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"This is criticism at its best." —Carolyn Kellogg, Los Angeles Times
"An important and frequently surprising book… could be read as the foundation for a post-avant-garde aesthetics… Nelson, who is also a poet, is such a graceful writer that I…just sat back and enjoyed the show."
"[Nelson’s] critiques of individual artists are delightfully fierce without being mean spirited… Fascinating and bracingly intelligent…The Art of Cruelty’s prose is often gorgeous."
"A lean-forward experience, and in its most transcendent moments, reading it can feel like having the best conversation of your life."
"I hope that critics, and aspiring critics, and those who are interested in the relationship between art and ethics, read [The Art of Cruelty]."
"[Nelson] dexterously, and creatively, manages to hold a mirror to our culture’s fascination with cruelty and invites us to reflect on our personal reasons for indulging it."
Maggie Nelson is the author of many acclaimed books of poetry and prose, including Like Love, The Argonauts, and Bluets. She currently teaches at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.