Objects in This Mirror

by Brian Dillon

Objects in This Mirror is a collection of essays on contemporary art, literature, landscape, aesthetics, and cultural history. Beginning with a polemical and personal defense of generalism and curiosity, Brian Dillon explores the variety of themes it is possible today to corral within the rubric of the critical essay. These pieces engage with the work of such artists as Tacita Dean, Gerard Byrne, Andy Warhol, and Sophie Calle; with the ruinous territories that haunt the work of Robert Smithson and Derek Jarman; with the ambiguous figures of the charlatan, the vandal, the hypochondriac, and the dandy. Taking seriously the playful remit of the essay as form, Dillon treats of compelling gesture manuals of the nineteenth century, the history of antidepressant marketing, the search for a cure to the common cold. Whether his topic is the nature of slapstick, his love of the writings of Roland Barthes, or the genre of the essay itself, he is as much concerned with the form of criticism today as with its varied and digressive subjects.

Genres: Essays, Nonfiction, Art

372 pages, Paperback

First published September 21, 2013

About the author

BRIAN DILLON was born in Dublin in 1969. His books include Objects in This Mirror: Essays (Sternberg Press, 2014), Sanctuary (Sternberg Press, 2011), Ruins (MIT Press/Whitechapel Gallery, 2011), Tormented Hope: Nine Hypochondriac Lives (Penguin, 2009) and In the Dark Room (Penguin 2005).

His writing appears regularly in the Guardian, the London Review of Books, the Times Literary Supplement, Artforum and frieze. Dillon is reader in critical writing at the Royal College of Art, and UK editor of Cabinet magazine. He is working on a book about the Great Explosion at Faversham in 1916.

Reviews

[Tosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great essay to me is like having a private and quiet conversation with the writer - especially fantastic if you feel that you share some of the writer's obsessions or thoughts. Brian Dillon is one of my favorite essayists or commentator on the literary/visual world. "Objects in This Mirror: essays" is a perfect book for me, where you finish reading the text, the presence stays with you for awhile. Dillon is the editor for a fascinating publication called "Cabinet," which is perfect for those who are curious about the natural and made-up world that is in our lives, or at the very least, outside our front entrance. The main subject matter for these essays in the book are everything from other essayists to the common cold to reading Roland Barthes. In fact if you are a fan of Barthes (and I'm one) I think this is the book for you.

[Can Lejarraga · Rating 4 out of 5]

se me olvidó por completo marcar este libro como leído en fin ! una lectura muy chula, es el equivalente literario a cuando entras en un rabbit hole en Wikipedia y saltas del artículo sobre columnas griegas a cables de fibra óptica sin darte cuenta

[Thom Wong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brian Dillon writes about art the way my brain wants to be spoken to - with obsessive tangents, demarcations, parallelisms. He seems to know a lot about everything, which would make him merely Macaulay Culkin in Uncle Buck if he wasn't so damn good at linking it all together.

[Jack McClelland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice short essays. A relief after what feels like every "essay" these days clocking in between 7 and 10 thousand words. Most of the texts in this collection run between 5-15 (short) pages, and occasionally feature moments of greatness.

A handful of memorable moments, but also much to forget and much the author needs to flesh out further. Picked this up while traveling, and hope I'll get my hands on his more recent NYRB books--they look to be a bit more focused than this retrospective of a writer in the making.

[Ralph Römer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this!

[maria jose casazza · Rating 5 out of 5]

god, yes