The selected essays of James Wood – our greatest living literary critic and author of How Fiction Works’James Wood is a close reader of genius… By turns luscious and muscular, committed and disdaining, passionate and minutely considered’ John Banville James Wood is one of the leading critics of the age, and here, for the first time, are his selected essays. From the career-defining ‘Hysterical Realism’ to his more personal reflections on family, religion and sensibility, Serious Noticing offers a comprehensive overview of his writing over the last twenty years. These essays offer more than a viewpoint – they show how to bring the eye of critical reading to life as a whole.’James Wood is one of literature s true lovers, and his deeply felt, contentious essays are thrilling in their reach and moral seriousness’ Susan Sontag