we aspire to, and that intellectually ennobles us, and all that is weak and worst in us as well.1;2;William Boyd, "Guardian""" "" -- William Boyd "Guardian"

"A remarkable book."--Anthony Powell
--Anthony Powell

"A fine critic, compulsive traveler, and candid autobiographer. . . . [Connolly] lays down the law for all writers who wanted to count. . . . He had imagination and decisive images flashed with the speed of wit in his mind."--V. S. Pritchett "NYRB "

"You cannot read Cyril Connolly for very long without wanting to acquire--and then developing--a relationship with the personality of the man himself. This small, podgy, balding, pug-faced, funny, gossipy, lazy, clever, cowardly, hedonistic, fractious, difficult man somehow manages to enshrine in his words and life everything that we aspire to, and that intellectually ennobles us, and all that is weak and worst in us as well."--William Boyd "Guardian "

"Anyone who writes, or wants to write, will find something on just about every single page that either endorses a long-held prejudice or outrages, and that makes it a pretty compelling read. . . . You end up muttering back at just about every ornately constructed pensee that Connolly utters, but that's one of the joys of this book."--Nick Hornby "Believer "

"A remarkable book."--Anthony Powell

About the Author:

Cyril Connolly (1903-74) was one of the most influential critics of his time, who wrote for such publications as the New Statesman, the Observer, and the Sunday Times. He is the author of many books, including The Rock Pool and The Unquiet Grave.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0226115046
• ISBN 13: 9780226115047
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288