{"product_id":"a-bolt-from-the-blue-and-other-essays-9781590170106","title":"A Bolt from the Blue and Other Essays","description":"\u003cp\u003eMary McCarthy was one of the leading literary figures of her time. In addition to the novels and memoirs for which she is best remembered  she was also a tireless literary and social critic. Starting out as a theater reviewer for Partisan Review in 1937  she quickly distinguished herself for her witty and fearless commentary on topics ranging from McCarthyism to the French New Novel to womens fashion magazines. McCarthy was an eager controversialist  unsparing in her dissection of anything she found phony or hypocritical. Her reviews are sharp  sometimes malicious  and often very funny  but her criticism is also informed by deep erudition and enlivened by an inexhaustible capacity for enthusiasm. Her political writings  critical in equal measure of the Cold War consensus and of its critics  are less concerned with finding correct positions than with exploring the often absurd circumstances in which agonizing moral decisions are made.  While the soundness of McCarthys judgments can sometimes be doubted  her curiosity and intelligence cannot. The intellectual brio and acute judgment that characterizes her best fiction is vividly displayed in this selection of essays  which span McCarthys career from the late 1930s to the late 1970s. It includes her writings on topics such as fashion magazines  Eugene ONeill  A Streetcar Named Desire  Look Back in Anger  Pale Fire  J.D. Salinger  Madame Bovary  Italo Calvino  and Watergate. The volume constitutes not only a valuable record of the ideological and cultural controversies that dominated American intellectual life from the Moscow trials to the Watergate hearings  but will also introduce a new generation of readers to a uniquely forthright and vibrant critical voice.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45646939488309,"sku":"ByrdShop_1590170105","price":31.85,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9781590170106.jpg?v=1781682445","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/a-bolt-from-the-blue-and-other-essays-9781590170106","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}