Overview

From a celebrated critic, a heartfelt and adventurous reflection on the art of writing about art ""Writers write. They can't help it. They can't not."" In this spirited book, the revered cultural critic Greil Marcus explains his compulsion as a yearning for fun, for play, and, most of all, to discover—to feel the moment when a creation speaks in its own voice. Marcus reflects on over half a century spent honing the art of attention—from his California childhood, overshadowed by mystery and silence surrounding his father's death, to his discovery of the critic Pauline Kael, to a confrontation with a sixteenth-century painting in Venice. Through it all, he invites readers to join him in exploring the revolutionary power of art: what it is, why it captures us, and how it forces us to confront what we think we know and who we think we are. Art challenges us to see the world differently, Marcus argues, and the role of the critic is to enact this perspective. Funny and poignant, What Nails It is a tribute to the indispensable art of criticism by one of its greatest practitioners.

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9780300272451

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Reviews

Praise for Greil Marcus:   “Greil Marcus is our greatest cultural critic, not only because of what he says but also, as with rock-and-roll itself, how he says it.”—David Kerby, Washington Post   “Greil Marcus’s critical writings about history, films, books, musicians, and television movies . . . are always filled with tremendous passion for American popular culture.”—Christine Schwartz Hartley, New York Times Book Review   “[Marcus’s] work is very likely the most imaginative criticism being done, but it’s more than that: It’s a light in dark times.”—Lucy Sante, New York   “Reading Mr. Marcus at his best—on Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Sly Stone, the Band, Sleater-Kinney, Dock Boggs or Randy Newman, to name just a few of his obsessions over the years—is like watching a surfer glide shakily down the wall of an 80-foot wave, disappear under a curl for a deathly eternity, then soar out the other end. You practically feel like applauding. . . . You want to hear what he hears.”—Dwight Garner, New York Times   “[Marcus is] probably the most astute critic of American popular culture since Edmund Wilson.”—D. D. Guttenplan, London Review of Books   “No writer puts you inside the experience of music the way Greil Marcus does. His descriptions of songs, especially, unfold like thrillers or romantic rhapsodies, sucking you in and revealing aspects of each beat or vocal trill that you’d never have noticed on your own. . . . The most esteemed music writer of his generation.”—Anna Powers, NPR.com

“Essential for fans of Marcus and fruitful reading for anyone reflecting on the mysteries of art.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Marcus remains lucid, erudite company. For music and film lovers and aspiring critics alike, this is a treat.”—Publishers Weekly “Rich. . . . The pages show a nimble, purposeful mind at work.”—Chris Vognar, San Francisco Chronicle “Marcus is a steady hand. . . . He (and his spirit force) still writes the best rock criticism over land and sea.”—Mark Watkins Reviews (blog) Praise for Greil Marcus:   “Greil Marcus is our greatest cultural critic, not only because of what he says but also, as with rock-and-roll itself, how he says it.”—David Kerby, Washington Post   “Greil Marcus’s critical writings about history, films, books, musicians, and television movies . . . are always filled with tremendous passion for American popular culture.”—Christine Schwartz Hartley, New York Times Book Review   “[Marcus’s] work is very likely the most imaginative criticism being done, but it’s more than that: It’s a light in dark times.”—Lucy Sante, New York   “Reading Mr. Marcus at his best—on Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Sly Stone, the Band, Sleater-Kinney, Dock Boggs or Randy Newman, to name just a few of his obsessions over the years—is like watching a surfer glide shakily down the wall of an 80-foot wave, disappear under a curl for a deathly eternity, then soar out the other end. You practically feel like applauding. . . . You want to hear what he hears.”—Dwight Garner, New York Times   “[Marcus is] probably the most astute critic of American popular culture since Edmund Wilson.”—D. D. Guttenplan, London Review of Books   “No writer puts you inside the experience of music the way Greil Marcus does. His descriptions of songs, especially, unfold like thrillers or romantic rhapsodies, sucking you in and revealing aspects of each beat or vocal trill that you’d never have noticed on your own. . . . The most esteemed music writer of his generation.”—Anna Powers, NPR.com

Author Information

Greil Marcus is the author of many books, from Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock ’n’ Roll Music in 1975 to Folk Music: A Bob Dylan Biography in Seven Songs in 2022. With Werner Sollors he is the editor of A New Literary History of America (2009).

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