Dan Fox is a British writer, musician, editor, and filmmaker
currently living in New York. Co-editor of "frieze," Europe s
foremost magazine of contemporary art and culture, he has authored
over 200 essays, interviews, and reviews, contributed to numerous
catalogues and publications produced by major international art
galleries and institutions. He is a visiting lecturer at the Ruskin
school of Drawing and Fine Art, Oxford University, and has given
talks and lectures in the UK and USA at institutions including the
Royal College of Art, ICA, Tate Britain, Somerset House, Cornell
University, and the School of Visual Arts, NewYork.
"
A nimble case for pretentiousness as a willingness to take risks.”
New York Times Sunday Book Review, Editors’ Choice”
"Reading Fox is like watching a gymnast perform a floor routine. He
vaults and tumbles ideas and arguments, seamlessly incorporating
criticism, pop culture, and stories from his own life, and sticks
every landing.” Los Angeles Review of Books, "Fail, Fail Again,
Fail Better"
Fox also cites the work of George Orwell and Susan Sontag
repeatedly, and in this book he has written an intellectually
rigorous study of culture that echoes the scope of their work. His
argument is convincing, and it may leave readers with a newfound
respect for the term that gives his book its title.” Star
Tribune
"In Pretentiousness: Why It Matters, Fox... offers a defense of
acting like someone you’re not. It’s the way we cross boundaries
and discover new lands.” New York Post, "Gwyneth's Pretentiousness
May Be a Good Thing After All
Lucidly written and ultimately enlightening, Dan Fox’s essay is a
must-read.”Largehearted Boy
Epoch-making, epic, historic, unforgettable, triumphant, age-old,
inevitable, inexorable, and veritable. Pretentiousness will never
look the same.”Elif Batuman
"Pretentiousness is impressively broad in its exploration of its
subject . . . there is something deeply humane, and even touching,
in Fox’s unwillingness to see any form or pretentiousness as bad. .
. Fox has written a hopeful and stirring defense not just of
pretentiousness in all its forms, but of the value of art
itself.”Slate
"Fox is a nimble writer, and his brief book includes surprisingly
rich detours through history, philosophy, criticism, literature,
Withnail and I’ and more besides... Fox is attuned to the way
tastes feel important because of everything that goes into them --
class, education, upbringing -- making them the embodiment of where
we were from, and where we want to be."
New York Times Sunday Book Review
[Fox] elucidates in an intelligent and conversational style the
many complex layers of aesthetic, class and social discomfort that
often arise in the face of pretentiousness.”Chicago Tribune
This shrewd book argues that pretentiousness is central to our
progress and our individuality.”The Guardian
This thoughtful essay will be balm to those who dare to be
elitist, to snub artistic consensus.” Toronto Star
One of this book’s delights is its subtle and witty handling of
the relevant etymologies. . . . This engaging study is at its most
persuasive when it insists that pretentiousness and the
permissions it gives the licence to try new experiences, to
experiment with ideas, to see if you want to live your life another
way” is a vehicle not just for social vitality, but for
individual freedom.” Times Literary Supplement (UK), Pretentious,
moi?”
If you read only one part of this bracing, lively, espresso shot
of a book, I’d probably choose the final chapter. But there’s so
much good stuff in this essay: insights about art, fashion, acting,
music, film, culture, as well as urban and small-town life. I read
it in one sitting and it spoke to so much of my life experience
that it felt like I’d been waiting for it for years.”The
Millions
...what Fox did with this little book is brilliant. It isn’t
looking down on anybody, rather it’s Fox questioning why we’re so
hellbent on looking down on intelligence, on loving great art, and
why Anti-intellectualism’ seems to be so in fashion when that in
itself is really its own brand of pretentiousness.”Vol. 1
Brooklyn
Fox’s redemption of pretentiousness is a persuasive one, in terms
of drawing out its positive creative potential, and revealing the
prejudice which often underlies accusations of pretension.” Minor
Literatures
More than being part of an acceptable creative act,” for Fox
pretentiousness is integral as an engine of self-creation and we
should all be more forgiving of it, at least sometimes.” Flash
Art
In Pretentiousness, British author Dan Fox writes an unpretentious
and effective overview of the role of pretense in the arts. . . .
Fox’s nonjudgmental tact demonstrates sensitivity to readers of all
stripes.”Brazos Bookstore
Witty and insightful . . . Knowing what it is like to be someone
else is an essential part not just of cultural creation but of
empathy itself. Not being ourselves is, as Fox shows, what it means
to be human.” Intelligent Life, UK
Brief and elegantly righteous.” The Guardian, UK
Fox’s book is an elegant and convincing defense
.” Vulture
"In this wide-ranging study, Fox, the editor of Frieze, reclaims
pretentiousness as a generative force in contemporary art."
Flavorwire
"Although the title is sure to elicit some knee-jerk reactions, Fox
is an even-handed and likable guide on this journey. His ostensible
defense of pretentiousness is simply a reminder that we’re all
figuring it out as we go."The Rumpus
"Fox is talking about social mobility: how a working-class boy who
appreciates the avant garde might well be improving his life. 'We
should encourage these people,' says Fox, 'not pillory them as
pretentious.'" Monocle
We level charges of pretension at what violates our tribal sense
of normalityas if normal’ were a definable thing, and as if
pretentious art weren’t hugely popular.”The Rumpus
Dan Fox’s Pretentiousness: Why It Matters is as provocative and
witty as its title.”The New Statesman
Writing in a conversational voice that’s flexible enough to lead
discussions of Greek theater and Victorian satire, as well as to
reflect on his own middle-class upbringing, Fox’s encyclopedic
knowledge of cultural offerings high and low allows him to ponder
what the concept of pretentiousness tells us about the relationship
between art and power and the spaces where they collide.” Heavy
Feather Review
[Pretentiousness provides] a compelling example of. . . the
perverse move of taking a pejorative term and reclaiming it as
praise” March Sadness
A celebration of the weird, the challenging, the ambitious, and
everything that makes art, music, pop culture, and life
interesting.” Porter Square Books, Staff Picks
Can it be a coincidence that my favourite hardcore album of 2016
to date is titled Poser, while my favourite book of 2016 to date is
titled Pretentiousness? . . . . In their own ways, however, both
harness the social power of their chosen word.” The Quietus
Ask a Question About this Product More... |