Reviews for Essays on New Art History

The average rating for Essays on New Art History based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-05-13 00:00:00 Jeffret Haig Pendennis, an early Victorian semi-autobiographical Bildungsroman that might be compared to its more famous contemporary, Dickens’ David Copperfield, is a prime example of the novels Henry James deprecated as “loose, baggy monsters.” Long to the point of exhaustion, the novel’s filled with numerous characters who appear, disappear, and then reappear under the most incredible circumstances; plots, subplots and counterplots; ludicrous coincidences and chance encounters; dealing, double and triple dealing; long-winded explanations of characters’ motives; purple prose, and cloying sentimentality; and a jumble of dangling loose ends to be gathered together in a denouement that affronts sanity with the sublime indifference of the Marx Brothers. At times I speculated, while rubbing my weary eyes, whether Thackeray had been paid by the word. And yet, scattered here and there, were scenes of ingeniously crafted brilliance detailed in stunning prose: a ball, a night at Vauxhall Gardens, the vivid descriptions of life in the English countryside, of University Life in the 1830s, of the Inns of Court, the London Underworld and Debtor’s Prison, of the end of Coaching Days and the coming of the railroad, and throughout this great crazy quilt the portraits of numerous unforgettable minor characters who come out of the wings to play, at one time or another, a major role before exiting the stage never to be seen again. Is Pendennis then a loose, baggy monster? Perhaps, but in my opinion it’s a most fascinating and endearing beast for those brave enough to enter its lair and spend some time in its company.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-06-14 00:00:00 Tony Arellano I am so sad. This book was my friend and now it is finished. If you love Vanity Fair and want to meet Thackeray, here is your chance.