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The following is excerpted from the Globe and Mail article, Confronting the Cultural Crisis by André Alexis.
Stan Persky is a subtle and tricky thinker. His work merits close attention, but at the same time, its tone is so relaxed and inviting, you can let things pass that will strike you as odd only after you’ve put the book down.
In fact, I think Persky’s tone is the most remarkable thing about his work. His essays are almost entirely unfussy, but they’re obviously the product of wide and thoughtful reading. He can invoke Heidegger, R.K. Narayan, Paul Krugman or Theodor Adorno’s Minima Moralia. But he also allows the reader ready (if, in this book, mostly glancing) access to his own life experience: a bird singing on his balcony, his knowledge of AC/DC, his Jewish-American roots, etc. In other words, Persky’s style is warmly erudite, never overbearing, avuncular in the best sense. However, the man himself – on the evidence of this new collection of essays – is focused, puzzled and in some distress about the state of our culture.
The following is excerpted from the Vancouver Sun article, Uncertain Future for Serious Reading by Brett Josef Grubisic.
Page-wise, Reading the 21st Century is dedicated primarily to significant books Persky respects and recommends. Across 13 chapters, Persky's lively discussion of twenty-first century novels (such as Philip Roth's The Human Stain and Javier Cercas's Soldiers of Salamis) and non-fiction (including Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion and Terry Glavin's Waiting for the Macaws) makes a compelling case for books readers may have missed. He also effortlessly illustrates the cultural merit of books themselves and the role reading them plays in creating an informed, thoughtful, and capable citizenry.
Sandwiching those chapters, however, are 16 pages: Persky's introduction and conclusion. "In the Twilight of Literary Criticism" and "Code Red" are, as their titles suggest, cautionary, even alarmist. Persky's concern? A decline in serious reading that's coinciding with a worldwide fascination with touch-screen games, YouTube trivia and Facebook updates.
Reading isn't just a pastime for Persky. He writes, the "social purpose of reading books is to become a more effective participant in creating a better world" and that certain books (none of them tracking the adventures of teenage wizards or vampires) "can provide a sufficiently sustained reading experience that makes possible informed engagement with the political, cultural, and moral issues of our time." Without reading, then? Perhaps the grim future of Idiocracy.
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