Michael Schmidt (1) (1947–)
Autore di Lives of the Poets
Per altri autori con il nome Michael Schmidt, vedi la pagina di disambiguazione.
Sull'Autore
Michael Schmidt is the editor of PN Review, which he established in 1972; the founder and editorial director of Carcanet Press, which publishes poetry and fiction; and the director of the writing school at Manchester Metropolitan University in Manchester, England.
Fonte dell'immagine: Arvon Foundation
Serie
Opere di Michael Schmidt
Opere correlate
Birds, Beasts and Flowers!: Poems (A Black Sparrow Book) (1982) — Postfazione, alcune edizioni — 144 copie
Buzz Words: Poems About Insects (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets Series) (2021) — Collaboratore — 32 copie
Etichette
Informazioni generali
- Data di nascita
- 1947-03-02
- Sesso
- male
- Nazionalità
- UK
- Luogo di nascita
- Mexico City, Mexico
- Luogo di residenza
- Mexico City, Mexico
Glasgow, Scotland, UK
England, UK
USA - Istruzione
- Harvard University
Oxford University (Wadham College) - Attività lavorative
- poet
novelist
critic
publisher
Professor of Poetry
anthologist - Organizzazioni
- Carcanet Press (founder)
Glasgow University - Premi e riconoscimenti
- OBE (2006)
Fellow, Royal Society of Literature
Utenti
Recensioni
Premi e riconoscimenti
Potrebbero anche piacerti
Autori correlati
Statistiche
- Opere
- 49
- Opere correlate
- 6
- Utenti
- 1,381
- Popolarità
- #18,624
- Voto
- 3.9
- Recensioni
- 23
- ISBN
- 181
- Lingue
- 6
- Preferito da
- 1
I have a university degree in this stuff, and write about books myself, so I felt I was too educated to gain much from Schmidt's writing. Although the latter half of the book was more engaging to me, his thoughts seemed more personal than academic, more introductory than investigative. At the other end of the spectrum, though, Schmidt is prone to referencing other authors, plots, or characters out of context, and it is clear that he is writing for a learned audience. So I would not recommend this book to the young student wanting to discover how the novel has evolved. This leads me to think the best place for this volume is the university library, where individual chapters can be read by those interested in specific subject matters. I echo some of the smart reviews already on Goodreads that this book is evidently brilliant, but it would make a lot more sense if we were in Schmidt's head. He often writes comments that he sees as self-evident, but which need a bit of convincing for the lay reader.
Also, a pet peeve which may have biased me against this book: Schmidt has chosen not to cite his references. I accept that I am an extremist, a lover of indices and footnotes. But even if he didn't want to have cumbersome annotations everywhere, he could have gone with the pop-academic form of endnotes that reference back to the page numbers even though there is no corresponding number on the main page. Simply put, when every chapter contains numerous anecdotes and much gossip about the authors and the books, it's even more vital that we know where this came from. We can look up obvious book quotes ourselves if we must, but critical comments (reporting when a modern author said something about an older author, for instance) and salacious biography need to be cited. I say this not as a stickler (although I am) but because anyone keen enough to read through a 1,200 page book on novelists as diverse as Fanny Burney and Martin Amis is giong to need to track down many of the quotes and passing comments. Please!
… (altro)