The Genius of the Future: Diderot, Stendhal, Baudelaire, Zola, the Brothers Goncourt, Huysmans : Essays in French Art Criticism

by Anita Brookner

Book by Brookner, Anita

200 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1988

About the author

Anita Brookner published her first novel, A Start In Life in 1981. Her most notable novel, her fourth, Hotel du Lac won the Man Booker Prize in 1984. Her novel, The Next Big Thing was longlisted (alongside John Banville's, Shroud) in 2002 for the Man Booker Prize. She published more than 25 works of fiction, notably: Strangers (2009) shortlisted for the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, Fraud (1992) and, The Rules of Engagement (2003). She was also the first female to hold a Slade Professorship of Fine Arts at Cambridge University.

Reviews

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Literary criticism of 19th century art criticism. Does it get any more meta than that?

Chapters on Zola and the Goncourts are particularly good as I recall, but I probably just remember them best because they drop you right in the middle of 2nd-Empire Paris, which is always a good place to end up.