Unfinished Business: Notes of a Chronic Re-Reader

(Paperback)

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Description

The acclaimed author of The Odd Woman and the City celebrates the joys of rereading and the electrifying works of literature that have shaped her life. A celebration of passionate reading from the acclaimed author and critic In nine stunning essays, the inimitable Vivian Gornick returns to the books that have shaped her. From a reporter in 1970s New York, to a feminist negotiating love and independence, to a writer in the jubilant sanctity of older age- Gornick's life is compelling, and in the characters of literature she finds versions of herself through the years, each time she opens the page. Gornick finds solace in the contradictory figures of D.H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers, assesses womanhood in Colette, and reflects on Marguerite Duras's The Lover; she revisits Great War novels by J.L. Carr and Pat Barker, uncovers the psychological complexity in Elizabeth Bowen, and soaks in Natalia Ginzberg, 'whose work ... made me love life more'. When two erratic, highly strung cats enter her life, she discovers Doris Lessing's Particularly Cats. Infused with Gornick's trademark verve and insight, this collection is a masterful appreciation of literature and its ability to illuminate.

Reviews

"Gornick's new book is part memoiristic collage, part literary criticism, yet it is also an urgent argument that rereading offers the opportunity not just to correct and adjust one's recollection of a book but to correct and adjust one's perception of oneself . . . Lively, personable . . . sneakily poignant . . . It is one of the great ironies of consuming literature that as much as we read to expand our minds, we often take in only whatever it is that we are primed to absorb at a particular moment. Do not, Gornick says in this brief, incisive book, let that be the end of it." --Chlo Schama, The New York Times Book Review

Vivacious and highly recommended. --Michael Dirda, The Washington Post

A thoughtful and far-ranging collection of essays. Gornick, one of the great essayists of our time, writes about one of life's simple pleasures with tenderness and wit." --Jenny Offill, Parade

Unfinished Business is all about different ways of looking, a chronicle of the protean perceptions and interpretations . . . Gornick certainly is convincing when she takes the perceived textual qualities of realness and life and brings them to bear on her own life . . . In each case, the new reading leads to a different destination; in each case, Gornick is guided by a yearning that has remained as constant through the years as a star. --Christopher Sorrentino, Bookforum

Reading Gornick rereading, there is the persistent feeling that we--readers, writers, authors, characters--are all in it together, trying to grasp the bigger, ever-shifting picture of why we do what we do and to find the tools to illuminate, reveal, question, mourn, and grow. --Emily LaBarge, Los Angeles Review of Books

[An] enchanting and addictive little book--whose size and shape make it feel like it contains epigrams and instructions for life when in fact it contains not so much instructions for life, but life itself. --Thomas Beller, 4Columns

These essays glow with Gornick's sharp intelligence . . . Whatever a reader may think of Gornick's tastes and interpretations, it must be recognized that few champions of literature and reading are as passionate and uncompromising. Would that there were more. --Bill Thompson, The Post and Courier

Gornick's ferocious but principled intelligence emanates from each of the essays in this distinctive collection . . . The author reads more deeply and keenly than most, with perceptions amplified by the perspective of her 84 years . . . Literature knows few champions as ardent and insightful--or as uncompromising--as Gornick, which is to readers' good fortune. --Kirkus (starred review)

A delightful entry for lovers of literature and literary criticism. --Library Journal (starred review)

Through steady, sculpted prose and elegant readings, Gornick concludes the work of great literature is less about 'the transporting pleasure of the story itself' than revealing readers to themselves . . . The insights in this rich work will be appreciated by Gornick fans and bibliophiles alike. --Publishers Weekly

Author Bio

Vivian Gornick is the author of several books, including Fierce Attachments and The Odd Woman and the City, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography. Her work has appeared widely, including in The New York Times, The Nation, The New York Review of Books and The Atlantic.