The Story about the Story
Reviews
"This book offers nothing less than a crash course in literature, as taught by some serious talent.” The Los Angeles Times
"Quite plainly, we were taken aback by how precisely [Hallman] had laid out our own aspirations for criticism in this magazine. The piece, in our humble opinion, points toward an educated, unpretentious form of literary critique that serves both literature and the everyday reader. When people want to know what we’re looking for in this magazine, we’ll point them to Hallman’s essay and those he has collected in the book it prefaces." The Quarterly Conversation
“An inspired anthology…this volume is just overflowing with delightful prose and thinking”
Our Man in Boston
“Some of the authors have such intimate relationships with the others (literal or imaginary) that it’s hard to tell where life ends and art begins. “ Bookslut
“That such an array even exists is cause for much celebration…if you care a whit about reading and writing, this book will be a blessed addition to your library.” The Miami SunPost
“Hallman has compiled pieces that leap with scintillating vigor and occasionally astringent force from the page…The Story About the Story feels like a literary salon in book format." Blogcritics.org
"[Hallman provides] a deftly composed trip through some of the uglier turf battles of the twentieth century...What's successful about The Story as a whole is that it reclaims the intellectual realm for writers of fiction, poetry, and essay." Fourth Genre
“Hallman has given the literary world an insightful book about the concept of 'creative criticism' penned in clever and often humorous prose by a variety of talented authors…After each full-bodied opinion, one is compelled to go out and read-or re-read-the piece being critiqued. This merely bolsters Hallman’s theory, that good reviews and literary critiques should be -- and can be -- written to inspire readers to peruse the books themselves." Sacramento Book Review
“Though, to Hallman’s point, this kind of writing about writing has actually always been around, you just had to know where to look for it. For anyone looking today, it seems silly to do anything other than start here.” The Faster Times, Justin Taylor
“[A] fantastic collection of essays…an intelligent celebration of the nexus where good fiction and nonfiction meet.” Popmatters, Michael Buening
“If you love literature, don’t borrow The Story About the Story, because you’ll never give it back. Buy it.” Blogcritics, Helen Gallagher
"The problem with this book: too many irresistible things." James Salter
"All great criticism begins with love. After all, we read books not from obligation but for pleasure, for mental excitement, for what A.E. Housman called the tingle at the back of the neck. In The Story About the Story there are no merely literary essays: Instead J.C. Hallman has gathered love letters, exuberant appreciations, confessions of envy and admiration. In these pages some of our finest writers stand up and testify to the power of literature to shake and shape our very souls." Michael Dirda, Pulitzer Prize-winning critic and author of Bound to Please and Classics for Pleasure
"An invaluable guide for any reader of literature, as well as for the practitioners themselves. Reading Lawrence on Melville, Heaney on Eliot, Milosz on Frost and Camus on Melville will reveal the nut of the art." Daniel Halpern
"A novel, yes. A film, yes. But when have you ever been sorry for a book of essays to end? I was with this book. Each of these essays investigates good writing by writing well about it. They are all formally elegant and smart, smart, smart. And a delight to read." Mary Jo Bang
Introduction | Reviews | Blogs | Attached syllabus
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