Something Speaks to Me: Where Criticism Begins

Michel Chaouli (Professor, Germanic Studies, Indiana University Bloomington) will discuss his book Something Speaks to Me: Where Criticism Begins. He will be joined in conversation by Emily Apter (Julius Silver Professor of French Literature Thought and Culture, NYU). Something Speaks to Me is an account of criticism as an urgent response to what moves us. Criticism begins when we put down a book to tell someone about it. It is what we do when we face a work or event that bowls us over and makes us scramble for a response. As Michel Chaouli argues, criticism involves three moments: Something speaks to me. I must tell you about it. But I don’t know how. The heart of criticism, no matter its form, lies in these surges of thoughts and feelings. Criticism arises from the fundamental need to share what overwhelms us.