{"product_id":"what-is-a-book-9780820324784","title":"What is a Book?","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eWhat Is a Book?\u003c\/i\u003e David Kirby addresses the making and consuming of literature by redefining the four components of the act of reading: writer, reader, critic, and book. He discusses his students, his work, and his practice as a teacher, writer, critic, and reader, and positions his theories and opinions as products of \"real\" life as much as academic exercise. Among the ideas animating the book are Kirby's beliefs that \"devotion is more important than dissection\" and \"practice is more important than theory.\" \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eCovering an impressive range of writers--from Emerson, Poe, and Melville to James Dickey, Charles Wright, Richard Howard, Susan Montez, and others--Kirby considers the evolution of critical theory from the nineteenth century to the late twentieth and explores the role of criticism in contemporary culture. Drawing from his experience writing poetry and reading to children at a local housing project, he answers two of his four central questions: \"What is a reader?\" and \"What is a writer?\" In the largest section of the book, \"What Is a Critic?,\" Kirby demonstrates his passionate engagement with the function of the critic in literary culture and offers both overviews and close examinations of literary theory, book reviewing, and the historical background of criticism from its earliest beginnings. In the final section of the book, he addresses the question \"What is a book?\" with an examination of the reading preferences of older readers. Kirby's analysis of those responses, along with his own notions of the literary canon, is an insightful excursion into how books are valued. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDeeply learned and wonderfully entertaining, \u003ci\u003eWhat Is a Book?\u003c\/i\u003e is a lucid look at the whole of literary culture. Kirby makes us think about the books we love and why we love them.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Georgia Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/01\/2002\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780820324784\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 240\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.69lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.44h x 5.76w x 0.70d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003ePW Notes and Reprints\u003c\/i\u003e 09\/02\/2002 pg. 73\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 11\/15\/2002 pg. 71\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e 11\/01\/2002 pg. 468\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 09\/03\/2002\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"David Kirby","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43568699736245,"sku":"9780820324784","price":23.76,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_ef8d2551-aba0-4c75-97b6-4733b1a8faf1.jpg?v=1706628902","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/what-is-a-book-9780820324784","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}