“Vivid, straightforward . . . Nourished by so much that is old, Quignard’s prose style and his very conception of writing are new . . . [An] invigorating book . . . After reading these pages bristling with ideas and insights, one cannot help but listen to music differently.”—John Taylor, Arts Fuse
~John Taylor, Arts Fuse
“I love music, but I like to hear both sides of an argument, so I picked up Pascal Quignard’s The Hatred of Music . . . I can’t deny the depth of his thinking, to say nothing of his gift for aphorism . . . As a kind of lyrical discourse on how we hear, The Hatred of Music belongs on the shelf next to Hillel Schwartz’s Making Noise.”—Dan Piepenbring, Paris Review (“Staff Picks”)
~Dan Piepenbring, Paris Review
“Ultimately, The Hatred of Music is an appeal for the contemplation of silence. Despite its pique, the text teems with insights into our attention to sound.”—Ron Slate, On the Seawall
~Ron Slate, On the Seawall
“[An] erudite diatribe”—Hal Foster, Bookforum
~Hal Foster, Bookforum
“Quignard’s slender, unnerving volume is quite different in tone from the sober academic books on the theme of music and violence. It hovers in a peculiarly French space between philosophy and fiction, and goes on mysterious lyrical flights, animating scenes from history and myth. . . . [Quignard] wrote ‘The Hatred of Music’ as a cri de cœur.”—Alex Ross, New Yorker
~Alex Ross, New Yorker
“A masterpiece of renunciation”—Ben Lerner, Artforum
~Ben Lerner, Artforum
“Just about any reader will be perversely thrilled by the intersections Quignard unearths between the mind and the world of sound.”—Jeanne Bonner, Three Percent
~Jeanne Bonner, Three Percent
