Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
NYRB Classics (2013), Edition: Reprint, 577 pages
Description
An NYRB Classics Original Simon Leys is a Renaissance man for the era of globalization. A distinguished scholar of classical Chinese art and literature and one of the first Westerners to recognize the appalling toll of Mao's Cultural Revolution, Leys also writes with unfailing intelligence, seriousness, and bite about European art, literature, history, and politics and is an unflinching observer of the way we live now. The Hall of Uselessness is the most extensive collection of Leys's essays to be published to date. In it, he addresses subjects ranging from the Chinese attitude to the past to the mysteries of Belgium and Belgitude; offers portraits of André Gide and Zhou Enlai; takes on Roland Barthes and Christopher Hitchens; broods on the Cambodian genocide; reflects on the spell of the sea; and writes with keen appreciation about writers as different as Victor Hugo, Evelyn Waugh, and Georges Simenon. Throughout, The Hall of Uselessness is marked with the deep knowledge, skeptical intelligence, and passionate conviction that have made Simon Leys one of the most powerful essayists of our time.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member sometimeunderwater
Simon Leys is a charming writer, and can enliven almost any topic. I only wish I knew enough about ancient Chinese calligraphy (for example) to engage with his essays on the same level they are written. As it is, I often felt like I was reading a review of a book I hadn't read (in some cases,
Unfortunately, on the one topic I did feel sufficiently knowledgeable about (university funding) I found Leys position to be marked by lazy-thinking and blinkered self-interest. He writes about the "decline of the university", without balance, without addressing the social and economic causes behind the changes, nor proposing a single alternative. The whole essay could be summarised by the words 'in my day ...", and a wistful look. The concluding 'Fable from Academe' is woefully shallow, unfunny and unsubtle. It slightly marred by enjoyment of this otherwise wonderful book.
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that's literally true), but I loved it all the same.Unfortunately, on the one topic I did feel sufficiently knowledgeable about (university funding) I found Leys position to be marked by lazy-thinking and blinkered self-interest. He writes about the "decline of the university", without balance, without addressing the social and economic causes behind the changes, nor proposing a single alternative. The whole essay could be summarised by the words 'in my day ...", and a wistful look. The concluding 'Fable from Academe' is woefully shallow, unfunny and unsubtle. It slightly marred by enjoyment of this otherwise wonderful book.
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LibraryThing member V.V.Harding
Probably a review brought Simon Leys, the Belgian writer long resident in Australia, born Pierre Ryckmans, to my attention, though I long ago had heard of his Chinese Shadows and thought of him as, in his words, a Sinologist. But he is much much more, as this engaging collection of essays,
Having spent a decade or so in Asia, I realized the essays on China might be less interesting to those without that experience of proximity both physical and cultural. But they are nevertheless well worth reading, not least for revisiting the Mao worship that so blinded the left in the west. When it was not popular to do so, Leys described what was actually happening during the "Cultural Revolution" and similar euphemistically named phenomena.
But even if readers skip those essays, or read very selectively (for example, about Barthes in China and a few others of wider interest), we have the literary and miscellaneous essays. These consistently afford the deep pleasure arising from intelligent, articulate, and attractive description of new people and works, and of those already somewhat known. "Portrait of Proteus: A Little ABC of Gide" is a longer entry, as compelling as fiction in the story it tells, yet with many duly documented facts and details, in the text and in extensive notes. "I Prefer Reading" is perfect for this reader, and many others, I suspect.
It's somehow nice to know that, given the author's multilingual background and education, we can think what originally appeared in a language other than English was, if not translated by Leys himself, checked by him. At first I was unhappy with the notes, most of which are very substantive and might have become part of the narrative itself, being at the back of the book, but I came to realize that location allows for a smoother development of main ideas, with additional information available in the notes to those who want it.
The NY Review of Books has done its usual excellent job of presentation, with an attractive and relevant cover, strikingly colored endpapers, and good-quality paper well bound into this rather thick volume.
Highly recommended – read slowly, it provides the companionship of a lively mind over several weeks, or longer...and selectively re-reading is rewarding.
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enigmatically but enticingly and eventually humorously titled The Hall of Uselessness , reveals.Having spent a decade or so in Asia, I realized the essays on China might be less interesting to those without that experience of proximity both physical and cultural. But they are nevertheless well worth reading, not least for revisiting the Mao worship that so blinded the left in the west. When it was not popular to do so, Leys described what was actually happening during the "Cultural Revolution" and similar euphemistically named phenomena.
But even if readers skip those essays, or read very selectively (for example, about Barthes in China and a few others of wider interest), we have the literary and miscellaneous essays. These consistently afford the deep pleasure arising from intelligent, articulate, and attractive description of new people and works, and of those already somewhat known. "Portrait of Proteus: A Little ABC of Gide" is a longer entry, as compelling as fiction in the story it tells, yet with many duly documented facts and details, in the text and in extensive notes. "I Prefer Reading" is perfect for this reader, and many others, I suspect.
It's somehow nice to know that, given the author's multilingual background and education, we can think what originally appeared in a language other than English was, if not translated by Leys himself, checked by him. At first I was unhappy with the notes, most of which are very substantive and might have become part of the narrative itself, being at the back of the book, but I came to realize that location allows for a smoother development of main ideas, with additional information available in the notes to those who want it.
The NY Review of Books has done its usual excellent job of presentation, with an attractive and relevant cover, strikingly colored endpapers, and good-quality paper well bound into this rather thick volume.
Highly recommended – read slowly, it provides the companionship of a lively mind over several weeks, or longer...and selectively re-reading is rewarding.
Show Less
LibraryThing member bookomaniac
Simon Leys is a carefully kept secret by anyone who loves contradictory people, people who are averse to fashionable or politically correct thinking, just go their own way and are not ashamed to row against the tide. This Belgian writer, - with his real name Pierre Ryckmans (1935-2014) -, was an
This bundle of essays naturally includes several excellent articles on China and Chinese culture, but the main emphasis is nevertheless on his literary criticism. Because it appears that Leys was enormously well-read, and also expressed opinions about the "monstres sacrés" of Western literature that regularly went against prevailing opinions. It is no coincidence that this book opens with an ode to Don Quixote, who is not a "loser" at all for Leys, but someone who in all simplicity has set a goal and consistently adheres to it. It’s odd, but when I look at images of Leys at a later age, I can see a certain physical similarity between him and the classic representations that have been made of the Spanish anachronistic knight. Or is that my imagination?
If I have to ascertain 2 attractive qualities in Leys, then these are his authenticity and his humanism. To a large degree both are old-fashioned these days. This is foremost a characteristic of his literary criticism: writers such as Chesterton, Orwell and Simenon are lauded for their astute authenticity, others such as André Malraux and Roland Barthes are ruthlessly cracked for their mythomania and ideological conformity.
Reading these essays, one is impressed by Leys’ erudition and lucidity. But I have the impression that in the course of time he has started to somewhat cultivate his own obstinacy. He regularly – in an ironic way of course – refers to his lack of knowledge and insight, which he invariably blames on laziness (in my opinion rather a form of complacency), but he uses this weapon to deal mercilessly with people of another opinion. And apparently, he knows all too well how his blatant Catholicism deviated from the spirit of the times: just look at his sharp, provocative polemic with Christopher Hitchens about the latter’s critical book on Mother Teresa.
Oh well, perhaps these are just the petty traits of a brilliant genius. I am pleased that thanks to this collection of essays I have been able to become acquainted with the valuable, be it somewhat old-fashioned universe of Simon Leys.
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eminent sinologist, one of the best connoisseurs of China in the 20th century. He was among the first to uncover and denounce the cruel excesses of Mao's ideological campaigns, but he was not taken seriously by the predominant, especially Sartre-controlled omertà of the sixties and seventies. That he was a professing Catholic probably didn't help either. His analyses of China and Chinese culture were not appreciated until the 1980s, but his influence always stayed limited, partly due to a form of charming unworldliness.This bundle of essays naturally includes several excellent articles on China and Chinese culture, but the main emphasis is nevertheless on his literary criticism. Because it appears that Leys was enormously well-read, and also expressed opinions about the "monstres sacrés" of Western literature that regularly went against prevailing opinions. It is no coincidence that this book opens with an ode to Don Quixote, who is not a "loser" at all for Leys, but someone who in all simplicity has set a goal and consistently adheres to it. It’s odd, but when I look at images of Leys at a later age, I can see a certain physical similarity between him and the classic representations that have been made of the Spanish anachronistic knight. Or is that my imagination?
If I have to ascertain 2 attractive qualities in Leys, then these are his authenticity and his humanism. To a large degree both are old-fashioned these days. This is foremost a characteristic of his literary criticism: writers such as Chesterton, Orwell and Simenon are lauded for their astute authenticity, others such as André Malraux and Roland Barthes are ruthlessly cracked for their mythomania and ideological conformity.
Reading these essays, one is impressed by Leys’ erudition and lucidity. But I have the impression that in the course of time he has started to somewhat cultivate his own obstinacy. He regularly – in an ironic way of course – refers to his lack of knowledge and insight, which he invariably blames on laziness (in my opinion rather a form of complacency), but he uses this weapon to deal mercilessly with people of another opinion. And apparently, he knows all too well how his blatant Catholicism deviated from the spirit of the times: just look at his sharp, provocative polemic with Christopher Hitchens about the latter’s critical book on Mother Teresa.
Oh well, perhaps these are just the petty traits of a brilliant genius. I am pleased that thanks to this collection of essays I have been able to become acquainted with the valuable, be it somewhat old-fashioned universe of Simon Leys.
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Awards
Victorian Premier's Literary Award (Nominee — Nettie Palmer Prize for Australian Nonfiction — 2012)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2011
ISBN
9781590176382