{"product_id":"last-amateur-1","title":"Last Amateur","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eJoining the unfinished conversation between the satirist Jonathan Swift and the critic Edward Said, \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Last Amateur\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e argues for the transformative potential of literature.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat does “Swiftian” mean to you? For many, the name is synonymous with ingenious satire and an acid, clarifying mix of decorum and outrage. Jonathan Swift was, of course, the author of not only \u003ci\u003eGulliver’s Travels\u003c\/i\u003e but also \u003ci\u003eA Modest Proposal\u003c\/i\u003e, which the columnist Gene Lyons recently called “perhaps the most penetrating anti-racist essay in the English language.” Small wonder, then, that the Anglo-Irish satirist was a lifelong inspiration to the great Palestinian American critic Edward Said, who for many years worked on an unfinished book about Swift and cultivated a Swiftian voice across his career.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHelen Deutsch’s highly personal book explores what Said’s love of Swift—and hers of both—tells us about not only these authors but also the powers of criticism itself. \u003ci\u003eThe Last Amateur\u003c\/i\u003e is about how one comes to love one writer through another. Deutsch scrutinizes Said in relationship to Swift to raise questions of her own about the profession of literary studies. At a time when many in the field have lost faith in critique, Deutsch shows how passion and a refusal of professional propriety—the hallmarks of the amateur—can enliven critique again.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat, then, does it mean to be a Swiftian? The Swiftian hears Swift’s animus and uses it as an incentive for their own freedom of thought. Said was a Swiftian because the experience of reading Swift freed him to speak out, to have something serious to say. Deutsch’s revelatory book is an exercise in hearing Swift’s voice and speaking in her own.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The University of Chicago Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56448150077784,"sku":"9780226849553","price":104.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/agendabookshop.com\/products\/last-amateur-1","provider":"Agenda Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}