Ebook: Every force evolves a form: twenty essays

Cover Page; Title Page; Dedication; Contents; Foreword; The Champollion of Table Manners; What Are Those Monkeys Doing?; Transcendental Satyr; Montaigne; Herondas; Ariadne's Dancing Floor; The Smith of Smiths; The Artist as Critic; The Scholar as Critic; The Critic as Artist; Balthus; Nabokov's Don Quixote; In That Awful Civil War; More Genteel than God; The Peales and Their Museum; Pergolesi's Dog; Late Beckett; Every Force Evolves a Form; Making It Uglier to the Airport; Imaginary Americas; About the Author; Copyright Page.;Guy Davenport demonstrates his unparalleled critical vision as he interprets art, literature, and culture In this collection of 20 essays, Guy Davenport applies his insightful gaze and critical wisdom to topics including modern art and the effects of the automobile on contemporary society. His work ranges from "What Are Those Monkeys Doing'" in which he links the paintings of Rousseau to the writings of Rimbaud and Flaubert, to "Imaginary Americas," a survey of the different roles America has filled in the imagination of Europeans. Davenport, 1 of the foremost American critics and intellectuals of the 20th century, brings his piercing intellect, encyclopedic references, and careful eye for detail to each piece in Every Force Evolves a Form. Whether writing on the philosophy behind modernism or a study of table manners, the paintings of Henri Rousseau or the design of Shaker handicrafts, Davenport always devotes his full attention and multi-angled analysis to the subject at hand. To read this thought-provoking collection is to see the inner-workings of Davenport's brilliant mind, with its varied fascinations and unparalleled insights.