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Better Living Through Criticism
Better Living Through Criticism: How to Think about Art, Pleasure, Beauty, and Truth | A. O. Scott
7 posts | 7 read | 15 to read
The New York Times film critic shows why we need criticism now more than everFew could explain, let alone seek out, a career in criticism. Yet what A.O. Scott shows in Better Living Through Criticism is that we are, in fact, all critics: because critical thinking informs almost every aspect of artistic creation, of civil action, of interpersonal life. With penetrating insight and warm humor, Scott shows that while individual critics--himself included--can make mistakes and find flaws where they shouldn't, criticism as a discipline is one of the noblest, most creative, and urgent activities of modern existence.Using his own film criticism as a starting point--everything from his infamous dismissal of the international blockbuster The Avengers to his intense affection for Pixar's animinated Ratatouille--Scott expands outward, easily guiding readers through the complexities of Rilke and Shelley, the origins of Chuck Berry and the Rolling Stones, the power of Marina Abramovich and 'Ode on a Grecian Urn.' Drawing on the long tradition of criticism from Aristotle to Susan Sontag, Scott shows that real criticism was and always will be the breath of fresh air that allows true creativity to thrive. "The time for criticism is always now," Scott explains, "because the imperative to think clearly, to insist on the necessary balance of reason and passion, never goes away."From the Hardcover edition.
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Wellreadhead
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Mehso-so
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PickingBooks

”That everyone is a critic means, or should mean, that we are each of us thinking against our own prejudices, of balancing skepticism with open-mindedness, of sharpening our full and glutted senses and battling the intellectual inertia that surrounds us.”

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WeAreLegion
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Mehso-so

Despite my rating, this is a good book. It is a pretty deep dive into what criticism is, what it‘s uses are and why we engage in it. It is both art itself and communication. It is both instinctual and academic. It is a part of how we share our experiences of the world.

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TheBookDream
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STILL at B and N. Send help!

Megabooks I don't think you're asking the right people!! 8y
15 likes1 comment
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ingredientx
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Pickpick

Half way through and am enjoying it quite a bit. Reading by this fall garden helps (better living through plants and flowers, amirite?) #booktober #readtolive #betterlivingthroughbooks

LauraBeth Beautiful! 8y
46 likes4 stack adds1 comment
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brendanmleonard

The job of criticism is to be about art; the job of art is to just be.

3 likes1 stack add
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moniquebriones
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Taking some time out of writing to get deeper into this one. A beautiful day for thinking about beauty

1 like1 stack add