Once called ``the Dirty Harry of contemporary literary theory,'' Lentricchia (Duke) proves something of a postmodern wimp in this annoying, enervating memoir of his life as a critic (successful) and family man (failure). Clearly, the current sort of criticism practiced in the academy is no preparation for writing to a wider audience, as Lentricchia attempts here. And he makes the transition as bumpy as possible—indulging in stream-of-conscious blather, confusing fragmentary bits, and callow political invective. At his worst (or maybe his best), Lentricchia sounds like a Don DeLillo character, full of abstract musings on the age, but he doesn't seem to grasp DeLillo's ironies. In fact, Lentricchia takes himself very seriously. Part of his memoir records his stays in a South Carolina monastery, where he reaffirms his belief (in art, not God) and broods on his shortcomings as a husband and father. Proud of his Italian-American heritage, Lentricchia sees his life as a balance of the aesthetic and ascetic impulses. His career as a critic derives from his early love of language but, at the same time, he grooves on ``mafia talk'' and the extremism he finds crucial to his ``ethnic'' life. There's lots of highly personal literary criticism here—the sections on T.S. Eliot are fine, though Lentricchia's slangy stuff on Kafka seems like more posing in a book full of such antics. A few trips to Ireland occasion thoughts on Yeats and Joyce but also callow asides on the ``Troubles.'' The most expendable parts here are the running commentaries on the book's composition, and by the time Lentricchia declares his ``desire not to have a self to reflect upon,'' you wish he would follow his instinct. Instead, he retreats into his many ``selves,'' a tactic in keeping with his trendy theoretical notions. For all its goofy self-absorption, Lentricchia's guilt-ridden lament stumbles onto some topics worthy of further discussion. Next time, think clarity and focus.
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-679-43072-5
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1993
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
This autobiography might almost be said to supply the roots to Wright's famous novel, Native Son.
It is a grim record, disturbing, the story of how — in one boy's life — the seeds of hate and distrust and race riots were planted. Wright was born to poverty and hardship in the deep south; his father deserted his mother, and circumstances and illness drove the little family from place to place, from degradation to degradation. And always, there was the thread of fear and hate and suspicion and discrimination — of white set against black — of black set against Jew — of intolerance. Driven to deceit, to dishonesty, ambition thwarted, motives impugned, Wright struggled against the tide, put by a tiny sum to move on, finally got to Chicago, and there — still against odds — pulled himself up, acquired some education through reading, allied himself with the Communists — only to be thrust out for non-conformity — and wrote continually. The whole tragedy of a race seems dramatized in this record; it is virtually unrelieved by any vestige of human tenderness, or humor; there are no bright spots. And yet it rings true. It is an unfinished story of a problem that has still to be met.
Perhaps this will force home unpalatable facts of a submerged minority, a problem far from being faced.
Pub Date: Feb. 28, 1945
ISBN: 0061130249
Page Count: 450
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1945
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