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‘So what kind of a writer am I, reduced to writing a summary of a film?’ wonders Geoff Dyer half way through Zona Such casual questions of ‘kind’ are in fact germane to his enterprise For, as he follows Tarkovsky’s Stalker, itself an unorthodox masterpiece, Dyer is discreetly redefining his own genre Zona poses an alternative model for the academic essay   Dyer identifies himself as one of those writers ‘for whom commentary is absolutely central to their own creative project’ A relatively non-specific type, with an only slightly more specific duty: ‘not to judge objectively or critically assess works of art, but to articulate [his] feelings about them with as much precision as possible’ However, his literary role becomes increasingly pronounced as he continues the book, raising many questions along the way What is the difference between critic, commentator and essayist? What distinguishes a private consideration from a scholarly treatise? And, of course, why might any of this matter?   These questions of definition converge on the value of genre, important insofar as it defines the dialogic context within which we relate to an artwork By effectively inventing his own critical genre, Dyer makes a case for style trumping taxonomy, celebrating intellectual freedom over school of thought Writing as both specialist and everyman, he cultivates from a rugged individualism a surprisingly inclusive academic form that does much to liberate critical theory in artistic appreciation from its historic ivory tower   Zona maintains a dialogue with Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker, a story of three men (Stalker, Writer and Professor) on a quest from which Dyer, true to the exploratory cause, often strays It is a composite of errant paths, superficially streamlined by the equally superficial chronology of the film Dyer reaches no conclusions and his tangents demonstratively debunk the mythology of singular, rational sense that leads so much rhetoric The book’s creed could be Donne’s celebrated counsel:   On a huge hill Cragged and steep, Truth stands, and he that will Reach her, about must and about must go   A belief in the indirection of truth and, accordingly, the virtue of wandering is