Picture 1 of 1
Geoff Dyer Otherwise Known as the Human Condition (Paperback)
Another great item from Rarewaves USA | Free delivery!
Condition:
3 available
Shipping:
Located in: 60502, United States
Delivery:
Varies
Returns:
Payments:
Shop with confidence
Seller information
- 97.8% positive feedback
Registered as a Business Seller
Seller assumes all responsibility for this listing.
eBay item number:235360670695
Item specifics
- Condition
- Book Title
- Otherwise Known As the Human Condition : Selected Essays and Reviews
- Publication Name
- Otherwise Known as the Human Condition
- Title
- Otherwise Known as the Human Condition
- Subtitle
- Selected Essays and Reviews
- Format
- Trade Paperback
- ISBN-10
- 1555975798
- EAN
- 9781555975791
- ISBN
- 9781555975791
- Publisher
- Graywolf Press
- Genre
- Literary Criticism, Literary Collections
- Release Date
- 29/03/2011
- Release Year
- 2011
- Country/Region of Manufacture
- GB
- Item Height
- 1.3in
- Item Length
- 8.9in
- Item Width
- 6.1in
- Item Weight
- 23.3 Oz
- Language
- English
- Publication Year
- 2011
- Topic
- General, Essays
- Number of Pages
- 432 Pages
About this product
Product Information
*Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism* *A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice* *A New York Times Top 10 Nonfiction Book of the Year, as selected by Dwight Garner* Geoff Dyer has earned the devotion of passionate fans on both sides of the Atlantic through his wildly inventive, romantic novels as well as several brilliant, uncategorizable works of nonfiction. All the while he has been writing some of the wittiest, most incisive criticism we have on an astonishing array of subjects--music, literature, photography, and travel journalism--that, in Dyer's expert hands, becomes a kind of irresistible self-reportage. Otherwise Known as the Human Condition collects twenty-five years of essays, reviews, and misadventures. Here he is pursuing the shadow of Camus in Algeria and remembering life on the dole in Brixton in the 1980s; reflecting on Richard Avedon and Ruth Orkin, on the status of jazz and the wonderous Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, on the sculptor ZadKine and the saxophonist David Murray (in the same essay), on his heroes Rebecca West and Ryszard Kapus cin ski, on haute couture and sex in hotels. Whatever he writes about, his responses never fail to surprise. For Dyer there is no division between the reflective work of the critic and the novelist's commitment to lived experience: they are mutually illuminating ways to sharpen our perceptions. His is the rare body of work that manages to both frame our world and enlarge it.
Product Identifiers
Publisher
Graywolf Press
ISBN-10
1555975798
ISBN-13
9781555975791
eBay Product ID (ePID)
92979493
Product Key Features
Book Title
Otherwise Known As the Human Condition : Selected Essays and Reviews
Format
Trade Paperback
Language
English
Topic
General, Essays
Publication Year
2011
Genre
Literary Criticism, Literary Collections
Number of Pages
432 Pages
Dimensions
Item Length
8.9in
Item Height
1.3in
Item Width
6.1in
Item Weight
23.3 Oz
Additional Product Features
Reviews
"Mr. Dyer''s new book, Otherwise Known as the Human Condition , is a collection of his occasional prose. . . . They''re ''bits and bobs,'' he writes, but he takes them more seriously than that, and so should anyone who cares about joyous, wriggling sentences composed in the English language." -- Dwight Garner, The New York Times "There''s a restless current to these essays, as if a net were being thrown ever wider in search of fresh versions of that original burst of aesthetic delight, literature, which managed to turn a working-class grammar school boy from Cheltenham into an international ''man of letters.'' . . . This is what I find most remarkable about Dyer: his tone. Its simplicity, its classlessness, its accessibility and yet its erudition--the combination is a trick few British writers ever pull off. . . . [Dyer''s humor is] what separates him from Berger and Lawrence and Sontag: it''s what makes these essays not just an education, but a joy." -- Zadie Smith, Harper''s Magazine "You read Dyer for his caustic wit, of course, his exquisite and perceptive crankiness, and his deep and exciting intellectual connections, but from these enthralling rants and cultural investigations there finally emerges another Dyer, a generous seeker of human feeling and experience, a man perhaps closer than he thinks to what he believes his hero Camus achieved: ''a heart free of bitterness.''" -- Sam Lipsyte, Very Short List "Dyer''s writing does what the best critical writing always does, encouraging us to view, read, or listen closely to art, literature, and music as well as to pay close attention to various cultural forms and their impact on our personal lives." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) "All of Dyer''s work holds together very well indeed, but what holds it together is a voice, which becomes a persona. It''s a very English, low-key, plainspoken, unassuming voice that invites you in, and can become intimate but not too intimate, and can smoothly transit between comedy and gravity. It takes on flesh in his reported pieces and personal essays and some of his fiction, and there it is often richly and sometimes darkly comic--self deprecating, stubborn, canny, forlorn, worldly, hapless, serious, romantic, dissipated." -- Luc Sante, Bookforum "While contemporary writers such as David Shields decry the need to erase the lines between fiction and nonfiction, for years, Dyer has been exemplar, churning out smart essays with his own cocktail of fact and fiction, private and public, myth and truth and has proven that rigorous criticism and writing arises out of more than just an esoteric bookshelf. Good writing, it appears, begins with seeking what moves us." -- Bookslut "[These are] brilliantly witty, surprising essays." -- The Daily Beast "Geoff Dyer has won several prizes, all deserved. When you read accounts of Dyer''s work you''ll find praiseful critics comparing him to vast numbers of writers, hurling their comparisons into the useless heap that follows him everywhere he goes. I myself often think of G.K. Chesterton for the constant and dazzling flow of paradoxes in his prose." -- Jonathan Lethem, BOMB "The essay collection ''is considered a pretty low form of book,'' in Dyer''s estimation, and yet Otherwise Known may be Dyer''s masterpiece: a living journal documenting the wealth of his interests, the depth of his insights, and a stealthily powerful argument for the essay, not the novel, as the richest mode of contemporary letters. . . . And let us be thankful that this polymath chose to ignore his father''s own words of wisdom: ''Never put anything in writing.''" -- The Boston Globe "Again and again, Dyer pairs an uncommonly precise description of what a particular artist does with an equally compelling, unexpected reason for why it is important. There are few more valuable things that a critics can accomplish in a review, . . . and Dyer''s mastery of them is a testament to his achievement." -- The Barnes & Noble Review, Dyer's writing does what the best critical writing always does, encouraging us to view, read, or listen closely to art, literature, and music as well as to pay close attention to various cultural forms and their impact on our personal lives., All of Dyer's work holds together very well indeed, but what holds it together is a voice, which becomes a persona. It's a very English, low-key, plainspoken, unassuming voice that invites you in, and can become intimate but not too intimate, and can smoothly transit between comedy and gravity. It takes on flesh in his reported pieces and personal essays and some of his fiction, and there it is often richly and sometimes darkly comic--self deprecating, stubborn, canny, forlorn, worldly, hapless, serious, romantic, dissipated., The essay collection 'is considered a pretty low form of book,' in Dyer's estimation, and yet Otherwise Known may be Dyer's masterpiece: a living journal documenting the wealth of his interests, the depth of his insights, and a stealthily powerful argument for the essay, not the novel, as the richest mode of contemporary letters. . . . And let us be thankful that this polymath chose to ignore his father's own words of wisdom: 'Never put anything in writing.', Mr. Dyer's new book, Otherwise Known as the Human Condition , is a collection of his occasional prose. . . . They're 'bits and bobs,' he writes, but he takes them more seriously than that, and so should anyone who cares about joyous, wriggling sentences composed in the English language., You read Dyer for his caustic wit, of course, his exquisite and perceptive crankiness, and his deep and exciting intellectual connections, but from these enthralling rants and cultural investigations there finally emerges another Dyer, a generous seeker of human feeling and experience, a man perhaps closer than he thinks to what he believes his hero Camus achieved: 'a heart free of bitterness.', Again and again, Dyer pairs an uncommonly precise description of what a particular artist does with an equally compelling, unexpected reason for why it is important. There are few more valuable things that a critics can accomplish in a review, . . . and Dyer's mastery of them is a testament to his achievement., While contemporary writers such as David Shields decry the need to erase the lines between fiction and nonfiction, for years, Dyer has been exemplar, churning out smart essays with his own cocktail of fact and fiction, private and public, myth and truth and has proven that rigorous criticism and writing arises out of more than just an esoteric bookshelf. Good writing, it appears, begins with seeking what moves us., "An irresistibly funny storyteller, [Dyer] is adept at fiction, essay, and reportage, but happiest when twisting all three into something entirely his own." --The New Yorker, Geoff Dyer has won several prizes, all deserved. When you read accounts of Dyer's work you'll find praiseful critics comparing him to vast numbers of writers, hurling their comparisons into the useless heap that follows him everywhere he goes. I myself often think of G.K. Chesterton for the constant and dazzling flow of paradoxes in his prose., There's a restless current to these essays, as if a net were being thrown ever wider in search of fresh versions of that original burst of aesthetic delight, literature, which managed to turn a working-class grammar school boy from Cheltenham into an international 'man of letters.' . . . This is what I find most remarkable about Dyer: his tone. Its simplicity, its classlessness, its accessibility and yet its erudition--the combination is a trick few British writers ever pull off. . . . [Dyer's humor is] what separates him from Berger and Lawrence and Sontag: it's what makes these essays not just an education, but a joy.
Intended Audience
Trade
Item description from the seller
Seller assumes all responsibility for this listing.
eBay item number:235360670695
Shipping and handling
Item does not ship to United States
Item location:
60502, United States
Ships to:
Albania, Algeria, American Samoa, Andorra, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Azerbaijan Republic, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, British Virgin Islands, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde Islands, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), Fiji, Finland, Gabon Republic, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Grenada, Guam, Guatemala, Guernsey, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Jamaica, Japan, Jersey, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macau, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mayotte, Micronesia, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Montserrat, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands Antilles, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Niue, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Republic of Croatia, Republic of the Congo, Romania, Rwanda, Saint Helena, Saint Kitts-Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, Swaziland, Sweden, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vatican City State, Vietnam, Virgin Islands (U.S.), Wallis and Futuna, Western Sahara, Western Samoa, Worldwide, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Excludes:
Afghanistan, Australia, Austria, Barbados, Belarus, Bhutan, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, France, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Germany, Guadeloupe, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Laos, Libya, Martinique, Mexico, Netherlands, New Caledonia, Reunion, Russian Federation, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela, Yemen
| Handling time |
|---|
| Will usually ship within 2 business days of receiving cleared payment. |
| Taxes |
|---|
| Taxes may be applicable at checkout. Learn moreLearn more about paying tax on eBay purchases |
Sales tax for an item #235360670695
Sales tax for an item #235360670695
Seller collects sales tax for items shipped to the following provinces:
| Province | Sales Tax Rate |
|---|
Return policy
| After receiving the item, contact seller within |
|---|
| 30 days after the buyer receives it |
The buyer is responsible for return shipping costs.
Payment details
Payment methods
Popular categories from this store
Seller feedback (62,846)
c***i (257)- Feedback left by buyer.
Past month
Verified purchase
Fantastic seller! Great communication, fast delivery, secure packaging, item as described. Highly recommend!
t***r (262)- Feedback left by buyer.
Past month
Verified purchase
Multiple-repeat customer. As always, CD as described, for a good price, well packed and quickly shipped. Highly recommend.
r***3 (197)- Feedback left by buyer.
Past year
Verified purchase
Thank you to the seller for excellent ebay retail service in each and every way. Prompt response to sale and dispatch of the item described. Package received on time which was professionally packaged. Thanks .