Life is short; art is shorter : in praise of brevity

337 Pages·2014·1.25 MB·English

by  Cooperman

Recent praise
for David Shields
Salinger (with Shane Salerno)
· New York Times bestseller
· LA Times bestseller
Revealing … [A] sharp-edged portrait.
Michiko kakutani, The New York Times
There are riches here …
Lev GrossMan, Time
…Hugely impressive …
John WaLsh, The Sunday Times of London
… Salinger is the thorny, complicated portrait that its thorny, complicated
subject deserves …
Louis Bayard, The Washington Post
Salinger gets the goods on an author’s reclusive life …
david L. uLin, Los Angeles Times
Juicy … Salinger is full of fascinating revelations.…
andreW roMano, The Daily Beast
The reclusive author’s story, thrillingly told …
kyLe Minor, Salon
… refreshingly frank about [Salinger’s] many shortcomings and how they
might have affected his work …
Laura MiLLer, Salon
hbk143-Life_is_Short-praise : 25 July 2014
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Praise for David Shields
How Literature Saved My Life
…These rigorous, high-octane, exhaustive yet taut ruminations on ambiva-
lence, love, melancholy, and mortality are like an arrow laced with crack to
the brain.
kristy davis, O, The Oprah Magazine
…Wonderful, vastly entertaining book.
euGenia WiLLiaMson, Boston Globe
Concise, fearless, urgent. A soulful writer, a skillful storyteller, and a man
on the hunt for the Exquisite.
Minna Proctor, Bookforum
A generation from now, when we pick up our flex-tablets or digi-goggles or
whatever and read about literature at the turn of the twenty-first century,
there’s a decent chance we’ll see it referred to as the David Shields era.
Mark athitakis, Barnes & Noble Review
Shields has an uncanny ability to tap into the short attention span of mod-
ern culture and turn it into something positive.… How Literature Saved My
Life presents a way forward for literature in new forms.
kevin McFarLand, The A.V. Club
Shields is a stunning writer. Within this book lies significant passion and
revelation.
the huFFinGton Post
Uncompromisingly intelligent, blisteringly forthright, and eschewing con-
vention at every turn.
a. J. kirBy, New York Journal of Books
There is no more interesting writer at this precise moment than David
Shields.
JeFF siMon, Buffalo News, Editor’s Choice
… altogether fascinating.
PuBLishers WeekLy, starred review
Quintessential genre-defying Shields. His writing gives you [a] sense of
vertigo. It’s energizing and weird, and it works.
eMiLy GoGoLak, The Village Voice
hbk143-Life_is_Short-praise : 25 July 2014
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Shields’s ideas about literature come from a place of deep love; he’s not
trying to destroy but rebuild what is already broken.
craiG huBert, ArtInfo
I find David Shields unavoidable. A lot of that is a matter of style—I enjoy
fragmentary writing, and few are more adept at it than he is.
Guy cunninGhaM, Bookslut
Reality Hunger: A Manifesto
· Named one of the best books of the year by more than thirty publications
Maybe he’s simply ahead of the rest of us, mapping out the literary future
of the next generation.
susan h. GreenBerG, Newsweek
I can’t stop recommending it to my friends.
edWard kinG, The Times of London
[I am] grateful for this beautiful (yes, raw and gorgeous) book.
susan saLter reynoLds, Los Angeles Times
This is the most provocative, brain-rewiring book of 2010. It’s a book that
feels at least five years ahead of its time and teaches you how to read it as
you go.
aLex PaPPadeMas, GQ
I find Shields’s book absorbing, even inspiring. The ideas he raises are so
important, his ideas are so compelling, that I raved about this book the
whole time I was reading it and have regularly quoted it to friends in the
weeks since.
JaMi attenBerG, Bookforum
Thank goodness for David Shields and his new book, Reality Hunger:
A Manifesto, which, among other things, is a literary battle cry for the cre-
ation of a new genre … brilliant, thoughtful, and yes, original …
cathy aLter, The Atlantic
David Shields’s radical intellectual manifesto, Reality Hunger, is a rousing
call to arms for all artists to reject the laws governing appropriation, oblit-
erate the boundaries between fiction and nonfiction, and give rise to a new
modern form.
eLissa schaPeLL, Vanity Fair
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Praise for David Shields
I don’t think it would be too strong to say that Shields’s book will be a sort
of bible for the next generation of culture-makers.
david GriFFith, Bookslut
Reality Hunger … heralds what will be the dominant modes in years and
decades to come.
Luc sante, The New York Times Book Review
As is true of any good manifesto, [Shields] clocks or locks a feeling in the
air, something already everywhere, familiar but not fully formed.
aLexandra Juhasz, The Huffington Post
Essential reading for both readers and writers.
stePhen eMMs, The Guardian
… an important book … a provocative and entertaining manifesto.
BLake Morrison, The Guardian, “Book of the Week”
David Shields has written yet another stunning book … Why is this man
always writing the most interesting books?
Frederick BartheLMe
The Thing About Life Is That
One Day You’ll Be Dead
· New York Times bestseller
· Named one of the best books of the year by Amazon.com, Artforum, Salon,
Seattle Times, and TimeOut Chicago
Many writers aim to capture the human condition in all its variety, audac-
ity, and contradiction, but few can claim to get as close to their target as
Shields.… [A] truly original vision brought to fruition.
Josh rosenBLatt, The Austin Chronicle
… a terrible beauty of a book is born.
thoMas Lynch, Boston Globe
Enthralling … Fascinating …
Meredith Maran, San Francisco Chronicle
An edifying, wise, unclassifiable mixture of filial love and Oedipal rage.
Lev GrossMan, Time
hbk143-Life_is_Short-praise : 25 July 2014
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Mr. Shields is a sharp-eyed, self-deprecating, at times hilarious writer.
Approaching the flat line of the last page, we want more.
stePhen Bates, The Wall Street Journal
A primer on aging and death for those who take theirs without the sugar.
… There’s a comfort to be found in this sober investigation of mortality, in
Shields’s clear-eyed look at the ways in which we come undone.
BenJaMin aLsuP, Esquire
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Copyright © 2014 Library of Congress Hawthorne Books
David Shields Cataloging-in-Publication Data & Literary Arts
& Elizabeth Cooperman
All rights reserved. No part Shields, David, 1956 – author. 9 2201 Northeast 23rd Avenue
of this book may be repro- Life is short ; art is shorter : in praise 8 3rd Floor
duced in any form or by any of brevity / by David Shields and 7 Portland, Oregon 97212
electronic or mechanical Elizabeth Cooperman. 6 hawthornebooks.com
means, including informa- pages cm 5 Form :
tion storage-and-retrieval Includes bibliographical references. 4 Adam McIsaac/Sibley House
systems, without prior per- isbn 978-0-9893604-5-6 3
mission in writing from the 1. Literature – Philososphy. 2 Printed in China
Publisher, except for brief 2. Discourse analysis. Set in Paperback
quotations embodied in 3. Authorship.
critical articles and reviews. 4. Short story.
I. Cooperman, Elizabeth, 1981–
author.
II. Title.
pn45. s393 2014
801 – dc23
2014020263
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