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Edmund Wilson
A Life In Literature
by Lewis M. Dabney
This hefty biography examines the life and work of the man considered by many to be America's preeminent literary critic of the 20th century.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 656 pages
08/03/2005
$35.00
ISBN: 0374113122
Nonfiction
Biographies & Memoirs
Literary Criticism
All reviews are classified as one of five grades: Outstanding (4 points), Favorable (3), Mixed (2), Unfavorable (1) and Terrible (0). To calculate the Metascore, we divide total points achieved by the total points possible (i.e., 4 x the number of reviews), with the resulting percentage (multiplied by 100) being the Metascore. Learn more...
Booklist Donna Seaman
Dabney, who edited The Sixties (1993), the final volume of Wilson's published journals, presents a meticulous biography that is lapidary and illuminating in its proficient explications of Wilson's volatile personal relationships and benchmark writings. [Aug 2005, p. 1982]
Houston Chronicle Richard Hauer Costa
Edmund Wilson: A Life in Literature will stand that most demanding of tests--time--as the finest assessment of Edmund Wilson's commanding presence in 20th-century American literature.
Library Journal
This thorough biography gives the definitive treatment to the life and work of one of the early 20th century's most highly revered men of letters... A complex account... Comprehensive, well-researched. [1 Jul 2005, p. 79]
The New Republic James Wood
Lewis Dabney's fine, highly capable new biography is the best picture we now have of Wilson's massive and many-chaptered career.
Wall Street Journal Hilton Kramer
This book will serve as the definitive account of its subject for many years to come.
The New York Times Book Review Colm Toibin
All the information one needs about Wilson is here.
Village Voice Allen Barra
In this enormously satisfying account there seem to be several Edmund Wilsons, all of them products of an era "culturally narrower than ours" but "in many ways more literate." Dabney makes one nostalgic for such a time and such a man.
Atlantic Monthly Benjamin Schwarz
[Dabney is] a discerning reader and a clear writer, though he periodically oversimplifies the intellectual and, especially, the political context of Wilson's work
The Economist
It is good to have a chronicle of Wilson's life that gives him full due without building up false contrasts.
London Review Of Books Stefan Collini
Dabney’s is a... thorough and fully documented account, one which occasionally casts a sceptical eye over claims made by some of its sources, including those of Wilson himself.
Los Angeles Times Matthew Price
Dabney's estimate of Wilson's character is measured and humane; he is a sympathetic chronicler throughout but not reluctant to judge when he must. [20 Nov 2005]
Publishers Weekly
Readers seeking an introduction to Wilson will find their perseverance through this hefty tome rewarded with a rich context for approaching his writings. [13 Jun 2005, p. 44]
Kirkus Reviews
A solid, much-needed work of literary biography. [15 May 2005, p. 573]
Boston Globe Bruce Allen
Lewis Dabney's respectful and replete biography, which offers a welcome corrective to Jeffrey Meyers's earlier warts-and-all life, is, quite properly, as much a portrayal of 20th-century America as of Dabney's slippery subject.
Christian Science Monitor Diane Scharper
An unevenly written but well-researched account of Wilson.
San Francisco Chronicle Bob Blaisdell
Nobody summarizes literature more neatly than Wilson, but Dabney has no such knack and often has us on a forced march through dull discussions of what are not dull books.
Washington Post Jonathan Yardley
The net effect of Edmund Wilson: A Life in Literature is to leave one wondering why, precisely, books such as this are written.
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