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267 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
Objective is the fractured landscape, subjective is the light in which ¨C alone ¨C it glows into life. He [the artist] does not bring about their harmonious synthesis. As the power of dissociation, he tears them apart in time, in order, perhaps, to preserve them for the eternal. In the history of art late works are the catastrophes. (160)This is the notion of 'late style' that Said takes from Adorno and develops in his book On Late Style. Unfortunately, Said died passed away before he could finish it; the book itself therefore isn't how Said must have imagined it, and the chapters (which are formed mostly from essays and lecture notes) form a somewhat disjointed whole, and do not stick as firmly to Said's central exploration of 'late style' as one might like. I am also not entirely convinced that Said successful demonstrates that the phenomenon of late style exists, although I'm inclined to agree with him (and Adorno) that it does. Perhaps, with more time to work on it, Said would have demonstrated the manifestation of late style more satisfactorily, in greater depth, and with a wider range of evidence. Having said that, there were certainly moments of clarity and acuity. There were three chapters that I thought were especially good: On Jean Genet, which offers captivating anecdotes about and a critical discussion of Genet and his work, A Lingering Old Order, which focuses on di Lampedusa, Visconti, and Gramsci, particularly in the context of (Southern) Italy, and Glimpses of Late Style, which sums up Said's notion of 'late style', with wonderful examples from Cavafy and Mann. These three chapters, taken together, showcase Said's powers as a writer and essayist, and even by themselves provide abundant material for consideration.