Into The Looking-Glass Wood: Essays On Words And The World - Hardcover

Manguel, Alberto

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0676971350 ISBN 13: 9780676971354

Publisher: Knopf Canada, 1998

Synopsis

By the award-winning author of A History of Reading

"For me, words on a page give the world coherence--Words tell us what we, as a society, believe the world to be--I believe there is an ethic of reading--a commitment that is both political and private in the act of turning the pages. And I believe that sometimes, beyond the author's intentions and beyond the reader's hopes, a book can make us better and wiser."

Through personal stories and literary reflections, in a style rich in humour and gentle erudition, Manguel leads us, the readers, to reflect upon the pleasures and responsibilities of reading, and the links that exist between the world we live in, and the words we live amongst. Into the Looking-Glass Wood is a voyage into the subversive heart of words - a voyage fired by the author's humanity and extraordinary breadth of vision.
From the Trade Paperback edition.

About this title

Review:

Following his celebrated A History of Reading, Alberto Manguel has collected a number of his powerful and various essays on the topic of words and world. Linked by scenes from Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass--a reading treasured since Manguel's childhood--these essays range widely: from "Borges in Love" to "The Death of Che Guevara" (one of the most impressive essays here), from the autobiographical "On Being Jewish" ("Am I a Jew?") to "Browsing in the Rag-and-Bone Shop" (an indictment of the "literary pretensions" of Bret Easton Ellis's notorious American Psycho. Certain themes run through the book: the role, and ethics, of reading and writing in a world so often violent, or murderous; the exploration of literature and/as prejudice (Chinua Achebe's assessment of Conrad's Heart of Darkness as a "racist" text); the problem of literary catalogues: the difficulty not only of knowing what to read (the question of reviewing) but, more urgently, how to read. As a reader, Manguel sets a beguiling example, dwelling in the land of books, laying down the wager of words to "give the world coherence"; as a writer, he uses those words to challenge his readers to read--more and differently. --Vicky Lebeau

Review:

"These are rich and various essays, ripe with interest. Manguel says that what matters most to literature is the existence of judicious readers; this collection will help to create more such."-The Financial Times "Splendid and eloquently expressed . . . Manguel's writing at its strongest and most original."-The Times Literary Supplement "Witty and elegant, a nice piece of book-making."-The Sunday Times (London)

About this edition

• Publisher: Knopf Canada
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0676971350
• ISBN 13: 9780676971354
• Binding: Hardcover