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Unacknowledged Legislation: Writers in the Public Sphere Hardcover – March 1, 2001

by Christopher Hitchens (Author)

4.4 31 ratings

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A celebration of Percy Shelley’s assertion that ‘poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world’, these thirty-plus essays on writers from Oscar Wilde to Salman Rushdie dispel the myth of politics as a stone tied to the neck of literature; Norman Podhoretz’s ‘bloody crossroads’. Instead Hitchens argues that when all parties in the state were agreed on a matter, it was the individual pens that created the space for a true moral argument.

Print length

320 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Verso
Publication date

March 1, 2001
Dimensions

0.66 x 0.13 x 0.96 inches
ISBN-10

1859847862
ISBN-13

978-1859847862
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Hitchens’s writing is tough, heartfelt, coruscating, funny ? and imbued with the understanding that the task in hand is an important one.”—The Times

“I have been asked whether I wish to nominate a successor, an inheritor, a dauphin or delfino. I have decided to name Christopher Hitchens.”—Gore Vidal

“A Tom Paine for our troubled times ... He picks up the sword and mantle of E. P. Thompson, and carries them off with swashbuckling impertinence, valiant for truth, last in the line of English gentlemen-intellectuals.”—Independent

“Unacknowledged Legislation is a big, handsome book containing some of the best, most polished and wittiest writing you are likely to encounter this or any other year ... Gore Vidal should be so lucky to have this boy for an heir.”—John Banville, Irish Times

“Christopher Hitchens is indeed hit-man to the intelligentsia. If there is an inflated ego to puncture, he has the red-hot needle to do it.”—Sunday Times

“Lionel Trilling once observed in his diaries that, to his genuine surprise, he was no longer simply a critic of literature but had become a fact of literature himself ... Christopher Hitchens, political and literary journalist extraordinaire, should now be considered a fact of political and cultural reality. His astounding capacity for work has produced a body of work; his vastly ranging, deeply driven devastations and illuminations make up a reliable outlook on the world.”—Lee Siegel, Los Angeles Times

“He is a loose cannon, a sharp wit, an ironist, a polemicist of exceptional talent, and editor’s dream.”—Times Literary Supplement

About the Author

Christopher Hitchens is a contributing editor to Vanity Fair and the author of the best-selling God Is Not Great. His books published by Verso include The Trial of Henry Kissinger, No One Left to Lie To, The Missionary Position, Unacknowledged Legislation, The Parthenon Marbles, Hostage to History, and more.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Verso (March 1, 2001)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1859847862
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1859847862
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.72 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 0.66 x 0.13 x 0.96 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,406,090 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,921 in American Literature Criticism
- #4,730 in Essays (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.4 31 ratings

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Christopher Hitchens

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Christopher Hitchens (1949-2011) was the author of Letters to a Young Contrarian, and the bestseller No One Left to Lie To: The Values of the Worst Family. A regular contributor to Vanity Fair, The Atlantic Monthly and Slate, Hitchens also wrote for The Weekly Standard, The National Review, and The Independent, and appeared on The Daily Show, Charlie Rose, The Chris Matthew's Show, Real Time with Bill Maher, and C-Span's Washington Journal. He was named one of the world's "Top 100 Public Intellectuals" by Foreign Policy and Britain's Prospect.

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4.4 out of 5

31 global ratings

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B. Sloan

An Enjoyable Course on Writers

Reviewed in the United States on October 26, 2009

Verified Purchase

From Tom Clancy to Oscar Wilde, this collection provides an excellent array of essays and reviews. Hitchens has been extremely popular (or unpopular), lately, for his views on anti-theism and the war in Iraq, but it is in the literary realm that he kicks the most ass. His vast historical/cultural/political knowledge enables him to see his subjects wholly, in all of their context, or at least as close as any primate can get, which Hitchens displays is rather far, indeed.

5 people found this helpful

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cacophony

Content wonderful. Content/weight is a low quotient as it is only available in paper.

Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2018

Verified Purchase

Superb collection of essays by one of the greatest orators of the century on those whose words have changed history. Pity it's not available for Kindle.

4 people found this helpful

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Lee Chapman

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2014

Verified Purchase

Great book!

2 people found this helpful

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Steiner

Outstanding Effort

Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2006

Christopher Hitchens synthesizes his daunting knowledge of politics with his love of fine literature and letters in Unacknowledged Legislation, arguably his best collection of essays to date. Hitchens seeks to bridge the gap between art and politics through a critical review of the major English-speaking author's political views in the 20th century. Perhaps this critical effort could be construed as showboating as Hitchens' profession is political journalism, and this is one of his few collections which fits squarely into the literary criticism section. However, Hitchens is a fine writer and he knows his literature as well as anybody still living.

In this collection, we get a wonderful set of essays about Oscar Wilde and his contribution to the art of play-writing and support for socialism followed by his horrendous victimization as a homosexual. There's a passage from this section that I cannot resist quoting, "Wilde was able to be mordant and witty because he was, deep down and on the surface, un home serieux. May his memory stay carnation-green. May he ever encourage us to think that the bores and the bullies and the literal minds need not always win. May he induce us to rise from our semi-recumbent postures" (pg. 9).

Hitchens proceeds to run through nearly all of the crucial English writers of our era. He of course writes about Orwell, which I thought was a mute point after his Why Orwell Matters, but hey, the guy loves his Orwell. He discusses the anti-Semitism and fascism in T.S. Eliot, the racism of Rudyard Kipling, the historical depth of Gore Vidal, the heavy-handedness of Norman Podhoretz, Allan Bloom's influence on Saul Bellow, and of course, his solidarity with Salman Rushdie upon the declaration of the fatwa among Islamic Jihads, an action for which Hitchens rightfully boasts.

Hitchens also provides critical summaries of the arch-sensationalist Tom Wolf, and hack, Tom Clancy. He offers simply biting criticism of the former, and much needed as Wolf as enjoyed ludicrous financial and critical success for his quasi-journalism over the last few decades. Hitch examines Wolf's reliance on the cliché, and the cultural and racial stereotype for the sake of provocation. Clancy, while less deserving of a critical review than Wolf, is quickly wrapped up in a body bag and tossed overboard by Hitch.

Unacknowledged Legislation may be Hitchens' finest blend of the political and the literary, and it may be the best example of his prolific gifts. Don't miss this volume.

8 people found this helpful

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pulling cheek swirl better shake up

literary life trying to matter for politics

Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2014

Readers have tremendous choices that might determine what they like or don't like. Looking at this book now, it strikes me as ideas that were old already for Y2K, when I started meeting myself out front with a ten-foot pole. By 1989, I considered myself in competition with The Satanic Verses for trying to generate outrage about the Great Satan. Everything about the big mess that makes literary life notes on the mother of all battles has swirled like anyone who knew what was going on died a long time ago.

Helpful

Lou Ford

A very different Hitchens

Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2001

I recommend this volume to my friends not only as a great collection of literary essays but as a rare event for Hitch-watchers: for most of the book, Christopher Hitchens is not kvetching! Granted, he gets in some very nice digs at Right-wing ideologues Tom Wolfe and Norman Podhoretz,and manages to include a laughably ignorant piece on the Ebonics debate, but the majority of the essays here are encomia to authors whose writing and political actions the Hitchster admires! It's uplifting, informative, and very moving. Oh, Hitchypoo's usual detractors will come up with the usual non sequitors: he doesn't like religion, he whitewashes George Orwell's sins, he fails to distort a rumor spread by Frank Harris about Oscar Wilde, he's abonded his old political loyalties since he wrote this book. But Unacknowledged Legistlation will remain a generous and valuable work, respected by all who care about literary courage.

18 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Tommy

Don't listen to 'Zero'

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 26, 2018

Verified Purchase

I've added this review to counteract the negative skew which the review from 'Zero', whose remarks are an attack on Hitchens himself and not at all about this incisive and exceptional volume of literary criticism.

7 people found this helpful

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