SOURCE: “Under Constraints,” in Times Literary Supplement, April 24, 1987, p. 449.

In the following review of Ways of Telling, Cooke concludes that Dyer's account of John Berger's life is “a lively introduction but not a definitive critical study.”

Geoff Dyer's claim [in Ways of Telling] that John Berger has been “the brightest figure in British intellectual life” over the past twenty-five years has the effect of bringing the reader up short. Intrigued, incredulous, provoked, one waits to see how the author will plead his case—but in vain. Rather than arguing closely, and with reference to British cultural life of the past quarter-century, Dyer merely surveys Berger's career, discussing in detail and chronological sequence each of his major works. Ultimately, Dyer's case seems to rest as much on the diversity of Berger's activity—as art critic, novelist, poet, film-maker—as on the originality or profundity of his thought.

In consequence...