Sedaris

By Kevin Kopelson

Book Overview

"When you're laughing aloud at David Sedaris's every sentence, it's easy to miss the more serious side of what he's up to. Fortunately, Kevin Kopelson has come along to guide readers through the work of the best and most subversive social satirist in America." --Stephen McCauley, author of The Object of My Affection "Charting a course from Marcel Proust to Tony Danza, Kevin artfully captures the exquisite pleasure and pain of reading David Sedaris. A witty, thoughtful, intimate encounter." --David Hyde Pierce "If I were to read a book on David Sedaris it might be this one." --Paul Reubens David Sedaris is nothing less than a literary phenomenon. His readings and live performances sell out within hours, while his books--Barrel Fever, Holidays on Ice, Naked, Me Talk Pretty One Day , and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim --have each been best-sellers. Sedaris became an almost overnight sensation in 1992 when he recounted his surreal experiences working as a Macy's department store elf named Crumpet on NPR's Morning Edition . The sardonic wit displayed in his "SantaLand Diaries" has since made him America's preeminent satirist--brutally honest, often painfully sad, and above all, truly hilarious. In Sedaris , Kevin Kopelson engages with the most difficult, uncomfortable, and often most humorous aspects of Sedaris's writing--shame and public humiliation, dysfunctional families and destructive relationships, misanthropy and self-loathing--to reveal what makes Sedaris such an effective and affecting satirist, and to show why so many readers and listeners identify with him. For Kopelson, the key to understanding Sedaris lies in recognizing the importance of relationships to his comedy. Drawing extensively on both his nonfiction essays and short stories, Kopelson maps out Sedaris's relationships in more or less chronological order--grandparents, parents, siblings, teachers, friends, coworkers, strangers, children, and lovers--and identifies the misunderstandings, betrayals, and cruelties that we all experience, but which in Sedaris's voice are brilliantly and grotesquely magnified. Written for everyone who loves David Sedaris and has wondered why they find him so relevant to their own lives, Sedaris succeeds in taking seriously this sublimely caustic, riotously funny, and ultimately important writer. And for anyone unfamiliar with Sedaris, this book is the perfect introduction. Kevin Kopelson is professor of English at the University of Iowa. His previous books include Neatness Counts: Essays on the Writer's Desk (Minnesota, 2004).

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0816650853
• ISBN13: 9780816650859
• Release Date: August 2007
• Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.4" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Courteous and Caring Critique

In reading a lot of the criticisms of the book I was dumbfounded. Kevin's writing should be a taken for what it is, the writings of a fan trying to get deeper insight into the way that the best selling author's mind works. Kevin is obviously a big fan of Sedaris. So much so that he clearly spent countless hours researching each and every line of every story/essay that Sedaris has wrote. He pulls meaning and insight from Sedaris' work while comparing his work to other similar works with the ease of a professor (not surprising as he teaches at the University of Iowa). I do admit my bias as I was a big Sedaris prior to reading, but reading Mr. Kopelson's book has changed the way that I read Sedaris and has actually led to an increase in my enjoyment of them. I'd recommend the book to both beginning (who will find the book to be a great introduction) and experienced (who will appreciate the insight and find the books take on greater meaning) Sedaris readers.

Interesting and insightful

I found this to be an insightful book and Kopelson had me thinking about Sedaris' work in a different way. As I am not familiar with all of Sedaris' books, I found the author's use of quotes helpful. The book is engaging and has inspired me to read more Sedaris after which time, I will reread the Kopelson.

A fabulous book for the Sedaris fan...

"Sedaris" is a marvelously insightful analysis about what David Sedaris is doing with us when we read his hilarious and yet incredibly serious stories. This insight is brought about by a careful study of what David says about himself as he relates his stories about his life and relationships with the people who matter most to him. It's smart and funny and serious all at once, and makes the reader feel tremendous additional affinity for this most beloved of authors. The book is brilliantly academic and accessible to the regular reader all at once. It's the first real critical analysis of Sedaris' work and as such is an important additon to the library of any Sedaris fan!