Review
"[Hofmann] offers startling insights . . . Poetic in his praise and wittily scathing in his criticism, he writes with unwavering brilliance and subtle charm." --Christina Patterson, The Sunday Times

"Hofmann is every inch the poet-critic and the language of this collection is rich and endlessly surprising. An exceptional collection of writing about literature and art by a noted poet and translator --Candida Clark, The Observer



Review
"[Hofmann] offers startling insights . . . Poetic in his praise and wittily scathing in his criticism, he writes with unwavering brilliance and subtle charm." --Christina Patterson, The Sunday Times

"Hofmann is every inch the poet-critic and the language of this collection is rich and endlessly surprising. An exceptional collection of writing about literature and art by a noted poet and translator --Candida Clark, The Observer



Book Description
Since 1980, the poet and translator Michael Hofmann has also been a prolific reviewer, and his widely published critical writings encompass a broad range of novels, poems, paintings, plays and movies. Behind the Lines brings together these dispatches from the fields of literature and art, and also includes pieces on writers such as Wallace Stevens, Thomas Bernhard, and Paul Bowles, and artists and filmmakers ranging from Otto Dix to Andrei Tarkovsky.

Rarely has the critic's labor been carried out with more elan than in these pages. Hofmann's interests as a reader and art lover are diverse, and in candid, omnivorous prose he approaches the work of the writer, the painter, and the auteur with the enthusiasm and insight of the well-informed reader and observer as well as the self-searching curiosity of a poet.



About the Author
Michael Hofmann is the author of Approximately Nowhere (Faber, 1999) and After Ovid (FSG, 1996). He lives in London.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Since 1980, the poet and translator Michael Hofmann has also been a prolific reviewer, and his widely published critical writings encompass a broad range of novels, poems, paintings, plays and movies. Behind the Lines brings together these dispatches from the fields of literature and art, and also includes pieces on writers such as Wallace Stevens, Thomas Bernhard, and Paul Bowles, and artists and filmmakers ranging from Otto Dix to Andrei Tarkovsky.

Rarely has the critic's labor been carried out with more elan than in these pages. Hofmann's interests as a reader and art lover are diverse, and in candid, omnivorous prose he approaches the work of the writer, the painter, and the auteur with the enthusiasm and insight of the well-informed reader and observer as well as the self-searching curiosity of a poet.

SYNOPSIS

Hofmann, a poet, critic, translator (from German) and very engaging writer, has collected his book reviews on poets, artists, films, and writers, mainly from the US and Germany. Among those featured are Otto Dix, Randall Jarrell, Eugenio Montale, Joseph Brodsky, Bertolt Brecht, and Rainier Maria Rilke. Annotation c. Book News, Inc.,Portland, OR

FROM THE CRITICS

Christina Patterson - The Sunday Times

[Hofmann] offers startling insights . . . Poetic in his praise and wittily scathing in his criticism, he writes with unwavering brilliance. . .

Candida Clark - The Observer