American Audacity: In Defense of Literary Daring

In a wide-ranging and provocative collection of essays—most previously published—novelist and memoirist Giraldi (The Hero’s Body) examines an array of American writers, praising those who successfully marry style and substance. He draws astute portraits of notable critics, including Stanley Fish, Katie Roiphe, and James Wolcott, and novelists, including Herman Melville, Harper Lee, and Richard Ford, while also touching on such topics as “the art of hate mail” and “the problem of the Catholic novelist.” An essay on the memoir concludes that the burden of writing about oneself is “to be more trustworthy, more discerning and dignified, artful and interior” and “unafraid of sounding the fathoms of the soul.” Giraldi admires Cynthia Ozick because she wields, in her critical writing, an “apprehension of uncommon exactitude and style” that demonstrates how criticism can be an art form in its own right. In a previously unpublished essay, Giraldi praises James Baldwin not for his political stance but because Baldwin is so “smart and sane it’s impossible to read him... and not sense yourself growing smarter and saner by the page.” The same can be said of Giraldi’s graceful case for the value of good writing. (Aug.)