A really solid memoir that opens up a window onto Marcus’s experiences in his life. Well done, Hansomely written.

Thank you to Yale University Press and NetGalley for providing me with access to the latest book of essays by one of America’s preeminent cultural critics, Greil Marcus. I was very excited to find this book since I’ve read several of Marcus’s other books, and always appreciate his perspective on topics ranging from music to films to politics and history. Interestingly, this book is brief and contains 3 separate essays, all interrelated to the topic of art and criticism. I also found that based on some of the other books I’ve read, this was one of the more personal reflections, as the 3 essays all dealt with topics related to Marcus’s personal experiences. I also think that the middle essay, that focused on the Marcus’s discovery of the film critic Pauline Kael, presented the kind of shift in criticism that Marcus experienced as he moved from the college/academic critical perspective to the idiosyncratic and more self-expressive connections that Kael helped to make popular with her film criticisms. However, the first essay was also incredibly powerful. Marcus reflects on his father, who he never really knew. Sadly, Marcus, born Greil Griestly and named after his father, lost his father to WWII in a terrible Naval accident in the Pacific. It is an incredible story. Marcus makes an interesting connection with the opening scenes of David Lynch’s Blue Velvet, sharing that the kind of wholesome portrait of America is not always what it seems, and while it didn’t seem like his father’s heroics during WWII were hidden, it did seem like the events of the ship’s sinking were covered up due to the incompetence of the ship’s commanding officer. This experience also left Marcus to wonder about his identity, but also recognizing that had his father never died in the war, he wouldn’t have his siblings and possibly his own family. I really enjoyed learning more about Pauline Kael and Marcus’s personal connection in the 2nd essay. I’ve heard a lot about her, and it’s kind of interesting to see that shift and recalibration about the possibilities of writing, criticism, and art that Marcus experienced moving from Berkeley to the editorial staff of Rolling Stone. His experience reading Kael’s writing allowed him to shift his conceptions of what criticism could be and how critics often bring in their own humanity and experiences to truly feel the art—not just objectively (and somewhat coldly) analyzing it from a distance. I’m not sure if there is some kind of separate term for this kind of criticism, but I understood what Marcus meant, especially when you spend 4 years (or more) learning about theorists and critics, trying to emulate their thinking and developing a kind of theoretical application that tries to apply scientific principles to art. Kael and Marcus seemed to delight in the emotions that art can evoke, and making this a key aspect of their criticism is important to remember what makes art so necessary in our lives. This shift in criticism also leads into the final essay that focuses on Marcus’s experience with Titian’s painting The Assumption of the Virgin in Venice. More than just an analysis or personal reflection on the painting itself, Marcus uses Titian’s work as a kind of springboard to reflect on all of the qualities that Titian’s works shares with other art, even those considered low art (music, comics, pop art, film). He also makes reference to the enduring quality of the Rolling Stones Let it Bleed, and how listening to this album at different points in his life, he is able to hear different elements of the art and experience different emotions each time. I loved how this essay tied up the other points he makes about the self and art, and how it’s important to not only analyze art, more it is even more necessary to feel and appreciate art, recognizing it’s power to move and challenge us, to help us experience new emotions or resurrect old emotions that we haven’t felt for some time. Whether it is film, painting, sculpture, or music, great art has the power to move us in unique ways—not just allowing us to feel, but also providing us with new thoughts and pathways to creativity. This was a short, but great read, and I look forward to re-visiting these essays soon.

Long may you run, Greil. Masterful thoughts and reflections from one of the greats. Marcus' intellectual curiosity, intelligent and kind heart offer a trove of lessons, and convey the grown up I hope to be someday.

Pioneering rock music critic Greil Marcus has been writing tirelessly for almost as long as the name "rock music" has existed. His new book attempts to explain just why he’s done so.

Read the rest of my review at Open Letters Review.
https://openlettersreview.com/posts/what-nails-it-by-greil-marcus

I am a fan of Greil Marcus' writing and have to say this tops the list of my new favorite. This book is comprised of three essays that share some of the key things that influenced him as a writer. The first essay (which you can find him reading a version of on YouTube as part of Yale's 2023 Windham Campbell Prize Lectures and I recommend), is about early life and memory. I loved how when he started on the path of teaching American Studies, that he realized he was a bad professor - he had a tendency to shut down discussion. He went on to write for Rolling Stone and Creem so there is a lot here on writing. He also talks about shared memory - our memories are not our own - they are mixed with other memories from TV, Comic Books, movies, etc. An example he gives is the opening scene in David Lynch's "Blue Velvet" - those images of small town America are somehow recognizable in our collective memories. He talks about how we can remember something we did not experience directly. His poignant personal example is about his father, who he never met - he died when Greil was 6 months and one day old in WW II. But stories from his grandmother and photos as well as a documentary about his dad's ship all becomes a part of his memory of his father. He is fascinated by stories untold and secret histories. I was incredibly moved by this essay. His second essay is about criticism and is centered around Pauline Kael and how much she influenced his writing. The third essay is on Titian and how to experience Art, but also talks about Firesign Theatre, The Great Gatsby, Moby Dick and attending the Cinema Ritrouato Festival in Bologna (I really want to go). I highly recommend these thoughtful essays and they give us great insight into the shaping and influences on his writing and criticism.

Thank you to Netgalley and Yale University Press for an ARC and I voluntarily left this review.

It’s 9 a.m. I put the clothes into the wash and start to read this book. An hour later, I hear that it’s done and I’m close to the last page. It doesn’t take long – maybe an hour to process the three parts. And yet, his words will stay in my mind for a very long time.

Greil Marcus admits he has an unusual first name. It came from his father, Greil Gerstley, whom he never met. When his mother was pregnant, his father, an Executive Naval Officer, was sent on a mission and ended up in the Pacific. The Admiral William Halsey insisted that the USS Hull during WWII would bluster through a wicked typhoon. Over 400 men didn’t survive including his father. The ones that managed to make it told stories afterwards and that’s how Marcus learned about his biological father. His mother, Eleanor Gerstley, remarried a lawyer and he was adopted.

Throughout the book, the author remarks on music, art and films from the past. I remember the 60s and loved the energy in the world with the music and lyrics. Marcus takes us there as a critic submitting articles for the Rolling Stone magazine and others. He was right in the middle of it at Berkeley with protests over the Vietnam war and free love. Those of us that lived during these times remember it well. When we hear a song from Bob Dylan or a number of others, it takes us to the changing world. That’s what Greil does. It takes us back in the days of meaningful lyrics.

There have been influences in his life that have moved him forward from his college days at Berkeley onward. He devoted one part to Pauline Kael, a film critic from The New Yorker (1968 to 1991). He said she made a lasting impression on his career. He noted that she didn’t praise the films but rather focused on where the film went wrong, where it fell short, where there were compromises, and where it cheated. She looked at the strengths and flaws.

The third and final part he titles: Titan. I grabbed my phone to Goggle it. He was referring to the art: Assumption of the Virgin which is a profound piece painted in 1515 to 1518. The image is of a group of Apostles looking up at the Virgin Mary who is rising in heaven towards God. Marcus compares this to the modern art piece by Jackson Pollack, Alchemy, when he poured cans of house paint all over a large piece of canvas to create a million-dollar abstract.

Greil Marcus is now 79 years old with a lot of life stories to share as a music journalist and cultural critic. He says, “Those tiny critical events can generate a transformative power that reaches you far more strongly than it reaches the person next to you, or even anyone else on earth.” He has created a collection of thoughts and it’s up to readers to take note of the words or let them pass by.

My thanks to Yale University Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read a copy of this advanced book with an expected release date of August 27, 2024.

I love Greil Marcus's style of criticism, the kind of beautiful conspiracy theories that point to underground connections between history, art, and life. There are flashes of that style in this slim volume. Mostly, though, it gives a more personal perspective on where his critical voice comes from. Some autobiography, some background on his early formation as a critic, and most fascinating to me, a reflection on how an overwhelmingly beautiful work of art briefly convinced him of something he doesn't believe. Really self-aware and interesting, will recommend to the aesthetics-loving college kids I teach.

What Nails It is an interesting work by Greil Marcus because most of his work is a blend of criticism interwoven with larger cultural and historical movements, while this work is more personal, a blend of memoir and critical advice.

What Nails It is a short work, three outstanding essays in which Marcus delves into his own early personal history, then the influence Pauline Kael had over him as a critic and what Marcus describes as critical moments.

Unsurprisingly, my favorite part is the third essay, “Titian” which is prototypical Marcus. He gets into why criticism matters and explains his approach to criticism. I especially appreciated the part about Manny Farber correcting a fan’s hyperbolic statement, as Farber was known for being a curmudgeon but also an outstanding critic.

The first essay, “Greil Gerstley” delves deep into Marcus’ personal history. He started writing reviews for Rolling Stone in order to make money, and then criticism became a way to find meaning by tracing lost historical pieces and breaking down songs. Ultimately, he finds even greater meaning to being a critic: it gives him a way to write, something he finds he simply cannot not do.

The second essay explores how Pauline Kael influenced him as a critic, as she influenced so many other great writers and/or critics. Kael wasn’t afraid to embrace the most violent movies because she recognized they made her think more deeply about the subject matter or larger cultural elements. Marcus realized instead of overthinking his criticism he had to similarly find how art made him feel and to do so in a way that connected with the reader rather than writing as if above the reader.

What Nails It is an enjoyable read for fans of Marcus, those interested in criticism or those interested generally in writing. Marcus provides a deeper window into his personal history, as well as offering sage advice to any writers reading this work. Recommended.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Yale University Press for an advance copy of this look at why certain people need to share their inner thoughts with others, be it fictional, nonfictional, polemic, or personal.

One question I know that a lot of writers get asked, probably to the point of exhaustion are where do writers get their ideas from. Harlan Ellison had a pretty good answer, Schenectady. A question that should be asked, mainly by other writers is one that I have always wondered about. Why does one write? What makes a person sit and write on paper of type on a computer, or even speak aloud to some program thoughts that fill their heads, about people, places things unseen, or even critical events of today. Greil Marcus would answer, "They can’t help it. They can’t not". Greil Marcus has been writing about music, art, movies, culture, America, ideas and much more for a very long time. In What Nails It, Marcus has created a book that is part memoir, part confessional, part thank you, but all Greil Marcus.

The book starts with a man in flux, going from sure that his time had passed to being offered a job teaching in a position that he never thought he would have. This gave Marcus the time to think, to discuss events and ideas with people, honing his skills in something that he didn't even know existed. Until Marcus found it. Marcus was making a little bit of money writing reviews for the Rolling Stone, and Marcus after bad mouthing the reviews section was given a job overseeing it. This again taught him much, until the violence of Altamont became to real, and he moved on. As time moved on so did his ideas of writing. A childhood of not knowing his father, who died 6 months before Marcus was born, had taught him that history was important, even if it had to be changed. This gap in his life inspired him to write about the lost stories, the meanings of songs, and lost bits of Americana. Reading Pauline Kael, the movie critic who wrote eventually for the The New Yorker taught Marcus about criticism, and how to write it. To feel the art, and not approach it from a mental place, but a more visceral place.

I have long enjoyed Greil Marcus and his writing, but I think I might enjoy this most of all. There is both an intimacy, and a lot of practical writing, techniques that will speak to many writers. The writing is very good, brisk and sure, but tells a full story, and an inspiring story at that. Reading about him finding out about the death of his father is pretty brutal. And yet beautiful. One can see that spending one's life with few people sharing information about one's own father, and his death, not in war, but because of two commander's vanity, would effect a person. Make one not content with the story shared, but the story that really happened. And that one would go deep to find it.

I enjoyed this book quite a lot. I have read a lot of the author's works and have enjoyed them, and the writing also. This though was not only enjoyable but inspiring. Recommended for writers who need a boost, or for writers who want to know why they can't stop thinking of words, situations, or ways to discuss the beauty they still see in the world.

I spent longer unsuccessfully trying to get the epub to open in ADE than I did reading the book, but fortunately “What Nails It” is compelling even on a two-by-four-inch screen, turned sideways. I only wish it had another few chapters! Somehow I’ve never heard of Greil Marcus, although I wouldn’t be surprised if I’ve read him at some point, maybe long ago when I wanted to be a theater critic before realizing the few papers still publishing reviews in the late 90s thought plot summaries were criticism. Now I want to read everything he ever wrote, plus look into Pauline Kael and reread “The Great Gatsby.”

This is not a technical book, but it covers some of the most important principles of writing. “What Nails It” answers the question of why Marcus writes, why any writer writes, while reminding the reader there is no answer other than imperative—and freedom. Read while taking a break from writing, more than once I was moved to the point of feeling compelled to get back to my own writing but lacked the capacity to stop reading. The real joy in Marcus’s stories of why he writes (and why criticism matters) was how sentence by sentence he brought forth my own memories, my own reasons for being who I am and needing “to discover what I want to say and how to say it—and the nerve to say it.”

Thank you to the publisher, Yale University Press, and NetGalley for the privilege of reading this eBook. I highly recommend “What Nails It” to writers, readers, and anyone with opinions about books, movies, or music.