{"product_id":"irresponsible-self","title":"Irresponsible Self","description":"\u003cp\u003eWhen James Wood's first collection of essays,\u003ci\u003e The Broken Estate\u003c\/i\u003e, was published in 1999, the reviewers hailed a master critic. The common thread in Wood's latest collection of essays is what makes us laugh - and the book is an attempt to distinguish between the perhaps rather limited English comedy (as seen in Waugh, for example) and a 'continental' tragic-comedy, which he sees as real, universal and quixotic. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA particularly acerbic, and very funny, essay - which has been widely celebrated - deals with Zadie Smith, Rushdie, Pynchon and DeLillo; its title, 'Hysterical Realism', has already entered the phrasebook of literary language. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith its brilliant studies of Shakespeare, Dickens and Dostoevsky, Naipaul, Pritchett and Bellow, \u003ci\u003eThe Irresponsible Self\u003c\/i\u003e offers more exhilarating despatches from one of our finest living critics.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Vintage Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54217255879000,"sku":"9781844130979","price":19.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0278\/1295\/4195\/files\/9781844130979.jpg?v=1781058617","url":"https:\/\/agendabookshop.com\/products\/irresponsible-self","provider":"Agenda Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}