In the spirit of Lionel Trilling, Edmund Wilson, and Susan Sontag, the renowned literary critic Jeffrey Hart writesThe Living Moment, a close reading of literature as it intersects with the political. Hart’s book is an even-handed guide for anyone toddling into the mists of the modernist moment, effortlessly moving between such modernist monuments as Eliot’s “The Waste Land,” Hemingway’sA Farewell to Arms, Mann’sDoctor Faustus, and Fitzgerald’sThe Great Gatsby. Hart’s most stunning achievement is his brilliant inclusion of Marilynne Robinson’sGileadas a modernist text, for the way the novel teaches us to see more, to hear more, to feel more. Hart’s dazzling study is an examination of important works of literature as they explore the experience of living in a broken world with thought and sometimes with examples of resolve that possess permanent validity.The Living Momentis for anyone who is wearied by so much of today’s trendy, narrow, and ideologically driven criticism.
In the spirit of Lionel Trilling, Edmund Wilson, and Susan Sontag, the renowned literary critic Jeffrey Hart offers a close reading of literature as it intersects with the political. Hart offers an even-handed guide for anyone toddling into the mists of the Modernist moment, ranging breathlessly over such Modernist monuments as Eliot’s The Waste Land, Hemingway’sA Farewell to Arms, Mann’sDoctor Faustus, and Fitzgerald’sThe Great Gatsby.
Jeffrey Hart is a cultural critic, professor emeritus of English atDartmouth College, essayist, and columnist who lives in
![The Living Moment: Modernism in a Broken World [Paperback]](/itemImage/2/8/3/2/2_5237432.jpg "The Living Moment: Modernism in a Broken World [Paperback]")