<div>The New York Times–bestselling critic uses his training as a classicist to tackle contemporary films, theater, literature, and more in 30 elegant essays. Whether he’s on Broadway or at the movies, considering a new bestseller or revisiting a literary classic, Daniel Mendelsohn’s judgments over the past fifteen years have provoked and dazzled with their deep erudition, disarming emotionality, and tart wit. Now How Beautiful It Is and How Easily It Can Be Broken reveals all at once the enormous stature of Mendelsohn’s achievement and demonstrates why he is considered one of our greatest critics. Writing with a lively intelligence and arresting originality, he brings his distinctive combination of scholarly rigor and conversational ease to bear across eras, cultures, and genres, from Roman games to video games. His interpretations of our most talked-about films—from the work of Pedro Almodóvar to Brokeback Mountain, from United 93 and World Trade Center to 300, Marie Antoinette, and The Hours—have sparked debate and changed the way we watch movies. Just as stunning and influential are his dispatches on theater and literature, from The Producers to Jeffrey Eugenides' Middlesex, from The Lovely Bones to the works of Harold Pinter. Together these thirty brilliant and engaging essays passionately articulate the themes that have made Daniel Mendelsohn a crucial voice in today’s cultural conversation: the aesthetic and indeed political dangers of imposing contemporary attitudes on the great classics; the ruinous effect of sentimentality on the national consciousness in the post-9/11 world; the vital importance of the great literature of the past for a meaningful life in the present. How Beautiful It Is and How Easily It Can Be Broken makes it clear that no other contemporary thinker is as engaged with as many aspects of our culture and its influences as Mendelsohn is, and no one practices the vanishing art of popular criticism with more acuity, humor, and feeling. Praise for How Beautiful It Is and How Easily It Can Be Broken  “These essays richly repay the time readers spend in their company.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Like fine banquet fare: Some items to be wolfed down, some savored slowly, some best stored in the fridge for a later day.” —Kirkus Reviews</div>

How Beautiful It Is And How Easily It Can Be Broken

<div>A bold new translation of Euripides&#39; shockingly modern classic work, from Forward Prize-winning poet Robin Robertson, with a new preface by bestselling and award-winning writer, critic, and translator Daniel MendelsohnThebes has been rocked by the arrival of Dionysus, the god of wine and ecstasy. Drawn by the god&#39;s power, the women of the city have rushed to worship him on the mountain, drinking and dancing with frenzied abandon.Pentheus, the king of Thebes, is furious, denouncing this so-called god as a charlatan and an insurgent. But no mortal can deny a god, much less one as powerful and seductive as Dionysus, who will exact a terrible revenge on Pentheus, drawing the king to his own tragic destruction.This stunning translation by award-winning poet Robin Robertson reinvigorates Euripides&#39; masterpiece. Updating it for contemporary readers, he brings the ancient verse to fervid, brutal life, revealing a work of art as devastating and relevant today as it was in the fifth century BC.</div>

Daniel Mendelsohn
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How Beautiful It Is And How Easily It Can Be Broken

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