Our Dogs is one of about 25 essays in Kant’s Little Prussian Head and Other Reasons Why I Write, and it’s in many ways emblematic — the elegance of it, the challenge of it. Messud isn’t a writer who grabs her subject matter by the throat or pumps her prose full of kinetic energy. She moseys, she circles, she lies in wait. She sighs where others might scream, mists up where others might sob, ponders 'holistic foulness' where others might just run for the cleaner-smelling hills ... But more often than not, it works. There’s usually a moral in her sights, one worth getting to, and there’s sometimes a deceptively strong current of feeling beneath a surface of reserve. I didn’t gobble these essays down, as I would a bucket of buttered popcorn. I savored them in unhurried spoonfuls, as with a bowl of glistening consommé. And I felt amply fed ... These essays don’t carry the same weight or deliver the same punch [as Open City demonstrates her great talent for enlarging the context of whatever she’s writing about and weaving in astute bits of broader commentary. It also captures her determinedly elevated tone and vocabulary, which won’t be to every reader’s taste ... The ending of her take on The Door demonstrates her even greater talent for bringing her essays to a poignant, haunting close, with a few final phrases that distill the meaning of all that preceded them and send a kind of shudder through your mind and heart. If she were a gymnast, she’d be renowned for sticking her landings ... That’s why Messud writes. It gives the past a future.
She risks coming across as elitist — ouroboros, for those who lack her formidable vocabulary, refers to a snake swallowing its own tail — but her intent is generous ... Her faith is quite possibly unrealistic, but couched in Messud’s lucid, quietly fiery prose, it’s also inspiring ... Messud communicates that inner life and the outer trappings of her peripatetic childhood with marvelous particularity, capturing in palpable, resonant detail various family homes and intricate familial interactions ... astute ... Progressing from Messud’s autobiographical essays through her criticism, we come to understand what she most values in art.
Even the title of this richly drawn anthology of more than two dozen essays, Kant's Little Prussian Head and Other REasons Why I Write, speaks to the dry wit and arresting spontaneity that permeate her very personal reflections on life, great authors of the past and present, and art in various forms. Although at the peak of her creative power, Messud also seems to be casting an experienced retrospective eye over several decades of critically acclaimed writing ... concentrated and vibrant prose ... Every page exudes her quiet yet compelling joy in the power of well-nourished language, a vast vocabulary treated with the awe and reverence that a great painter treats the endless potentialities of color or a composer the myriad combinations of notes in a score. Where arrogance will throw words, colors or sounds onto the page in clever combinations, mindful greatness will patiently blend and mold them into uniquely memorable sensory and emotional experiences ... Messud could easily and successfully have collected or composed all of her essays in the autobiographical vein but stretches the promise of the book’s subtitle by dividing her anthology into three unequal parts. Whether or not they should have been three separate books is difficult to decide, as they all express aspects of her own character as well as that of the individuals enlarged by her acute observations.
... an uplifting work: complex, precise and bracing ... Two strong-willed, serious-hearted thinkers hover powerfully over this collection. Messud’s pied-noir grandfather — who spent a decade writing a 1,500 page family memoir just for Messud and her sister — and his son, her father, who devoted all his free time to the intricate, private scholarship of philosophy without ever writing on the subject. These twin examples of commitment stand as a beacon of inspiration and also, perhaps, a warning of the dangers of operating so purely and discreetly ... The family section of Messud’s volume is rendered vividly, in sentences beautifully formed and built to last. Some of the scenes she conjures feel unforgettable ... The strength and delicacy of these chapters leave you trusting Messud’s taste and judgment before you sample her criticism, which doesn’t disappoint ... Messud’s rigorous enthusiasm for the writers she admires is infectious.
Exceptionally astute, artistic, and eviscerating ... Messud’s personal essays are, by turns, mischievously funny, emotionally wrenching, and elegantly intellectual ... Messud steers us to the light of forthright inquiry, truth, and beauty.
The problem is with the claim that this is an autobiography through essays. It isn’t. It’s a compilation of pieces previously published elsewhere — some autobiographical, some critical works on writers and artists. The disappointment of not receiving quite what was promised compounds the frustrations which are common to this kind of anthology ... What feels like well-crafted conciseness in the columns of a periodical comes over as abrupt between the covers of a book. The tone jolts around ... Then there’s the tendency of all writers to repeat themselves, which is exposed by gathering everything in one place ... But Messud is a very good critic, the kind whose writing makes you bring new eyes to the familiar and creates inviting familiarity with what’s new to you. I’ve never read Jane Bowles, but Messud’s description of Two Serious Ladies means I will; her precise diagnosis of the tragedy in Never Let Me Go as the murder of hope means I will be rereading Ishiguro shortly ... Best of all is her commentary on Camus, which also comes closest to fulfilling the title...In her hands, it is obvious that to call him simply a ‘French author’ is to blot out his essential Algerian-ness, and both her family’s story and Camus’s writing are enriched by the contact. A whole book of that — a true autobiography through essays — would be a deep pleasure to read.
The book is, in a way, a palimpsest (one of Messud’s favorite images, which occurs six times in this collection) whose sections explore how life experiences, relationships, and art and literature inform our efforts to connect—to understand and be understood ... One unexpected and joyful essay is 'On Dogs,' in which Messud details what she has learned from her dogs ... The lessons Messud draws from her canine companions—and the lessons imparted in all of these essays—inspire and entertain. Perhaps the most consequential essay, and the source of the book’s title, is 'Kant’s Little Prussian Head and Other Reasons Why I Write' ... Messud unpacks important lessons about the role of utility and the liberal arts in contemporary society ... The...final section is far shorter than the others, which may leave readers wanting a wider range of art criticism. Although Messud may not have all the answers to our many challenges, she has eloquently and movingly laid bare the ways the arts can remind us of the beauty—and the utter importance—of being human.
Messud sets the tone in her impassioned introduction, proclaiming the importance of literature 'in a period which can feel like the dawn of a new Dark Ages' ... The critical pieces in the second and third parts discuss individual works by literary and visual artists as varied as Albert Camus, Jane Bowles, Saul Friedlander, Alice Neel, and Marlene Dumas; the author discerns a common thread in their ability to convey their personal experiences and connect them to larger issues in the world ... Powerful and inspirational: Messud is as fine a critic as she is a novelist.
