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Essays
“Full of what you might call conversation tricky propositions about morality... politics, privilege, runaway nationalist fantasies, collective guilt, and art as a force for change (or not)...It’s a treat to hear him speak his curious mind.”― O Magazine
In these beautiful essays, Wallace Shawn takes us on a revelatory journey in which the personal and political become one.
Whether writing about the genesis of his plays, such as Aunt Dan and Lemon ; discussing how the privileged world of arts and letters takes for granted the work of the “unobtrusives,” the people who serve our food and deliver our mail; or describing his upbringing in the sheltered world of Manhattan’s cultural elite, Shawn reveals a unique ability to step back from the appearance of things to explore their deeper social meanings. He grasps contradictions, even when unpleasant, and challenges us to look, as he does, at our own behavior in a more honest light. He also finds the pathos in the political and personal challenges of everyday life.
With a sharp wit, remarkable attention to detail, and the same acumen as a writer of prose as he is a playwright, Shawn invites us to look at the world with new eyes, the better to understand―and change it.
Praise for Wallace Shawn and
“Lovely, hilarious and seriously thought provoking, I enjoyed it tremendously.”― Toni Morrison
“Wallace Shawn writes in a style that is deceptively simple, profoundly thoughtful, fiercely honest. His vocabulary is pungent, his wit delightful, his ideas provocative.”― Howard Zinn, author, A People’s History of the United States
“Wally Shawn’s essays are both powerful and riveting. How rare to encounter someone willing to question the assumptions of class and the disparity of wealth that grows wider every year in this country. To have such a gentle and incisive soul willing to say what others may be afraid to is considerably refreshing.”― Michael Moore, film-maker
“Wallace Shawn’s career as a playwright has been uncompromisingly devoted to proving, again and again, that theater is an ideal medium for exploring difficult matters of great consequence. The qualities that make his dramatic work so challenging, startling, unsettling, sensual, mind-and-soul expanding, so indispensible, are equally in evidence in the marvelous political and theatrical essays collected here. The basic faith of politically progressive people, that human beings are full of decent impulses perverted by political and economic malevolence, is in Shawn’s writing held up to the liveliest, sharpest scrutiny imaginable; not, as in so much reactionary art, to shift blame from oppressor to oppressed, or from artifice to Nature, not to insist that we’re innately, inescapably incapable of change, but rather as a scrupulous accounting of the slippery ethics, dream logic, fear-ridden resistance to progress, disturbing desires, of the greatest problem confronting all our hopes for a better, transformed Us, the actors in our collective drama. His essays are without sentiment and entirely resistant to the easy comforts of despair. Complexities are rendered delightfully plain, obfuscations are unsnarled and illuminated, clarity and rational thought are organized to plumb mysteries, and mysteries are respected and celebrated. Shawn’s language, his unmistakable, original voice, felicitous, is unadorned, elegant, immediate, true. He’s also a brilliant interviewer, as everyone who’s seen My Dinner With Andre (which is just about everyone) knows. And, of course, he’s very funny.”― Tony Kushner, playwright, Angels in America
“Wallace Shawn is a bracing antidote to the op-ed dreariness of political and artistic journalism in the West. He takes you back to the days when intellectuals had the wit and concentration to formulate great questions - and to make the reader want to answer them.”― David Hare, playwright
In these beautiful essays, Wallace Shawn takes us on a revelatory journey in which the personal and political become one.
Whether writing about the genesis of his plays, such as Aunt Dan and Lemon ; discussing how the privileged world of arts and letters takes for granted the work of the “unobtrusives,” the people who serve our food and deliver our mail; or describing his upbringing in the sheltered world of Manhattan’s cultural elite, Shawn reveals a unique ability to step back from the appearance of things to explore their deeper social meanings. He grasps contradictions, even when unpleasant, and challenges us to look, as he does, at our own behavior in a more honest light. He also finds the pathos in the political and personal challenges of everyday life.
With a sharp wit, remarkable attention to detail, and the same acumen as a writer of prose as he is a playwright, Shawn invites us to look at the world with new eyes, the better to understand―and change it.
Praise for Wallace Shawn and
“Lovely, hilarious and seriously thought provoking, I enjoyed it tremendously.”― Toni Morrison
“Wallace Shawn writes in a style that is deceptively simple, profoundly thoughtful, fiercely honest. His vocabulary is pungent, his wit delightful, his ideas provocative.”― Howard Zinn, author, A People’s History of the United States
“Wally Shawn’s essays are both powerful and riveting. How rare to encounter someone willing to question the assumptions of class and the disparity of wealth that grows wider every year in this country. To have such a gentle and incisive soul willing to say what others may be afraid to is considerably refreshing.”― Michael Moore, film-maker
“Wallace Shawn’s career as a playwright has been uncompromisingly devoted to proving, again and again, that theater is an ideal medium for exploring difficult matters of great consequence. The qualities that make his dramatic work so challenging, startling, unsettling, sensual, mind-and-soul expanding, so indispensible, are equally in evidence in the marvelous political and theatrical essays collected here. The basic faith of politically progressive people, that human beings are full of decent impulses perverted by political and economic malevolence, is in Shawn’s writing held up to the liveliest, sharpest scrutiny imaginable; not, as in so much reactionary art, to shift blame from oppressor to oppressed, or from artifice to Nature, not to insist that we’re innately, inescapably incapable of change, but rather as a scrupulous accounting of the slippery ethics, dream logic, fear-ridden resistance to progress, disturbing desires, of the greatest problem confronting all our hopes for a better, transformed Us, the actors in our collective drama. His essays are without sentiment and entirely resistant to the easy comforts of despair. Complexities are rendered delightfully plain, obfuscations are unsnarled and illuminated, clarity and rational thought are organized to plumb mysteries, and mysteries are respected and celebrated. Shawn’s language, his unmistakable, original voice, felicitous, is unadorned, elegant, immediate, true. He’s also a brilliant interviewer, as everyone who’s seen My Dinner With Andre (which is just about everyone) knows. And, of course, he’s very funny.”― Tony Kushner, playwright, Angels in America
“Wallace Shawn is a bracing antidote to the op-ed dreariness of political and artistic journalism in the West. He takes you back to the days when intellectuals had the wit and concentration to formulate great questions - and to make the reader want to answer them.”― David Hare, playwright
164 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2009
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About the author
Wallace Shawn
36 books143 followersWallace Shawn, sometimes credited as Wally Shawn, is an American actor and playwright. Regularly seen on film and television, where he is usually cast as a comic character actor, he has pursued a parallel career as a playwright whose work is often dark, politically charged and controversial. He is widely known for his high-pitched nasal voice and slight lisp.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 94 reviews
December 20, 2016
Chapter Six is best and has a very worthwhile interview with Noam Chomsky where Noam says, “the Bible is probably the most genocidal book in the literary canon – I mean, wipe out every Amalekite to the last man, woman and child. – that’s supposed to be gentle and wonderful.” The opposition to Social Security is simple – you must first drive the concept of caring for others out of your head. “Social Security is based on the idea that you care – That’s a dangerous sentiment. You’re supposed to just be out for yourself.” “The only choices you are supposed to make are the choices of commodities.” In America there is this fantasy that hard work gets people ahead, but Noam knows this is only because there is a “dynamic state sector” – the internet, computer, pharmaceuticals and other “wonderful” inventions all came from government subsidy, not a young Bill Gates working alone in his garage. Taxes paid by Americans repeatedly pay for the technology that we then pay for again personally while assuming we are handing money to the inventor, not the license holder…
December 3, 2010
Some of these essays are five-star essays, and some of them seem more like workshop exercises from a promising student. Some are interesting purely from their perspective -- because they are the from the perspective of Wallace Shawn, in a kind of voyeuristic way. I finished them all anyway because I find Wallace Shawn to be interesting politically -- to be (in his way) a champion of working-class politics, albeit from a pampered (liberally nested) perch. I'm left to wonder how he operationalizes his politics (beyond occasional writing) in between good meals at nice restaurants. In the end, my favorite piece in this collection was his interview with Mark Strand.
October 16, 2012
If all you know of Wallace Shawn is what I knew—his unforgettable turn as the Sicilian villain Vizzini in The Princess Bride ("Inconceivable!")—then I think you're in for something of a pleasant surprise. Shawn is also an award-winning playwright and a public speaker of note, and here he collects—go figure—essays, spanning several decades and a range of topics including politics, poetry and prurience. And he doesn't mention Vizzini even once.
One specific surprise Shawn handed me is how good an interviewer he is. There are two extended interviews in this book, and in both of them Shawn deftly allows his interlocutor to take most of the limelight.
The first interview is with Noam Chomsky, and while he and Chomsky are certainly playing on the same side of the net, their conversational volleys are still engrossing. Shawn does put forth what I think is a rather clever analogy (p.68), comparing Chomsky's approach to that of a sculptor, performing what could be seen as aggressive acts of removal, of negativity, but eventually yielding a positive result.
The second interview is with poet Mark Strand. Here Shawn definitely lets Strand have the best lines:
Another line from Strand's interview even inspired me to write some brief verse (which is perhaps not a recommendation):
This is a slim collection; the individual pieces tend to be very short, and the whole thing's easy to read in a single day (unlike the last book I read, by another Jewish New Yorker, Joshua Cohen's Witz, which took me weeks to finish—Shawn's book reassured me that I do remember how to read). But despite their brevity, these essays contain a lot to chew on... I'll be ruminating on Shawn's lucid observations for some time to come.
"In fact, it is utterly wrong for me to imagine that Bush is violent and I am not[...]"While clear and brief, few of these essays are light reading. Many of them were written in the early 2000s, during the darkest years of the Bush league, and reflect the morose tenor of that era. Others focus on Shawn's clear recognition of his status as a child of privilege—a phrase he uses at least once and paraphrases several more times—and the classically liberal guilt he feels for being in such a position of comfort. This book might be best read in a comfortable armchair, with a full belly, a glass of some warming beverage close to hand, and a warm shawl to pull around the shoulders... and even then one might find some of Shawn's reflections disturbing.
—p.79
One specific surprise Shawn handed me is how good an interviewer he is. There are two extended interviews in this book, and in both of them Shawn deftly allows his interlocutor to take most of the limelight.
The first interview is with Noam Chomsky, and while he and Chomsky are certainly playing on the same side of the net, their conversational volleys are still engrossing. Shawn does put forth what I think is a rather clever analogy (p.68), comparing Chomsky's approach to that of a sculptor, performing what could be seen as aggressive acts of removal, of negativity, but eventually yielding a positive result.
The second interview is with poet Mark Strand. Here Shawn definitely lets Strand have the best lines:
"I think if you try too hard to be immediately comprehensible to your audience, if you give too much to the moment, you're also giving too much to the status quo."
—p.134
Another line from Strand's interview even inspired me to write some brief verse (which is perhaps not a recommendation):
"You don't read a poem to find out how to get to Twenty-fourth Street."
—p.128
But here's how anyway
At least where streets are christened
with their proper ordinals:
First you find out where you are
And then subtract
This is a slim collection; the individual pieces tend to be very short, and the whole thing's easy to read in a single day (unlike the last book I read, by another Jewish New Yorker, Joshua Cohen's Witz, which took me weeks to finish—Shawn's book reassured me that I do remember how to read). But despite their brevity, these essays contain a lot to chew on... I'll be ruminating on Shawn's lucid observations for some time to come.
July 6, 2014
I'm rather disposed to like Wallace Shawn for a variety of reasons, not least of which being that I've seen "My Dinner with Andre" perhaps three dozen times, and "Vanya on 42nd Street" two dozen. Despite being famous for his work as the world's most immediately-recognizable character actors (such as the homunculus of Woody Allen's "Manhattan"), his own plays signal the depth of his intelligence and insight, and suggest an artistic center more aligned with his stupendous collaborations with Andre Gregory.
When I learned that this book existed I was immediately curious. I've heard Shawn interviewed at length and knew him to be droll, acerbic, and perceptive. So I had to give it a shot.
The book contains a slender assortment of essays, many of which treat the politics of post-9/11 America. I'd say it is his autobiographical reflections on his own upbringing, and his own ambivalent relationship between his artistic work and the patronage that makes it possible, that is the primary driver of his political sensibility, which generalizes his sense of collective responsibility for all the various and terrible things that have been done by politicians and businesspeople during the dark years of the early 2000s.
He makes his case passing well and in thought-provoking terms, but I must say I don't share his strong sense of collaborative guilt. In my view, I'm not responsible for policies that I oppose, undertaken by politicians I didn't vote for for. In this sense, I could only participate to a limited degree in his exercises.
Shawn's sense of outrage was poorly served by a surprisingly flat interview he conducts with Noam Chomasky. Instead of his usual razor-sharp analysis, Chomsky indulges with Shawn in a lot of high-handed "Can you believe these people?" back-and-forth.
I was extremely impressed by Shawn's short essay on Israel's position in the world, which put the matter as well as it could be said.
The final third of the book focuses on literary matters, including a long interview he conducted with the poet Mark Strand.
When I learned that this book existed I was immediately curious. I've heard Shawn interviewed at length and knew him to be droll, acerbic, and perceptive. So I had to give it a shot.
The book contains a slender assortment of essays, many of which treat the politics of post-9/11 America. I'd say it is his autobiographical reflections on his own upbringing, and his own ambivalent relationship between his artistic work and the patronage that makes it possible, that is the primary driver of his political sensibility, which generalizes his sense of collective responsibility for all the various and terrible things that have been done by politicians and businesspeople during the dark years of the early 2000s.
He makes his case passing well and in thought-provoking terms, but I must say I don't share his strong sense of collaborative guilt. In my view, I'm not responsible for policies that I oppose, undertaken by politicians I didn't vote for for. In this sense, I could only participate to a limited degree in his exercises.
Shawn's sense of outrage was poorly served by a surprisingly flat interview he conducts with Noam Chomasky. Instead of his usual razor-sharp analysis, Chomsky indulges with Shawn in a lot of high-handed "Can you believe these people?" back-and-forth.
I was extremely impressed by Shawn's short essay on Israel's position in the world, which put the matter as well as it could be said.
The final third of the book focuses on literary matters, including a long interview he conducted with the poet Mark Strand.
November 22, 2013
I don't know how much I like Wallace Shawn -- but I kind of love him. This collection, split in halves, covers Shawn's political and artistic essays, the division of which he elucidates in his introduction. In both, his personality comes pouring out of every page. He's equal parts angry and reverent, with a clear awareness of his upper-middle-class status and how it affects his thought. Now, that's going to do one of a few things to you as the reader. You might love that he's being honest and run with it. You might hate that he's a privileged white guy saying privileged white guy things and run with that. Or you might ignore it altogether and try to focus on the content of the essays, which is often really interesting and originally-explored (if somewhat redundant in the "Reality" section). I kind of hit all three, at various points. I don't think Wally and I would have fun chatting over dinner (he seems like kind of a dick conversational companion, judging by the transcribed interviews included here), but that said -- I love that there is someone like him writing.
I wanted really badly to give this collection 4 stars, if only because of some truly excellent work in the art section (his perspectives on theatre, holy fuck! -- "Myself and How I Got into Theatre" and "Reading Plays" gave me unbelievable thrills) -- but he should stick to that. His political essays lacked a certain spark that flew in his art ones, and they just weren't the same quality. That said, each essay was enjoyable to some extent...just wish the second half was longer. It's more than worth your time.
I wanted really badly to give this collection 4 stars, if only because of some truly excellent work in the art section (his perspectives on theatre, holy fuck! -- "Myself and How I Got into Theatre" and "Reading Plays" gave me unbelievable thrills) -- but he should stick to that. His political essays lacked a certain spark that flew in his art ones, and they just weren't the same quality. That said, each essay was enjoyable to some extent...just wish the second half was longer. It's more than worth your time.
September 11, 2016
Wallace Shawn is probably best known for saying "Inconceivable!" in The Princess Bride, but I prefer to remember him from the exquisite film My Dinner with Andre. His father was William Shawn, editor of the New Yorker for many years.
This book contains an eclectic set of essays written over a 23 year span of time. Many are political, and while I agree with his progressive points, he doesn't really propose actionable solutions other than to influence society positively with art, which is hardly a new or controversial idea (though certainly a good one).
The best articles are his two interviews with Noam Chomsky and Mark Strand, where Shawn proves himself to be a very thoughtful interviewer... in fact, these conversations brought to mind those in My Dinner with Andre, which may explain why I enjoyed them so much.
This is a short book, and uneven, but a worthwhile read for fans of the author.
This book contains an eclectic set of essays written over a 23 year span of time. Many are political, and while I agree with his progressive points, he doesn't really propose actionable solutions other than to influence society positively with art, which is hardly a new or controversial idea (though certainly a good one).
The best articles are his two interviews with Noam Chomsky and Mark Strand, where Shawn proves himself to be a very thoughtful interviewer... in fact, these conversations brought to mind those in My Dinner with Andre, which may explain why I enjoyed them so much.
This is a short book, and uneven, but a worthwhile read for fans of the author.
June 13, 2019
Wallace Shawn is a playwright whose work I have neither read nor seen. Though I did see two of his acting performances, as himself in My Dinner with Andre and as the Sicilian Vizzini in The Princess Bride. Then, oo, he is the son of William Shawn, the editor of The New Yorker when I thought it was at its best.
I was therefore surprised to see this short collection of Essays, which I picked up with interest. I mean, I wanted to see what Vizzini had to say beyond "Inconceivable!" His essays are under two main headings: Reality, mostly about politics, and Dream World, mostly about art.
Most writers are trapped by their own linguistic misconceptions, but I found Shawn to be incredibly focused. Roger Moore describes him as a "gentle and incisive soul," and his essays bear that out. I also enjoyed the books two interviews, one with Noam Chomsky and the other with poet Mark Strand.
Now I want to read some of Shawn's plays.
I was therefore surprised to see this short collection of Essays, which I picked up with interest. I mean, I wanted to see what Vizzini had to say beyond "Inconceivable!" His essays are under two main headings: Reality, mostly about politics, and Dream World, mostly about art.
Most writers are trapped by their own linguistic misconceptions, but I found Shawn to be incredibly focused. Roger Moore describes him as a "gentle and incisive soul," and his essays bear that out. I also enjoyed the books two interviews, one with Noam Chomsky and the other with poet Mark Strand.
Now I want to read some of Shawn's plays.
December 15, 2020
the best part of the first half---the explicitly political essays---is not, as most people seem to think, the Chomsky interview, but Shawn's own essay "Morality". In this piece from over a decade ago Shawn tries to square his own privileged upbringing, his bourgeois-liberal sense of morality ("...how a person would behave if he believed all people to be equally real...even though one of them happened to be himself. [...] And at the same time we were taught that in order to live morally, it was necessary to seek out accurate knowledge about things"), and his knowledge of what America does at home and abroad. For the book at large, but especially for this text, Shawn holds this essentially irreconcilable, a kind of cognitive dissonance that, remarkably, he chooses to actually embody. For me, this is what saves the text from being simply the memoir of a champagne socialist, or something: the eye with which Shawn looks at himself and his class is remarkably not full of self-pity, and when the prose goes maudlin documenting the massive hypocricies of the 9/11 era, it still holds a kind of integrity---as though Shawn is saying "but of course I'm maudlin---I'm not being hit by a bomb, I'm reading about it between lunch and dinner. It would be worse to feign an outrage that isn't mine, when I have one so related."
Compare that stance to what must be the best passage in the book, more relevant now than it probably was even then:
The flaw in the book is, (perhaps,) a fact in the world. Shawn's posture is a good try, but it simply cannot match the confidence that he's describing. As far as 2020 the adoption of this attitude has officially amassed an entire assembly of gurus, artists, celebrities, politicians, etc. Wouldn't it be nice to be at ease? Why does everyone "try to make us feel bad?" Shawn barely suggests an alternative, an understanding of "the true facts about our own lives" that does not abandon the morality of fully envisioning the other. It is old-fashioned, possibly wrong, but lovely. Either we have not yet constructed that alternative, or it is killed wherever it is found.
anyway, like, 3 stars.
Compare that stance to what must be the best passage in the book, more relevant now than it probably was even then:
As I write these words, in New York City in 1985, more and more people who grew up around me are making this decision; they are throwing away their moral chains and learning to enjoy their true situation: Yes, they are admitting loudly and bravely, We live in beautiful homes, we're surrounded by beautiful gardens, our children are playing with wonderful toys, and our kitchen shelves are filled with wonderful food. And if there are people out there who are envious of us and who might even be tempted to break into our homes and take what we have, well then, part of our good fortune is that we can afford to pay guards to protect us. And if those who protects us need to hit people in the face with the butts of their rifles, or if they need perhaps even to turn around and shoot, they have our permission, and we only hope they'll do what they do with diligence and skill.
The amazing thing I've noticed about those friends of mine who've made that choice is that as soon as they've made it, they begin to blossom, to flower, because they are no longer hiding, from themselves or anyone else, the true facts about their own lives. They become very frank about human nature...And as they learn to admit these things, and they lose the habit of looking over their shoulders in fear at the disapproving ghosts of their parents and teachers, they develop the charm and grace that shine out from all people who are truly comfortable with themselves, who are not woried, who are not ashamed of their own actions. These are people who are free to love life exuberantly...and, in fact, these people who accept themselves are people whose company everyone enjoys.
The flaw in the book is, (perhaps,) a fact in the world. Shawn's posture is a good try, but it simply cannot match the confidence that he's describing. As far as 2020 the adoption of this attitude has officially amassed an entire assembly of gurus, artists, celebrities, politicians, etc. Wouldn't it be nice to be at ease? Why does everyone "try to make us feel bad?" Shawn barely suggests an alternative, an understanding of "the true facts about our own lives" that does not abandon the morality of fully envisioning the other. It is old-fashioned, possibly wrong, but lovely. Either we have not yet constructed that alternative, or it is killed wherever it is found.
anyway, like, 3 stars.
December 24, 2020
A quick read and engaging, Shawn's spunky, refreshing take on politics and the arts exactly mirrors the kind of pugnacious Vizzini character he played in "Princess Bride." As fresh a take as it is, it's also (and strangely) exactly what you might have expected given the little you know about the man's personality: direct, inventive, and more than a little self-serving (though with a wink).
His interview with Chomsky is expectedly rewarding, and he offers harsh but eloquent-in-their-crispness critiques of the U.S. with regards to Iraq, Abu Ghraib, and Palestine. He has an impressive way of framing issues that makes it seem impossible to imagine another way of seeing it. A representative passage occurs early on, in the second essay, and it serves as a sort of thesis for the types of political arguments you can expect from most of the book:
To sum up, this is a nice book to read if it comes across your path, as it did mine. It's a quick read, breezy, but also filled with important ideas. I wasn't expecting to keep it after reading, but it has enough of value to have earned a place on my shelf.
Not Bad Reviews
@pointblaek
His interview with Chomsky is expectedly rewarding, and he offers harsh but eloquent-in-their-crispness critiques of the U.S. with regards to Iraq, Abu Ghraib, and Palestine. He has an impressive way of framing issues that makes it seem impossible to imagine another way of seeing it. A representative passage occurs early on, in the second essay, and it serves as a sort of thesis for the types of political arguments you can expect from most of the book:
In contrast to the African miner who works underground doing painfully difficult labor in terrifying conditions and then receives a minuscule reward, I have a life that is extremely pleasant. I have enough money to buy myself warm and comfortable shoes and sweaters; each Wednesday I pay a nice person to clean my apartment and keep it neat; and each April at tax time I pay my government to perform a similar service in the world outside. I pay it to try to keep the world more or less as it is, so that next year it will not suddenly be me who is working a seventy-hour week in some godforsaken pit or digging in some field under the burning sun. It's all terrific, but my problem is that my government is the medium through which I conduct my relationships with most of my fellow human beings, and I'm obliged to note that its actions don't conform to the principles of morality. Yes, I may be a friendly fellow to meet on the street, but I've found, through my government, a sneaky way to do some terrible things. . . 27-8
To sum up, this is a nice book to read if it comes across your path, as it did mine. It's a quick read, breezy, but also filled with important ideas. I wasn't expecting to keep it after reading, but it has enough of value to have earned a place on my shelf.
Not Bad Reviews
@pointblaek
not-now
May 12, 2015So... he's famous for theater, and I always thought I would admire him, having enjoyed what I read, and of course enjoying Malle's film of My Dinner With Andre. Reading the first essay in this collection was a total turnoff for its trite obviousness reminiscent of the episode in Malcolm X's Autobiography where a white patron at the cotton club generously and patronizingly throws his arms around a black stranger's neck and declares "you're just as good as I am." Thanks for the validation. I have to put the essays aside before they threaten to force a reevaluation, and I'll let Shawn's theater speak for him. Maybe he's better when filtered through character and scenario. That's what he does, right?
October 26, 2009
It's a strange book in some ways -- the order in which the essays appear seems odd (why divide all the aesthetic ones from the political ones? why end with the one about writing about sex?) -- and many of the essays, I think, were a little stronger in their original versions. But there's so much excellent thinking packed into this book that I'd have no qualms about recommending it to anyone at all.
January 31, 2018
I guess I'm getting old, cuz this is the fifth five star review I've handed out this year. Fifth... Out of five books! Oh what a sap I am, in my advanced age...
Anyway, it's INCONCEIVABLE that a fan of Wallace Shawn would dislike this book.
Ahem.
Now that THAT's out of the way...
It would be pretty easy to right this little volume off as a vanity project, or a dorky man's dorky little diary, or a bunch of forewords and rough drafts and hastily written pieces that anyone not named "Wallace Shawn" could've never got published. And truly, any one of these pieces on its own, short of maybe the invigorating interviews (he gets Noam Chomsky to say "shitty" on multiple occasions, and Mark Strand to remind me, again and again, why I need to read more poetry) and the excellent essay on "Morality," would probably be a curio in, say, a larger collection of various writers.
But altogether, the cumulative effect of the book is pretty moving. It was published by Haymarket, so it's full of radical leftist ideas. But it doesn't feel angry, or hectoring, or even very, you know, revolutionary. I wouldn't call it gentle-- funny as he can be, Shawn's talking about pretty serious shit, for the most part-- but it's definitely, err, friendly in a way that, oh, the aforementioned Chomsky sometimes is not.
I think it's Shawn's unique status as "minor celebrity / minor playwright / avid reader" that makes it so powerful. Most of the essays concern his relationship with an uncaring American empire. He recognizes that said empire both made "him"-- the privileged, progressive white aesthete-- and unmade so many other cultures, civilizations, people. His efforts to reconcile his life with the lives of the exploited are fascinating. You could call it the white guilt-trip, evolved, if he wasn't piercing, both toward himself and America.
He avoids cliches and pat conclusions. He strings together elegant sentences. And he writes short little bursts packed with provocative ideas.
So yeah, five stars for Mr. Wallace Shawn! Difficult to conceive, I know.
Anyway, it's INCONCEIVABLE that a fan of Wallace Shawn would dislike this book.
Ahem.
Now that THAT's out of the way...
It would be pretty easy to right this little volume off as a vanity project, or a dorky man's dorky little diary, or a bunch of forewords and rough drafts and hastily written pieces that anyone not named "Wallace Shawn" could've never got published. And truly, any one of these pieces on its own, short of maybe the invigorating interviews (he gets Noam Chomsky to say "shitty" on multiple occasions, and Mark Strand to remind me, again and again, why I need to read more poetry) and the excellent essay on "Morality," would probably be a curio in, say, a larger collection of various writers.
But altogether, the cumulative effect of the book is pretty moving. It was published by Haymarket, so it's full of radical leftist ideas. But it doesn't feel angry, or hectoring, or even very, you know, revolutionary. I wouldn't call it gentle-- funny as he can be, Shawn's talking about pretty serious shit, for the most part-- but it's definitely, err, friendly in a way that, oh, the aforementioned Chomsky sometimes is not.
I think it's Shawn's unique status as "minor celebrity / minor playwright / avid reader" that makes it so powerful. Most of the essays concern his relationship with an uncaring American empire. He recognizes that said empire both made "him"-- the privileged, progressive white aesthete-- and unmade so many other cultures, civilizations, people. His efforts to reconcile his life with the lives of the exploited are fascinating. You could call it the white guilt-trip, evolved, if he wasn't piercing, both toward himself and America.
He avoids cliches and pat conclusions. He strings together elegant sentences. And he writes short little bursts packed with provocative ideas.
So yeah, five stars for Mr. Wallace Shawn! Difficult to conceive, I know.
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November 27, 2023I had a dream last night I got pregnant and the baby was born IMMEDIATELY after this revelation and the baby was a boy and I had 0 boy baby names locked & loaded (because THAT was the most of my issues) and all of a sudden I said WALLACE I’m gonna name him WALLACE after WALLACE SHAWN and my sister was like you can’t do that, that’s probably child abuse to name your son Wallace, and I was like Look I’m naming him Wallace because Wallace Shawn is the only kind of man my son can end up being, and we can call him Wally which is a super cute nickname for a baby. But then I woke up before this was resolved.
This book is a comprehensive look into Shawn’s beautiful little brain - you get his sense of humor, his fervent curiosity, his intelligent (yet never condescending) ideas about privilege and American-ness. He’s a great questioner of things, and seems to approach his subjects (whether abstract or the people he’s interviewing) with kindness and deep curiosity at his center. It’s great to get to know him this way.
I will say, some of the essays are repetitive, though I personally didn’t mind the Rep & Rev - it just hammered everything home for me. Some of the essays were more polished than others - once again, didn’t mind. I think I can appreciate the scraps of a journal for what they are, the way I can appreciate what a well-oiled pre-published piece is.
I would rec this book to privileged people - that’s really who it’s for and who it’s trying to shake down.
This book is a comprehensive look into Shawn’s beautiful little brain - you get his sense of humor, his fervent curiosity, his intelligent (yet never condescending) ideas about privilege and American-ness. He’s a great questioner of things, and seems to approach his subjects (whether abstract or the people he’s interviewing) with kindness and deep curiosity at his center. It’s great to get to know him this way.
I will say, some of the essays are repetitive, though I personally didn’t mind the Rep & Rev - it just hammered everything home for me. Some of the essays were more polished than others - once again, didn’t mind. I think I can appreciate the scraps of a journal for what they are, the way I can appreciate what a well-oiled pre-published piece is.
I would rec this book to privileged people - that’s really who it’s for and who it’s trying to shake down.
February 14, 2023
Looking for a book of essays? (You've found it here.)
I was not a WS virgin when I bought this book for $2.99. I had read a slim version of his essays at my local library. I had made a habit of wearing out their small section which can aptly be described as: essay collections.
That being said, this fine and heady writer has a unique perspective on topics of common interest (if not to all people ((certainly to all educated and curious readers))). So, I was blown away, once again, and found that it was as though I was sitting in his 'nice apartment' and he was reading for me a final draft of these wonderful pieces, because he trusted my opinion. I feel valued as a pair of literate eyes when I read WS: he does not make a habit of wasting the reader's time.
Thanks for supplying this reader with a form of narcotic that servers to heighten and then sooth my troubled mind (which is troubled because it is not troubled ((understand?))).
WS give my regards to your mother. She's always been such a good friend of mine.
I was not a WS virgin when I bought this book for $2.99. I had read a slim version of his essays at my local library. I had made a habit of wearing out their small section which can aptly be described as: essay collections.
That being said, this fine and heady writer has a unique perspective on topics of common interest (if not to all people ((certainly to all educated and curious readers))). So, I was blown away, once again, and found that it was as though I was sitting in his 'nice apartment' and he was reading for me a final draft of these wonderful pieces, because he trusted my opinion. I feel valued as a pair of literate eyes when I read WS: he does not make a habit of wasting the reader's time.
Thanks for supplying this reader with a form of narcotic that servers to heighten and then sooth my troubled mind (which is troubled because it is not troubled ((understand?))).
WS give my regards to your mother. She's always been such a good friend of mine.
August 5, 2025
This book is a series of essays by Wallace Shawn, about half of which are more or less about the U.S. American invasion of Iraq and another half of which are about writing, art, poetry, and theatre.
I love Shawn's plays, and I love his political point of view. Indeed, I found much of this very intriguing. I also (for reasons I do not at all understand) read this particular set of responses to the 9/11 attacks very soon after I read Hanif Kureishi's essays in response to the 9/11 attacks, The Word and the Bomb. I got a lot out of both of these collections.
What is perhaps interesting to me about both of these collections is that they still feel quite relevant to me despite being over two decades old. Israel is still killing Palestinians; the U.S. is still invading countries; Americans have not gained a class consciousness; people who claim to be religious are still willing to excuse murder.
I love Shawn's plays, and I love his political point of view. Indeed, I found much of this very intriguing. I also (for reasons I do not at all understand) read this particular set of responses to the 9/11 attacks very soon after I read Hanif Kureishi's essays in response to the 9/11 attacks, The Word and the Bomb. I got a lot out of both of these collections.
What is perhaps interesting to me about both of these collections is that they still feel quite relevant to me despite being over two decades old. Israel is still killing Palestinians; the U.S. is still invading countries; Americans have not gained a class consciousness; people who claim to be religious are still willing to excuse murder.
November 17, 2017
I got on a Wallace Shawn kick after reading "Night Thoughts," and picked this up from the library. Many of the essays take a similar left/socialist perspective on society. However, I didn't like it quite as much as NT. To some extent, the content feels dated--many of the essays focus on W. Bush and the Iraq war. The essays are divided into two sections, with those in the second section being more about art than politics. I wasn't particularly interested in his writing on art outside of how it shapes his politics. And finally, I think these essays mostly lack the more consciously simple language and voice of NT, which is one of the things I found appealing about it.
I'd recommend just reading NT and the Jacobin interview I linked in my review thereof.
I'd recommend just reading NT and the Jacobin interview I linked in my review thereof.
January 6, 2021
Technically a 3.5
Some essays are better than others, which is to be expected. I found Shawn's ruminations on art (the latter half of the book) to be more compelling than his essays about current affairs, capitalism, imperialism and the like, though both sides were handled well. His political ideas and persuasions are certainly interesting, but something kept the essays from feeling vibrant like the ones he composed about art.
Of all the essays and interviews, his interview with the poet Mark Strand was certainly my favorite and should be read by anyone who writes, enjoys or teaches poetry.
Some essays are better than others, which is to be expected. I found Shawn's ruminations on art (the latter half of the book) to be more compelling than his essays about current affairs, capitalism, imperialism and the like, though both sides were handled well. His political ideas and persuasions are certainly interesting, but something kept the essays from feeling vibrant like the ones he composed about art.
Of all the essays and interviews, his interview with the poet Mark Strand was certainly my favorite and should be read by anyone who writes, enjoys or teaches poetry.
December 31, 2016
There's some navel-gazing about privilege and power here that's kind of all the more odd because Shawn is a socialist and contrasts his views to those of his parents and other liberals around him, so the first half of the book ("Reality") kind of drags, but the book is worth it for the second half ("Dreams") which contains an interview with Mark Strand about poetry and a thoughtful piece on how he got into writing plays. Shawn's prose itself has a very distinctive style that might be off-putting to some but I think if you read it in his voice it works perfectly.
January 19, 2018
More accurate review would be closer to 4.5 stars. Overall a very engaging read, noticed that the essays blend together pretty seamlessly even though many are written decades apart. Didn't care for the Mark Strand interview and a few other essays.
The "Why I Call Myself A Socialist" essay itself was worth the price of the entire book honestly, also the incredibly short chapter 4 "An "American" publishes a magazine" was a real highlight.
The "Why I Call Myself A Socialist" essay itself was worth the price of the entire book honestly, also the incredibly short chapter 4 "An "American" publishes a magazine" was a real highlight.
January 3, 2019
it feels odd to review a series of unrelated essays as one collected body, but hey, that's how I found em.
I don't... there's a lot of ideas in here I disagree with (mainly about Art and writing and so on, not so much politics) and there are SO many places that my Editor Brain took over while reading, but I still enjoyed it, and I think he has an interesting voice. I'm definitely interested in reading his fiction, now, at least.
I don't... there's a lot of ideas in here I disagree with (mainly about Art and writing and so on, not so much politics) and there are SO many places that my Editor Brain took over while reading, but I still enjoyed it, and I think he has an interesting voice. I'm definitely interested in reading his fiction, now, at least.
April 26, 2019
It's not often you find a perspective from the middle class, where sympathy and clear honesty resolve one's personal issues with the status quo. From the days of 9-11, the destruction of the twin towers of 2000, comes Essays by famous actor, Wallace Shawn, of memoirs and confessions about the world we lived after it crumbled.
This is an amazing book. One that I keep next to my bed, when my day makes no sense, as a reminder of why I care too much about being humane.
This is an amazing book. One that I keep next to my bed, when my day makes no sense, as a reminder of why I care too much about being humane.
September 27, 2017
It's been nice branching out this year from my usual reading types. I saw that Wallace Shawn was a famous playwright and essayist and I sadly had only known him from his acting roles. Some of these essays were fantastic, others were more meh. But I got some interesting thoughts out of reading all of them, and that made me want to read or see his plays. So that's on the to read pile now.
June 9, 2021
Yeah, I get it, the Iraq war was bad, capitalism is exploitative, it's hard to know how to live in a world where some people have more than others. Whether you agree or not with any or all of this, it's well-known that these are things people think and the book doesn't really add any freshness of information, ideas or perspective. Got through the first third, now I'm done.
November 23, 2023
A collection of short pieces on art and politics. Shawn's tone is generally warm and familiar, positing simple responses to complex questions. Some pieces are considerably more impactful than others, his willful naiveté more appropriate and resonant on subjects like theater and poetry than on war and barbarism.
December 25, 2024
5.5/10
I enjoyed most of the political essays, and I generally like his prose style. But the essays on writing in the second half I find very insufferable, they're all so cerebral and make no sense to me. Maybe I just think about art differently but the poetry "essay" (which is really an interview) was so flowery and vague
I enjoyed most of the political essays, and I generally like his prose style. But the essays on writing in the second half I find very insufferable, they're all so cerebral and make no sense to me. Maybe I just think about art differently but the poetry "essay" (which is really an interview) was so flowery and vague
September 9, 2017
A group of essays that is generous to its readers. Shawn's prose style very much resembles what I think of as his spoken voice: warm yet inquisitive and sometimes skeptical. The "Morality" essay from the mid-80s is the linchpin for the rest of the writing.
November 1, 2020
These essays are so different from what Wallace Shawn would say in pretty much any role he has played, so, as much as I tried, it felt weird to read it in his voice. That’s pretty sad — he has the best voice in the world.
July 11, 2017
Especially loved the Chomsky and Mark Stand interviews.
Also, the essays regarding Iraq War were Nostradamic.
Also, the essays regarding Iraq War were Nostradamic.
August 12, 2017
Fantastic.
January 20, 2018
Always welcome a book that keeps you thinking.
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