Going into the City
Going into the City: Portrait of a Critic as a Young Man is a 2015 memoir by American music critic Robert Christgau.
 | |
| Author | Robert Christgau |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Memoir |
| Published | 2015 |
| Publisher | Dey Street Books |
| Pages | 367 |
| ISBN | 978-0-06-223879-5 |
Content
According to NPR, the memoir "takes the reader through the music that inspired [Christgau's] career, the women who sharpened his work over the years, and a childhood spent in Queens, where he learned from the DJ who gave rock 'n' roll its name."[1] Christgau also pays tribute to the influence of his wife and fellow writer, Carola Dibbell. "Her aesthetic responsiveness was unending", he wrote. "No one affected my writing like Carola."[2]
Critical reception
Writing for the New York Times, Dave Itzkoff gave the book a favorable review, saying, among other things, that the chapter about Christgau and his wife's difficulties conceiving a child was "surely one of the book’s most touching sections."[3] Henry Hauser of Consequence of Sound compared the book favorably to Christgau's reviews, saying they were both "dense, tight, and brimming with insight."[4] Writing for The Guardian, Joanna Scutts said that in the book, Christgau "embraces" the challenge of "saying something new and distinctive...with undimming energy."[5]
References
- Rath, Arun; Christgau, Robert (March 1, 2015). "Robert Christgau Reviews His Own Life". NPR. Retrieved February 1, 2019.
- Gross, Jason (June 2015). "The Dean of Rock Critics Schools Us on Himself: Robert Christgau's Going Into the City (Dey St.)". Rock's Backpages. Retrieved January 1, 2019. (subscription required)
- Itzkoff, Dave (March 8, 2015). "Robert Christgau's 'Going Into the City'". New York Times. Retrieved December 26, 2015.
- Hauser, Henry (April 18, 2015). "Going into the City: Portrait of the Critic as a Young Man by Robert Christgau". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved December 26, 2015.
- Scutts, Joanna (February 20, 2015). "Going Into the City by Robert Christgau review – lessons from the 'dean of rock criticism'". The Guardian. Retrieved December 26, 2015.