Biography: writers Books

Book SynopsisCelebrating the centenary of the birth of James Baldwin with this wide-ranging volume of short essays, reflections and poetry. This moving collection demonstrates the significant legacy of the writer and activist who spoke truth to power during the era of the fight for Black civil liberties in the US, and after.

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Book SynopsisIn 1903, after a fire completely destroyed her family home in Norfolk, UK, the 27- year-old Constance helped her mother redesign their house and recreate the garden. It was an experience from which she never looked back, going on to become an internationally recognised garden expert and connoisseur. A rich woman herself, she was attracted to the most spectacular and extravagant gardens in the world. From Shalimar Bagh, Lahore, to Nishat Bagh, Srinagar, to La Granja near Madrid, Constance earned her reputation studying Mughal and Moorish gardens as well as those in Great Britain, France, Italy and northern Europe. Between 1910 and 1955 she wrote about them, painted and photographed them and lectured on them. She produced two successful illustrated books, and numerous articles for magazines, including Country Life, Vogue, The Burlington Magazine, Harpers Bazaar, and The Times. When she died in 1966, she left paintings, photographs, diaries, press cuttings and scrapbooks to her grandchildren. It is upon this fascinating and hitherto unseen archive of memorabilia that Constance Villiers Stuart: In Pursuit of Paradise is based.

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Book SynopsisAllen Curnow (1911–2001) is widely recognised as one of the most distinguished poets writing in English in the second half of the twentieth century. From Valley of Decision (1933) to The Bells of Saint Babel's (2001) he defined and redefined how poetry might discover the possibilities of a world seen afresh. Through relationships with writers from Dylan Thomas to C. K. Stead he influenced the changing shape of modern poetry. And in criticism and anthologies like the Penguin Book of New Zealand Verse he helped identify the distinctive imaginative preoccupations that made New Zealand's writing and culture different from elsewhere. By the time of his death at the age of ninety, he had completed a body of work unique in this country and increasingly recognised internationally. This major biography introduces readers to Allen Curnow's life and work: from a childhood in a Christchurch vicarage, through theological training, journalism and university life, marriages and children, and on to an international career as a writer of poetry, plays, satire and criticism. The book lucidly identifies the shifting textures of Curnow's writing and unravels the intersections between life and words. The result of over a decade's research and writing, Simply by Sailing in a New Direction offers deep insight into the development of New Zealand literature and culture.

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Book SynopsisIn the first posthumous monograph on Ryszard Kapuściński’s life and work, Beata Nowacka and Zygmunt Ziątek confront the mixed reception of the writer’s use of the Polish concept of literary reportage, located on the border between journalism and artistic prose, and identify this tension as the driving force behind Kapuściński’s legacy.Trade Review“An exceedingly subtle, richly empathetic, and methodically thoroughgoing work, Ryszard Kapuściński succeeds in painting an engrossing portrait of a man who, as the authors claim, was protean and extraordinarily difficult to pin down. In so doing they demystify his status as a modern Herodotus – an impression that is enhanced by Lindsay Davidson’s virtuoso translation. This work, offering glimpses into Kapuściński’s life in a periodization that follows the trajectories of his reportage, is a true page turner.” George Gasyna, University of Illinois and author of Polish, Hybrid, and Otherwise: Exilic Discourse in Joseph Conrad and Witold Gombrowicz“This artistic biography of the renowned Polish poet, writer, and journalist was inspired by his oeuvre. To signal their reliance on Kapuściński’s creative output, which is historical as well as personal, Nowacka and Ziątek use quotes from relevant works as titles of the book's chapters. The idea is to demonstrate the simultaneity of the processes of the deepening and broadening of Kapuściński’s explorations of the world and his inner self. Highly recommended.” Choice

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Book SynopsisAndrzej Franaszek’s award-winning biography of Czeslaw Milosz—winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature—recounts the poet’s odyssey through WWI, the Bolshevik revolution, the Nazi invasion of Poland, and the USSR’s postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. This edition contains a new introduction by the translators, along with maps and a chronology.Trade ReviewCzeslaw Milosz was one of the great poets of the twentieth century. He lived through many of its terrors, its spiritual agonies, and the fierce intellectual combat about its meaning, and there is something heroic about the intensity of his desire to name what he saw and make sense of it. Andrzej Franaszek has mastered Milosz’s wide-ranging poetry and prose and deployed them to create a vivid, richly textured portrait of the man, his art and his era. For anyone who wants to understand Milosz’s work, perhaps for anyone who wants to understand the European twentieth century and its terrible violence, this is an essential book and it is a spellbinding read. -- Robert HassFranaszek’s outstanding biography of Czeslaw Milosz narrates one of the great lives of the twentieth century, and does not shy away from recounting the more private side of the poet’s loves, moods, victories, and defeats. Milosz was an artist who was also a political thinker, who stood in the center of the ideological debates of his time, who was an incredibly industrious writer and on top of all this had a sublime gift for poetry. One of the finest literary critics of his generation in Poland, Franaszek is well suited to his subject. A triumph. -- Adam ZagajewskiIt took Franaszek ten years to compose this life of Miłosz, and Aleksandra and Michael Parker another six to translate it. The result is a classic of the genre: a biography based on interviews and exhaustive documentary research. It is tolerant, perceptive, beautifully written and utterly objective. It is also an effective critical study, containing generous excerpts of Miłosz’s writing that make it almost an anthology of his poetry and essays… Miłosz’s poetry is, on its own, sufficient inducement to learn Polish, and so is this magnificent and, on the whole, sensitively translated biography of a very great poet. -- Donald Rayfield * Literary Review *In a time of great distress worldwide over race, religion, migration, war—and fake news—a truth-teller’s voice should be re-heard. -- Sudipta Datta * The Hindu *The story it tells, with sympathy and perception, is of great interest. -- Lucy Beckett * The Tablet *Franaszek, with exquisite balance, blends Milosz’s life story with his intellectual and aesthetic journey, enriching both with perfectly chosen fragments from his poetry and other writings…In Milosz’s life, so well illustrated by Franaszek, poetry’s confrontation with history converged with the poet’s engagement, sometimes mystical, with humankind’s most basic values. -- Robert Legvold * Foreign Affairs *An immersive narrative, one that lends Milosz’s poems a new depth of perspective…This scholarly portrait of a poet who was both conscientious witness and child-like mystic has been skillfully rendered for English readers…Above all, it is a book that brings history down to a human scale. -- Jeremy Noel-Tod * Sunday Times *[A] magnificent biography…Miłosz: A Biography will reframe our picture of the poet in a way that will last—devastatingly human, flawed, ferociously strong-willed, living with a daemon that never left him, even into his nineties. -- Cynthia Haven * Times Literary Supplement *Franaszek’s intelligent and comprehensive biography should be read in conjunction with Milosz’s New and Collected Poems: 1931­­–2001…Together they provide a detailed and at times startling portrait, not only of one of the most fascinating and significant poets of the past hundred years, but of what it was like to be alive, curious, politically engaged and spiritually conflicted in the 20th century. -- Troy Jollimore * Washington Post *[A] richly detailed, dramatic, and melancholy book. -- Adam Kirsch * New Yorker *Impeccably researched…Makes for highly compelling reading. -- Graham Hillard * National Review *An enthralling account of the poet’s work as well as the events he endured to create it…Franaszek’s meticulously researched account of the two decades bookending Milosz’s 1951 defection to the West is particularly revelatory. -- Micah Mattix * Wall Street Journal *[An] excellent full-length biography...Franaszek’s work moves gracefully between the events in Milosz’s life and his obsessive writing about it. Along with historical maps, its chronology enables us to pinpoint the fateful intersection between Milosz’s experience and historic events, showing a poet who was determined both to embody and to transcend his own historical circumstances, who longed to liberate himself from the times that entangled him…One comes away from this biography with a fuller sense of Milosz’s struggles and his complexity. -- Edward Hirsch * New Republic *Now at last we have a biography of Miłosz…Andrzej Franaszek’s book provides an admirably clear account of Miłosz’s long and troubled life…Franaszek captures this life in all its complexity and darkness. -- David Herman * New Statesman *[A] compelling, well-written biography. -- Diane Scharper * National Catholic Reporter *Replete with poetry and prose quotes from the work of this 1980 Polish Nobelist, Franaszek’s judiciously abridged, superbly translated biography of Czesław Miłosz (1911–2004) reads like a fascinating historical novel…[A] monumental biography…Detailed references translated from the original make this biography required reading. -- D. Hutchins * Choice *[A] masterful biography of Czesław Miłosz…Franaszek does an excellent job of dramatizing Miłosz’s oscillation between belief and unbelief. -- Maria Rybakova * Los Angeles Review of Books *This is a formidable book. -- David Pryce-Jones * New Criterion *Franaszek’s biography recommends itself and confirms the stature of Miłosz as an extraordinary figure. -- Charles Simic * New York Review of Books *

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Perspectives on life and literature from one of Israel’s most celebrated authors. . . . Oz lyrically addresses such topics as his motivations as a writer, writing process, views on sexuality, decades on a kibbutz, and the ways in which his writing changed from early successes to later works. . . . Memorable viewpoints guaranteed to evoke strong feelings." * Kirkus Reviews *"Among the most memorable commentary is on the writer’s craft. . . . For [Oz’s] fans. . . this works as a quick fix." * Publishers Weekly *"[A] wonderful little book."---Robert Siegel, Moment Magazine

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"A New Yorker Best Book We've Read This Year""An elegant and useful rumination on resilience as a practice, achievable through study, creation, companionship, and deep reflection." * New Yorker *"A concise exploration of how three major 19th-century thinkers overcame the experience of personal tragedy. . . . Three Roads Back is Richardson’s legacy condensed, his grace note to posterity, the massive effort behind his three great books . . . refracted in the shimmering prism of a hundred pages of perfectly polished prose. . . . [A] lovely, uplifting book."---Christoph Irmscher, Wall Street Journal"[An] extraordinarily cogent and exquisitely concise exploration of the life-affecting course of early grief."---Diane Cole, Washington Post"[A] profound volume. . . . [Richardson] suggests that [Emerson, Thoreau, and James’s] responses to loss can help guide modern-day readers who are navigating bereavement themselves. . . . [An] elegant and affecting book."---Barbara Spindel, Christian Science Monitor"[A] slim but profoundly affecting volume." * Christian Science Monitor *"A book worth savoring, especially if you’re grappling with grief and loss. . . . [a] beautifully authentic book. . . . Richardson is an excellent guide."---Emily Blackshear, Brooklyn Rail"Stimulating. . . . [Three Roads Back is] a moving, candid group portrait. Fans and students of American literature will find this worth picking up." * Publishers Weekly *"[A] remarkably rich study. . . . [Richardson] expertly frames the emotional and intellectual lives of these three significant artistic figures and demonstrates the relevance, for anyone, of what they accomplished in their profound negotiations with loss. . . . A stirring and keenly perceptive examination of bereavement and recovery." * Kirkus Reviews starred review *"[A] moving study."---Gordon Fraser, Times Literary Supplement"Three Roads Back [is Richardson’s] final gift to the world."---Paul Krause, University Bookman"The effect of this little volume, which looks hardly more than a pamphlet, is wholly out of proportion to its modest dimensions. . . . Three Roads Back is not only a consideration of the thought and actions of a group of singular historical figures: it is also a treatise for our time."---John Banville, New York Review of Books

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Book SynopsisTwain scholar Michael Kiskis opens this fascinating new exploration of Twain with the observation that most readers have no idea that Samuel Clemens was the father of four and that he lived through the deaths of three of his children as well as his wife. In Mark Twain at Home: How Family Shaped Twain's Fiction, Kiskis persuasively argues that not only was Mark Twain not, as many believe, antidomestic, but rather the home and family were the muse and core message of his writing. Mark Twain was the child of a loveless marriage and a homelife over which hovered the constant specter of violence. Informed by his difficult childhood, orthodox readings of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn frame these canonical literary figures as nostalgicautobiographical fables of heroic individualists slipping the bonds of domestic life. Kiskis, however, presents a wealth of biographical details about Samuel Clemens and his family that reinterpret Twain's work as a robust a

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Book SynopsisIn The Perraults, Oded Rabinovitch takes the fascinating eponymous literary and scientific family as an entry point into the complex and rapidly changing world of early modern France. Today, the Perraults are best remembered for their canonical fairy tales, such as Cinderella and Puss in Boots, most often attributed to Charles Perrault, one of the brothers. While the writing of fairy tales may seem a frivolous enterprise, it was, in fact, linked to the cultural revolution of the seventeenth century, which paved the way for the scientific revolution, the rise of national literatures, and the early Enlightenment. Rabinovitch argues that kinship networks played a crucial, yet unexamined, role in shaping the cultural and intellectual ferment of the day, which in turn shaped kinship and the social history of the family.Through skillful reconstruction of the Perraults' careers and networks, Rabinovitch portrays the world of letters as a means of social mobility. He complicatTrade Review[Rabinovitch's] Examination of the Perrault family provides the means to gain a deeper understanding of notions of authorship, the role of the royal court, and family power dynamics. * Choice *Watching the progress of the Perraults as it is described here is fascinating. With considerable economy but with much significant detail, the author has rebuilt the web of networks that made a remarkable literary family. The astute use of documents is a strong point of the book, along with Rabinovitch's imaginative use of fairy tales to support his cogent argument about the pervasive importance of kinship. * H-France *Oded Rabinovitch shows here, perhaps better than anyone before him, the complexities and importance of kinship in seventeenth-century France. * H-France Review *This is a remarkable book: beautifully written, deeply learned, extensively researched and documented, it is packed with fresh insights that change our understanding of intellectual production and social history in the early modern world. * European History Quarterly *The Perraults is a dense, subtle, and ambitious book, which should be of interest to all students of 'letters' (in the broadest sense) in ancien régime France. * American Historical Review *One of the marks of an innovative and successful monograph is that not only do we think about a familiar subject in an altogether new way when we put it down, we wonder how its insights had not appeared obvious to us before. Oded Rabinovitch's new book does precisely this, offering a stimulating model for future research into literary and scientific life in the early modern period. * The Journal of Modern History *[A] major study, offering an excellent model of how to combine historical and literary research by situating literary production in precise political and social contexts. * History *An excellent analysis of one family's fortunes that connects Paris with Versailles and the countryside as well as a variety of cultural fields including literature, science, architecture, and finance. * Sixteenth Century Journal *Table of ContentsList of Figures Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Cast of Characters Introduction 1. Representing a Family of Letters: Images of Authorship (1650–1750) 2. Finance and Mobility: Pierre Ascendant (1600–1660) 3. The Perraults in the Countryside: Viry and Literary Sociability (1650–1680) 4. Failure in Finance and the Rise of Charles Perrault (1660–1680) 5. The Perraults and Versailles: Mediating Grandeur (1660–1700) 6. Claude Perrault and the Mechanics of Animals: Family and Scientific Institutions (1660–1690) Epilogue (1690–1730) Appendix Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisA revelatory look at how poet Allen Ginsberg transformed experiences of mental illness and madness into some of the most powerful and widely read poems of the twentieth century. Allen Ginsberg’s 1956 poem “Howl” opens with one of the most resonant phrases in modern poetry: “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness.” Thirty years later, Ginsberg entrusted a Columbia University medical student with materials not shared with anyone else, including psychiatric records that documented how he and his mother, Naomi Ginsberg, struggled with mental illness. In Best Minds, psychiatrist, researcher, and scholar Stevan M. Weine, M.D., who was that medical student, examines how Allen Ginsberg took his visions and psychiatric hospitalization, his mother’s devastating illness, confinement, and lobotomy, and the social upheavals of the postwar world and imaginatively transformed them. Though madness is often linked with hardship and suffering, Ginsberg’s showed how it could also lead to profound and redemptive aesthetic, spiritual, and social changes. Through his revolutionary poetry and social advocacy, Ginsberg dedicated himself to leading others toward new ways of being human and easing pain. Throughout his celebrated career Ginsberg made us feel as though we knew everything there was to know about him. However, much has been left out about his experiences growing up with a mentally ill mother, his visions, and his psychiatric hospitalization. In Best Minds, with a forty-year career studying and addressing trauma, Weine provides a groundbreaking exploration of the poet and his creative process especially in relation to madness. Best Minds examines the complex relationships between mental illness, psychiatry, trauma, poetry, and prophecy—using the access Ginsberg generously shared to offer new, lively, and indispensable insights into an American icon. Weine also provides new understandings of the paternalism, treatment failures, ethical lapses, and limitations of American psychiatry in the 1940s and 1950s. In light of these new discoveries, the challenges Ginsberg faced appear starker and his achievements, both as a poet and an advocate, even more remarkable.Table of ContentsPrologue | vii 1 Death and Madness, 1997–1998 | 1 2 An Unspeakable Act, 1986–1987 | 14 3 Refrain of the Hospitals and the New Vision, 1943–1948 | 32 4 The Actuality of Prophecy, 1948–1949 | 63 5 The Psychiatric Institute, 1949–1950 | 89 6 Mental Muse-eries, 1950–1955 | 135 7 Gold Blast of Light, 1956–1959 | 163 8 A Light Raying through Society, 1959–1965 | 204 9 White and Black Shrouds, 1987 | 227 Epilogue | 237 Acknowledgments | 251 Notes | 253 Index | 271

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Book SynopsisThe poet William Waring Cuney (1906-1976) hails from an illustrious Afro-Texan family whose members include the charismatic politician Norris Wright Cuney (1846-1898) and his daughter, Maud Cuney Hare (1874-1936),the concert pianist and writer. Waring Cuney's maternal line, after whom he was named, was equally eminent.Cuney was born and raised in Washington D.C., just a few blocks from Howard University where three generations of his family studied. Despite his privileged upbringing among the city's Black elite, Cuney embraced his family's passionate commitment to racial uplift and civil rights; in exploring the relationship between African Americans and their environment, he was thus able to transmute into two books of poetry a broad cross section of African American life; his poems and songs explore the lives of jazz musicians, athletes, domestic and railway workers, women and children, blues singers, prisoners, sharecroppers, and soldiers. In addition, Cuney published in all the major Harlem Renaissance journals and anthologies alongside the luminaries of the period, many of whom were good friends.Through 100 of his best poems, many never collected or published, and a detailed biographical monograph, Images in the River: The Life and Work of Waring Cuney introduces readers to a newly recovered Harlem Renaissance poet, and to the history of a remarkable American family.

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Book SynopsisExperiences of twentieth century history and major literary trends are reflected in the excellent but little-known writings of the Austrian-Czech physician and novelist Ernst Weiss (1882-1940). Weiss was born in Moravia and studied medicine, in Vienna and Prague. One of many of Jewish exile writers who fled the Nazi regime, Weiss committed suicide in Paris when German troops entered the city in the Summer of 1940. Weiss wrote one of the few novels about Adolf Hitler during the Fuehrer's life. This work, using an eye doctor as narrator, was an experimental tour de force. His next novel, the "Expressionist" masterpiece, Nahar, was about a female tiger who had once been human. His fiction merges influences of "Expressionism", his own medical background, literary interactions with his friends Joseph Roth, Joseph Brod and Franz Kafka, as well as a Freudian emphasis on human drives, obsessions and compulsions. This is the first comprehensive assessment in English of the life and legacy of an important, underrated voice from mid twentieth century Central Europe. Weiss had a wide body of friends and colleagues including Artur Schnitzler and Karl Kraus as well as Kafka, Brod and Roth. He was a pioneer in modern travel writing undertaken when he was a ship's doctor in the Pacific. His work is only now coming under serious reconsideration. This monograph includes a robust bibliography and index as well as samples of the author's oeuvre.

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Book Synopsis'In the first decade of the twentieth century, it was not a good time to be born black, or woman, in America.' So begins this stunning portrait of Vivian Baxter Johnson: the first black woman officer in the Merchant Marines, purveyor of a gambling business and rooming house, and mother to Maya Angelou, beloved and bestselling author I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS.'A brilliant writer, a fierce friend and a truly phenomenal woman' BARACK OBAMAAnyone who's read the classic, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, knows Maya Angelou was raised by her paternal grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. In Mom & Me & Mom, Angelou details what brought her mother to send her away and unearths the well of emotions Angelou experienced long afterward as a result. While Angelou's six autobiographies tell of her out in the world, influencing and learning from statesmen and cultural icons, Mom & Me & Mom shares the intimate, emotional story about her own family.'She moved through the world with unshakeable calm, confidence and a fierce grace . . . She will always be the rainbow in my clouds' OPRAH WINFREY 'She was important in so many ways. She launched African American women writing in the United States. She was generous to a fault. She had nineteen talents - used ten. And was a real original. There is no duplicate' TONI MORRISONTrade ReviewExtraordinary . . . a jaw-dropper of a memoir -- Viv Groskop * Red *A brilliant writer, a fierce friend and a truly phenomenal womanThe poems and stories she wrote . . . were gifts of wisdom and wit, courage and graceShe moved through the world with unshakeable calm, confidence and a fierce grace . . . She will always be the rainbow in my clouds -- Oprah WinfreyShe was important in so many ways. She launched African American women writing in the United States. She was generous to a fault. She had nineteen talents - used ten. And was a real original. There is no duplicate -- Toni Morrison

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Book SynopsisThe definitive critical study of Tolkien's greatest works by the respected and world renowned Tolkien scholar Professor T.A. Shippey.Following the unprecedented and universal acclaim for The Lord of the Rings, the respected academic and world-renowned Tolkien scholar, Professor Tom Shippey, presents us with a fascinating and informed companion to the world of J.R.R. Tolkien, in particular focusing on The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion.Written in a clear and accessible style, J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century reveals why all of these books will be timeless, and shows how even such complex works as The Silmarillion can be read enjoyably. Taking issue with the uninformed criticism that has often been levelled at Tolkien and fantasy in general, Professor Shippey offers a new approach to Tolkien, to fantasy and to the importance of language in literature, and demonstrates how his books form part of a live and continuing tradition of storytelling that can trace its Trade Review'Shippey's exploration of Tolkien's themes, especially the nature of evil, is superb' Independent 'A timely, erudite and eminently readable book' Evening Standard 'Shippey's research seems limitless. He writes with unusual clarity and presents his arguments well' Sunday Times 'Scholarly and thorough examination of Tolkien's work…a definitive study' Catholic Herald

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Book SynopsisA rich, provocative, and lyrical study of one of Germany’s most important, world-famous, and imaginative writerTrade Review“A portrait of the poet as a crusader for truth and beauty in a world where both were in short supply.”—Adam Kirsch, Wall Street Journal“Prochnik provides a jaunty narrative of Heine’s schooldays in Bonn and Göttingen, journalistic career in Berlin, and twenty-five-year exile in Paris, detailing his literary feuds, scraps with censors, and unwavering belief in political liberty.”—New Yorker“Prochnik gives ample space to Heine’s emotional life [and] Heine’s attitude to his Jewish heritage proves to be a rewarding topic. . . . It is impossible to read about Heine without thinking how wonderful it would have been to meet him.”—Jonathan Rée, Literary Review“It is a highly recommendable study . . . told beautifully by Prochnik, and the book is a fitting addition to Yale University Press’s Jewish Lives series.”—Andreas Hess, Society“George Prochnik draws the historical background of Heine’s life with care and powerfully evokes a Jewish life in 19th century Germany with all its complexities, frustrations, and contradictions. Prochnik’s scrupulous analysis of the artist’s prose and poems allows for a deep understanding of this brilliant and tormented man.”—Anka Muhlstein, author of The Pen and the Brush

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Book SynopsisTHE TOP TEN SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERLONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN''S PRIZE FOR NON-FICTIONSHORTLISTED FOR THE GORDON BURN PRIZE''A marvellous book . . . I just loved it all, and have a permanently marked-up, dog-eared copy on my shelf for the next generation'' Tom Hanks''Furious and fascinating'' The Times*****Looking for wonder and some reprieve from the everyday, Anna Funder slips into the pages of her hero George Orwell. As she watches him create his writing self, she tries to remember her own . . .When she uncovers his forgotten wife, it''s a revelation. Eileen O''Shaughnessy''s literary brilliance shaped Orwell''s work and her practical nous saved his life. But why - and how - was she written out of the story?Using newly discovered letters from Eileen to her best friend, Funder recreates the Orwells'' marriage, through the Spanish Civil War and WWII in London. As she rolls up the screenTrade ReviewA marvelous book . . . I just loved it all, and have a permanently marked-up, dog-eared copy on my shelf for the next generation. * Tom Hanks *Simply, a masterpiece. Here, Anna Funder not only re-makes the art of biography, she resurrects a woman in full. -- Geraldine Brooks, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for FictionTruly wonderful... Anna Funder has written another brilliant human portrait. -- Claire TomalinElectrifying... Daring in both form and content, Funder's book is a nuanced, sophisticated literary achievement * Kirkus *

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Book SynopsisFrom one of the great modern writers, the acclaimed lectures in which he draws on a lifetime of experience to take the measure of Shakespeare''s plays and sonnets W. H. Auden, poet and critic, will conduct a course on Shakespeare at the New School for Social Research beginning Wednesday. Mr. Auden . . . proposes to read all Shakespeare''s plays in chronological order. So the New York Times reported on September 27, 1946, giving notice of a rare opportunity to hear one of the century''s great poets discuss at length one of the greatest writers of all time. Reconstructed by Arthur Kirsch, these lectures offer remarkable insights into Shakespeare''s plays and sonnets while also adding immeasurably to our understanding of Auden.Trade Review"Auden's lectures on Shakespeare are a marvelous blend of steady, patient intelligence and stunning insight—spirited, free-thinking, resourceful, unintimidated, liberated from the air of treacly piety, and very, very intelligent."—Stephen Greenblatt"A remarkable achievement."—Frank Kermode, London Review of Books"The finest [book] by any English poet on the subject since (and I am not forgetting Coleridge) Dr. Johnson."—Lachlan MacKinnon, Daily Telegraph"In every way, Kirsch has produced a model of useful scholarship. . . . To know Auden's work well is to acquire a liberal education. These lectures on Shakespeare are a good place to start."—Michael Dirda, Washington Post Book World"For anyone who has ever resolved in vain to sit down and read right through Shakespeare, this at last is the volume to help fulfil that resolution. . . . [M]asterly."—Christopher Murray, Irish Times

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"In chapters on Poor Folk, The Double, The House of the Dead, Notes from Underground, Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, and The Brothers Karamazov, Frank distills his multivolume biography’s provocative and superbly argued readings. . . . The best approach, in Frank’s view, is first to locate Dostoevsky’s fiction and ideas within his immediate concerns, and only then proceed, from the ground up rather than from generalities down, to consider their broader implications. These lectures do that especially well."---Gary Saul Morson, New York Review of Books"The lectures are full of novel, authoritatively argued insights. Frank makes new connections and clears up previous misunderstandings"---Christina Karakepeli, Modern Languages Review

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Book SynopsisHunter S. Thompson was an American journalist who became a legendary icon for his antiestablishment and counter culture lifestyle. Known for his contribution to American political writing, he is best known for his book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which was later turned into a film staring Johnny Depp. Hunter lived a life that few can imagine and many have tried to emulate. Chloe Sells worked as a personal assistant for Hunter from 2003 until his death in 2005. This new book combines Sells’ photographs of Hunter’s home —documenting the interior, his possessions and handwritten notes—with landscape of Aspen, Colorado, and her recollections of her time spent working with him. Some of Sells’ hand-printed photographs have been overlaid with traditional marbling techniques from Italy and Japan, to create a psychedelic ride through the home of one of the most brilliant writers of our time. ‘Officially, I was a personal assistant. Unofficially, I did anything and everything that needed doing. One night, Hunter beckoned me to his chair in the kitchen and said, ‘So, you say you’re a photographer. Well, Taschen is doing a book of my photographs,’ followed by a mocking ‘Ha, Ha.’ I didn’t mind; Hunter was Hunter. A moment later his face changed, and, looking sheepish and sorry for bullying his young assistant, he began to explain that almost his whole life had been documented—except for his home—the ramshackle, remarkable creative heartland that was Owl Farm. It needed to be visually archived, he said to me, and it was mine to photograph if I liked.’

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Book SynopsisMakes an excellent case for Parrott as an unjustly forgotten historical figure.TheNew YorkerRemind[s] us of the brazenly talented women sidelined by convention.New York Times The riveting biography of Ursula Parrottbest-selling author, Hollywood screenwriter, and voice for the modern woman. Credited with popularizing the label ex-wife in 1929, Ursula Parrott wrote provocatively about divorcées, career women, single mothers, work-life balance, and a host of new challenges facing modern women. Her best sellers, Hollywood film deals, marriages and divorces, and run-ins with the law made her a household name. Part biography, part cultural history, Becoming the Ex-Wife establishes Parrott's rightful place in twentieth-century American culture, uncovering her neglected work and keen insights into American women's lives during a period of immense social change. Although she was frequently dismissed as a woman's writer, reading Parrott's writing today makes it clear that she was a trenchant philosopher of modernityher work was prescient, anticipating issues not widely raised until decades after her decline into obscurity. With elegant wit and a deft command of the archive, Marsha Gordon tells a timely story about the life of a woman on the front lines of a culture war that is still raging today.Trade Review"As Marsha Gordon argues in her engaging new biography, Becoming the Ex-Wife, the novel 'offers a strong case for the protections of marriage and the dangers of being an unattached woman.' . . . In her biography, Gordon makes an excellent case for Parrott as an unjustly forgotten historical figure: a sociological flash point, a beneficiary of feminism and victim of patriarchy who got her enemies mixed up." * The New Yorker *“Why did a once-transfixed reading public turn away, and why is Parrott so often now eliminated from a pantheon of popular urban “working girl” writers that includes Helen Gurley Brown, Candace Bushnell, Nora Ephron, Dorothy Parker and, perhaps most comparably, Jacqueline Susann? . . . A reissue of Ursula Parrott’s racy novel “Ex-Wife,” and a new biography of its author, remind us of the brazenly talented women sidelined by convention. . . . [Gordon] surfaces plenty of colorful period detail: passport photos of everyone looking mussed and truculent in that Jazz Age way; correspondence from exasperated agents, editors and lovers; even an adorable 'mapback' version marked with key locations in 'Ex-Wife.'” * The New York Times *“[V]igorous, entertaining, and well-researched . . . [Gordon’s] biography salvages and reconstructs Parrott’s many remains, rescuing an important American voice and cultural figure from near oblivion. . . . The result is a clear, full, yet unlabored portrait of Parrott, written in agile, accessible prose. Gordon’s tone is warm but unsentimental (as was Parrott herself), occasionally displaying a subtle and welcome bit of cheek or zing befitting her subject." * Los Angeles Review of Books *“[R]igorous . . . an enlightening companion to the novel" * The Baffler *"Marsha Gordon’s Becoming the Ex-Wife: The Unconventional Life and Forgotten Writings of Ursula Parrott is a thoroughly researched, sympathetic, but not uncritical portrait of a woman who achieved exceptional commercial success as a writer and who was, for a while, 'the most famous divorcée in the United States.'" -- Joyce Carol Oates * The New York Review of Books *"Gordon’s biography . . . is good on Parrott’s significance for an understanding of American life – and women’s lives, in particular – in the interwar period, with its glancing insights into alcoholism and abortion. Keenly supported by examples from the writings, Gordon also shows how her subject’s life was often too strange for any kind of fiction." * Times Literary Supplement *"Parrott led a scandalous, glamorous, sometimes lonely life in the public eye, and Gordon, professor and director of the film studies program at North Carolina State University, has done the world a great service by bringing her back into the spotlight." * Washington City Paper *"In Becoming the Ex-Wife, Marsha Gordon sheds welcome light on this remarkable and troubled writer, who knew too well how hard it was to be a modern woman who wanted sexual freedom and a career of her own choosing. In this well-researched and fascinating biography, Parrott emerges as a star who should be remembered alongside Jazz Age icons like Dorothy Parker and the Fitzgeralds.” * Newcity Lit *"[O]ffers an in-depth look at Parrott’s complicated and sometimes scandalous life." * Walter Magazine *"Parrott is forgotten and Faulkner is famous. This is so much more than a matter of quality, which is why we need biography. . . . Marsha Gordon makes a compelling case for Parrott’s artistry and continuing relevance. . . . Ms. Gordon does something else that is quite shrewd: She has a concluding chapter, after Parrott has died, which concentrates on her subject’s literary legacy. The story of Parrott’s life is over, but her writing lives on, even if we don’t yet know it." * The New York Sun *"Marsha Gordon’s new biography of the best-selling author Ursula Parrott, Becoming the Ex-Wife, rescues this important author’s life from obscurity, . . . Both Gordon’s biography, and the 2023 publication of a McNally Edition of Parrott’s 1929 novel Ex-Wife have garnered a lot of well-deserved attention. . . . In Becoming the Ex-Wife, it is clear Gordon mined all the archives and saved what she could of this fascinating and accomplished woman’s life from obscurity.” * Biblio *"There are certain books which catch you completely by surprise. Marsha Gordon’s Becoming the Ex-Wife is one of those books. . . . Gordon does an excellent job of telling Parrott’s story because she balances her admiration with the right amount of critical eye. . . . If you can accept that a human can be both good and bad in various measures while finding their life story interesting, then you will enjoy this book immensely.” * History Nerds United *"Gordon’s biography . . . is good on Parrott’s significance for an understanding of American life – and women’s lives, in particular – in the interwar period, with its glancing insights into alcoholism and abortion. Keenly supported by examples from the writings, Gordon also shows how her subject’s life was often too strange for any kind of fiction." * Times Literary Supplement *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations A Note on Name Usage Introduction: "Maxims in the Copybook of Modernism" 1 • The Limited Life of a Dorchester Girl 2 • At Radcliffe: "A Pushy Lace-Curtain Irish Girl from Dorchester" 3 • First Husband, Lindesay Parrott: "Strange Moments of Tenderness and Pretty Constant Dislike" 4 • Modern Parenting 5 • Greenwich Village: The Path to Becoming a "Self-Sufficient, Independent, Successful Manager of Her Own Life" 6 • Hugh O’Connor: High Felicity on the "Road of No Rules" 7 • New Freedoms in the "Era of the One-Night Stand": The Ex-Wife Is Born 8 • Ursula Goes to Hollywood 9 • Second Husband, Charles Greenwood: "The Stupidest Thing I Ever Did in My Life" 10 • "Extravagant Hell" 11 • The Business of Being a Writer 12 • Third Husband, John Wildberg: The Faint Resemblance of Stability 13 • "The Monotony and Weariness of Living" 14 • Fourth Husband, Alfred Coster Schermerhorn: "Two Catastrophes Should Be Enough" 15 • Saving Private Bryan: The United States vs. Ursula Parrott 16 • Her "Breaks Went Bad" 17 • "Black Coffee, Scotch, and Excitement" Afterword: Remembering a "Leftover Lady" Acknowledgments Chronology Notes Published Writings of Ursula Parrott Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisKahlil Gibran’s bestselling poetic masterpiece, The Prophet, originally published in 1923, continues to inspire millions worldwide with its timeless words of love and mystical longing. Yet Gibran’s genius went much further than this, to produce over twenty literary works, in both English and Arabic, as well as over 500 works of art, all characterized by an otherworldly beauty. Going beyond the many myths that surround Gibran, this incisive biography charts his colourful life, his dramatic love affairs, and his artistic achievements, to present a fascinating and unique portrait of this remarkable man.Trade Review"If you enjoy Gibran’s style, you will relish that of Bushrui and Jenkins." * The Daily Telegraph *"Breaks new ground" * The New York Times *Table of ContentsBeginnings (1883-1895); the new world (1895-1898); returning to the roots (1898-1902); overcoming tragedy (1902-1908); the city of light (1908-1910); the poet-painter in search (1910-1914); the madman (1914-1920); a literary movement is born (1920); a strange little book (1921-1923); the master poet (1923-1928); the return of the wanderer (1929-1931).

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Book SynopsisIndia’s Rabindranath Tagore was the first Asian Nobel Laureate and possibly the most prolific and diverse serious writer ever known. The largest single volume of his work available in English, this collection includes poetry, songs, autobiographical works, letters, travel writings, prose, novels, short stories, humorous pieces, and plays.Trade ReviewThere have been a number of attempts, in the century since Yeats made [the] request, to give the English reader a fuller and more accurate sense of Rabindranath Tagore—through new translations, anthologies of his work, critical studies, and biographies. But The Essential Tagore, published to coincide with the hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary of Tagore’s birth, is the most substantial one yet. -- Adam Kirsch * New Yorker *It is the 150th anniversary of the birth of Rabindranath Tagore, the Indian poet, playwright, novelist, composer, choreographer, educator and philosopher. So I propose as book of the year the splendid new anthology The Essential Tagore, edited by Fakrul Alam and Radha Chakravarty, which contains an unparalleled selection of poems, plays, stories, letters and more, mostly in excellent up-to-date translations. Initially known in the West as a mystical poet, Tagore was among India’s most important social critics and thinkers; his depiction of the limits of women’s lives is especially acute. -- Martha Nussbaum * New Statesman *Tagore is one of the greatest literary figures of our time, who commands universal admiration from native readers of Bengali, but the excellence of whose work is difficult to preserve in translation. In rising to this challenge, the editors and translators of The Essential Tagore have done a splendid job of producing a beautiful volume of selections from Tagore’s vast body of writings. The book is also powerfully strengthened by an enjoyable and remarkably far-reaching foreword by Amit Chaudhuri. -- Amartya Sen[A] treasure trove… Imagine the task that was before the editors of The Essential Tagore. They have done a wonderful job, it is almost all gold. Here you can find some of the best of Tagore’s Chekhovian stories, as well as his stunningly various poems (many revitalised by Fakrul Alam’s translations), plus vivid extracts from the great novels, essays, letters, and travel writing. -- Barry Hill * The Australian *[While T. S.] Eliot is a major poet for a single era of one literary tradition, Tagore is the most important poet of all eras for an entire culture. It can be said without doubt that Tagore should be compared to the preeminent poets of all cultures: Greece’s Homer, Italy’s Virgil and Dante, Germany’s Goethe, England’s Shakespeare, and—though he is a novelist—Russia’s Tolstoy… The Essential Tagore is a publication for readers all over the world, for all times. -- Mohit Ul-Alam * Kali O Kalam *There have also been a number of anthologies of Tagore’s works translated into English over the years… As of this year, a new anthology of Tagore’s works in English edited by Fakrul Alam and Radha Chakravarty dwarfs all previous efforts… Because knowledge of Tagore has been so limited for so long, it’s especially welcome to see The Essential Tagore. The anthology contains many fresh translations of Tagore’s works, including some excellent contributions by Fakrul Alam himself, and I hope its availability will help to broaden perceptions about Tagore’s writing. -- Amardeep Singh * Open Letters Monthly *As the generously weighty and elegantly produced Essential Tagore from Harvard testifies, Tagore wrote in many diverse modes, and quite distinct aspects of his genius often come into play. -- Seamus Perry * Times Literary Supplement *This new anthology, edited by Fakrul Alam and Radha Chakravarty, is so welcome, because it starts the process of freeing Tagore for a contemporary audience. The first thing that strikes you about The Essential Tagore is the diversity of its subject’s talents: In a career that stretched over seventy-three years (he finished his first poem when he was seven, and was composing a story on his deathbed), Tagore wrote novels, plays, literary criticism, political essays on the iniquities of the British Raj, and descriptions of his travels in Persia and Japan. Yet it is to the poems that one turns immediately. The range is dizzying—Tagore composed devotional, patriotic, erotic, and nature verse—and is tackled here by a phalanx of gifted translators, including [Amit] Chaudhuri… [The Essential Tagore] reintroduces a great writer to the world. The most luminous discovery in this anthology is not any particular poem or essay but the cumulative evocation of the poet’s personality… The experience of living in today’s India—a country that is agrarian, industrializing, and postindustrial, all at once—still forces a multiplicity of viewpoints on the individual, and Tagore must have some claim to being the prototypical modern Indian. -- Aravind Adiga * Bookforum *

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Robbins continues to embody Zen coolness and bohemian charm." -- Booklist (starred review) "Robbins carries us along a magical wonder tour in this high-flying, Zen koan-like, and cinematic tour of some of the episodes in his journey through space and time. " -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) "[Readers] will enjoy this peek into the intelligently goofy and always fertile mind of this inventive writer... a fitting cap to a sui generis career, equally satisfying in short installments or read straight through." -- Kirkus Reviews "Memoir or not, the form suits Robbins's digressive style, philosophical musings, and self-deprecating humor. Each piece stands on its own, but when read side by side they develop into a powerful argument about magic and the necessity of imaginative, interior worlds." -- Library Journal (starred review) "Perhaps the only aspect more impressive than Robbins's ability to imbue a lifetime of interesting anecdotes with an additional layer of introspection is his trademark style [...]earthy and conversational yet simultaneously intellectual. Fans and newcomers alike will guffaw and marvel at this most extraordinary life -- Shelf Awareness "[Tibetan Peach Pie] bursts with enough joie de vivre to bewitch even the most present-shock-imprisoned 28-year-old and to snag the rest of us with Robbins' far-out, feel-good sensibility and trademark helical, world-happy prose." -- Elle "Tibetan Peach Pie is a late, welcome gift from a philosopher-novelist who continues to believe in the transformative qualities of 'novelty, beauty, mischief and mirth' - qualities apparent on every page of this lively, large-hearted book." -- Washington Post "Tibetan Peach Pie is a gift to his fans, the story of a man who had the sense to follow where his imagination led... How lucky for his readers that we got to tag along for the ride." -- Seattle Times "The author of such off-kilter bestsellers as Still Life with Woodpecker has written a rollicking reminiscence of his Appalachian upbringing, his spiral through the psychedelic '60s, and his unconventional path to literary stardom." -- O magazine "Beautiful... Robbins has never met a pun, a blissfully crooked analogy, a magician's bit of verbal trickery that he didn't love... He knows words the way a pool hustler knows chalk." -- NPR Books (Online Review) "As in his many novels, [Tibetan Peach Pie] is buoyed by a palpable sense of the fun Robbins is having with language, in all of its rhythmic and poetic possibilities." -- Biographile Biographile "Wacky, wonder-filled... The fiction master of our times, Thomas Pynchon, once called Robbins a brain-dazzling 'world-class storyteller.' Now in his 80s, he still is, even in telling his own story." -- USA Today (Online Review) "Hallucinatory and conversational... intertwined with many fun and interesting tales... This is what happens when you let Tom run." -- Slate "If you've read any of his quirky best-sellers, such as Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, you'll scarf down this account of Robbins' Appalachian childhood, his life on the wild, wonderful West Coast in the 1960's and his world travels." -- AARP Magazine "He's never lost that voice, and it's the star of this memoir." -- Tampa Bay Times "Robbins is king of the sidewinder simile, the mixologist's metaphor. No other popular writer of our time depends as he does on pure verbal dazzle, or delivers as reliably on the deal." -- Seattle Weekly "Haphazardly ricocheting-but without exception entertaining." -- Bookish.com "Robbins writes beautifully... In works of pure imagination, like his novels, his style suits the material... A damned satisfying trip to the moon." -- Santa Fe Pasa Tiempo "Charmingly offbeat... unconventionally literary. [Robbins] excels at compositional oddity, brandishing the creative and the humorous... [Tibetan Peach Pie] is an amusement park of allusions and madcap stories." -- Daily Californian "For the lover of words and wordplay, humor, and creative and high flying imagination, there is no contemporary writer any better." -- San Francisco Book Review "A perfect bookend to Tom Robbins' oeuvre, an opportunity to finally catch a glimpse behind this magician's curtain." -- About.com "At his best, Robbins writes prose that flows like he's having a blast putting it all down as fast as he can think it." -- Houston Chronicle "Tibetan Peach Pie is vintage Robbins. It's pyrotechnic in language, labyrinthine in logic, daunting in voice, threaded with his wonderfully esoteric wit... Authentically charming... profound. " -- Washington Independent Review of Books "Readers will enjoy immersing themselves in [Robbins'] adventuresome life, from his remarkably unsupervised childhood to his free and easy adulthood. Tibetan Peach Pie... is a welcome antidote to our current era of helicopter parenting and disciplined conformity and rules, rules, rules." -- Richmond Times-Dispatch "...haphazardly ricocheting--but without exception entertaining." -- Bookish "Fans of Tom Robbins, the person, the novelist, the introspective jokester and the gifted storyteller, will love this book. It truly is a gem." -- Portland Book Review

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Book SynopsisIn an era when we are constantly bombarded by technology and instant gratification is the norm, this work is a reminder of the wisdom to be found in books and proof of the all-encompassing power and delight of reading.Trade Review"The beauty of her project lies in seeing how books intertwine with daily life, how very much they affect our moods, interactions, and, especially important for Sankovitch, how we recover and process our memories...She makes reading seem accessible, relaxing, inspiring, fun." -- Los Angeles Times "Anyone who has ever sought refuge in literature will identify with Tolstoy and the Purple Chair." -- O, The Oprah Magazine "Sankovitch's memoir stands as a tribute to the power of books to enrich our daily lives." -- Christian Science Monitor "This graceful memoir describes a true love affair with books." -- Boston Globe "A beautifully fluid, reflective, and astute memoir that gracefully combines affecting family history with expert testimony about how books open our minds to 'the complexity and entirety of the human experience.' Sankovitch's reading list in all its dazzling variety is top-notch." -- Booklist "[Tolstoy and the Purple Chair] digs deep into that near-mystical connection between a reader and an author-that startling feeling that you are channeling someone you have never met...A gripping and inspiring book." -- Connecticut Post "What Sankovitch has accomplished in her first book is not only to celebrate the transformational, even healing, powers of reading, but to give the reader a feeling of reading those books as well, through the eyes of an astute reader." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "Her deeply moving memoir artfully intertwines her immigrant family's history with the universal themes of hope, resilience, and memory. Tolstoy and the Purple Chair celebrates not only the healing power of literature but its ability to connect us to the best of ourselves - and each other." -- American Way "[An] entertaining bibliophile's dream...Sankovitch's memoir speaks to the power that books can have over our daily lives. Sankovitch champions the act of reading not as an indulgence but as a necessity, and will make the perfect gift from one bookworm to another." -- Publishers Weekly "Nina Sankovitch has crafted a dazzling memoir that reminds us of the most primal function of literature-to heal, to nurture and to connect us to our truest selves." -- Thrity Umrigar, author of The Space Between us "In Tolstoy and the Purple Chair, her affectionate and inspiring paean to the power of books and reading, Sankovitch gracefully acknowledges that her year of reading was an escape into the healing sanctuary of books, where she learned how to move beyond recuperation to living." -- BookPage "Tolstoy and the Purple Chair will transport you to a time before texts and tweets. Through the stories of her own family, Nina Sankovitch shows how books have the power to refresh, renew, and even heal us. I loved this memoir." -- Julie Klam, author of You Had Me at Woof "Tolstoy and the Purple Chair is original, uplifting and very moving: a unique celebration of life, love and literature." -- S. J. Bolton, author of Now You See Me "[A] brilliant and heartwarming book." -- Ventura County Star "An original and touching...account of one woman's lifelong affinity for books and her attempt to channel that affinity to deal with her grief after her sister dies. Tolstoy and the Purple Chair is an understated but moving story about the effects of a 'year of magical reading.'" -- The Dartmouth "Tolstoy and the Purple Chair masterfully weaves beloved and sometimes surprising books into central events in the writer's life. There is much to learn from this moving book. Sankovitch writes with intelligence and honesty, leading us to respond in a similar manner." -- Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, author of One Amazing Thing "Tolstoy and the Purple Chair is a must-read for anyone who adores books. It is also a primer on the healing power of taking time off to grieve by immersing oneself in a revered activity." -- The Book Bully "Tolstoy and the Purple Chair is an absolutely lovely account of the healing power of literature." -- Devourer of Books "Sankovitch's account works well because she uses her reading list to jump off into topics that are tangential, yet intriguing and often important." -- Buffalo News "A beautifully paced look at how mindfulness can affect the psyche." -- Shelf Awareness (starred review) "[Tolstoy and the Purple Chair] offers timeless wisdom, is uplifting and has a powerful message." -- PsychCentral.com "She is adept at stitching together musings about the books she is reading with memory and narrative from her own life." -- The Christian Century "What is best in Tolstoy and the Purple Chair, however, is not the author's literary criticism, but the way in which she blends her accounts of her reading with the story of her family and with broader human concerns." -- Smoky Mountain News

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Book SynopsisA collection of original documentary photographs of the landscape that was integral to Tony Hillerman's writing. It also contains brief synopses of Hillerman's novels, descriptive passages from each work, the author's own comments about the sites, and narrative information on the locations pictured.Trade Review"A multilayered odyssey ... Tony Hillerman's Landscape is an alluring and assiduously researched travel memoir, and a revealing behind-the-scenes chronicle of the peoples and settings that inspired Hillerman's atmospheric mysteries. It's a must-have for fans of Southwest mysteries and devotees of Indian Country." -- New Mexico Magazine "You've read the books, now see the land... It's like having Tony Hillerman still with us." -- Denver Post

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Book SynopsisFrom the teenager in provincial Russia in 1875 to his premature death in Germany in 1904, Chekhov wrote over 4,500 letters to a range of correspondents, including family and friends, his publisher and fellow writers - not to mention actresses. These letters tell the story of Chekhov''s life as a man and a writer and he emerges from them as a tough, generous, life-enhancing, and enigmatic character.

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Book SynopsisA fresh look at Hellman's restless life, her extraordinary plays, and her autobiographical mythsTrade Review"Unafraid to question Hellman's idealized memoirs, Gallagher (Hannah's Daughters) meets the 'unflaggingly famous' dramatist head on in this pithy biography."—Publishers Weekly * Publishers Weekly *‘This snappy biography is full of piquant details and entertaining quotations.’—Molly Guinness, The Spectator -- Molly Guinness * The Spectator *"An illuminating and convincing portrait of Lillian Hellman, the real one and the heroically fanciful one."—Playbill * Playbill *“Gallagher pounces on and decisively dissects the choicest bits in Hellman’s colorful and contrary life of artistic excellence and blinkered radicalism, self-mythologizing and egregious lies, creating a fast-flowing, deeply provocative portrait of a seductive, truculent, and audacious literary powerhouse.”—Donna Seaman, Booklist -- Donna Seaman * Booklist *“Gallagher has shown herself to be an incisive, sharp-edged, darkly humorous writer, and these qualities help engage readers in a study of Lillian Hellman (1905–1984) that might otherwise seem mean-spirited. The author has no personal ax to grind against her subject, as do many of the sources she quotes, but her portrait is all the more devastating since it seems so matter-of-fact.”—Kirkus Reviews * Kirkus Reviews *

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Book SynopsisBraiding together biography and criticism, Adam Plunkett challenges our understanding of Robert Frost's life and poetic legacy in a pathbreaking new work.By the middle of the twentieth century, Robert Frost was the best-loved poet in America. He was our nation's bard, simple and sincere, accompanying us on wooded roads and articulating our hopes and fears. After Frost's death, these cliches gave way to equally broad (though opposed) portraits sketched by his biographers, chief among them Lawrance Thompson. When the critic Helen Vendler reviewed Thompson's biography, she asked whether anyone could avoid the conclusion that Frost was a monster.In Love and Need: The Life of Robert Frost's Poetry, Adam Plunkett blends biography and criticism to find the truth of Frost's life-one that lies between the two poles of perception. Plunkett reveals a new Frost through a careful look at the poems and people he knew best, showing how the stories of his most importan

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Book SynopsisFeatures a collection of facts and insights into the life and times of the great novelist and the attitudes and customs that shaped both her and her work. This title looks at the facts of author's life and times, as well as stories about her novels, including: the marriage proposal that Austen accepted, only to change her mind, and more.

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Book SynopsisFrom one of the 20th century's great writers comes one of the finest autobiographies of our time. • Scintillating … One finds here amazing glimpses into the life of a world that has vanished forever. —The New York Times Speak, Memory was first published by Vladimir Nabokov in 1951 as Conclusive Evidence and then assiduously revised and republished in 1966. Nabokov's memoir is a moving account of a loving, civilized family, of adolescent awakenings, flight from Bolshevik terror, education in England, and émigré life in Paris and Berlin. The Nabokovs were eccentric, liberal aristocrats, who lived a life immersed in politics and literature on splendid country estates until their world was swept away by the Russian revolution when the author was eighteen years old. Speak, Memory vividly evokes a vanished past in the inimitable prose of Nabokov at his best.

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Book SynopsisBased on unprecedented access to private correspondence, unpublished manuscripts and attuned to a musically inclined poet’s skill in close listening, Who Can Afford to Improvise? retraces the full arc of James Baldwin’s passage across the pages and stages of his career amplifying our sense of his contemporary relevance.Trade Review"While Pavlic is to be commended for choosing such an important subject in the first place, what is more important is the fact that he has addressed it with a great deal of stylistic finesse and analytical clarity." -- -Kevin Le Gendre Jazzwize Magazine "In Who Can Afford to Improvise?, Ed Pavlic unearths James Baldwin's epic song-one shaped and honed by sacred and popular music. This rumination of intricate details celebrates Baldwin's vision of democratic conscience. Pavlic gives us a flesh-and-blood subject formed through a lyrical determinism of deep feeling. Through turn of thought and juxtaposition of historical and personal evidence, he embraces Baldwin's need for justice and truth." -- -Yusef Komunyakaa "Ed Pavlic's words have always heard the music and with Who Can Afford to Improvise?, he shows the exquisite ways that James Baldwin's words both heard the music and was the music itself." -- -Mark Anthony Neal Looking for Leroy: Illegible Black Masculinities "... Who Can Afford to Improvise plays in the pocket between actual musical performances, interpretations of the lyrical mode in Baldwin's poetics, and intricate historical detail." -Tsitsi Jaji, Los Angeles Review of Books "Who Can Afford to Improvise is a tour de force from one of our premier Baldwin scholars. Ed Pavlic's brilliantly insightful meditation on black music and culture and Baldwin's centrality to that tradition is a must-read." -- -Peniel E. Joseph author of Dark Days, Bright Nights "If you read books, sometimes or all the time, for the quality of their sentences (and what writer doesn't? why else would anyone want to be a writer?), Who Can Afford to Improvise is even more essential. Ed Pavlic is f*cking fearless about how he goes about it, as fearless as any contemporary musician I can think of, as fearless as some of the greats. It's definitely a book, but music is where its soul is, if you ask me." -Dave Marsh, Counterpunch "Ed Pavlic's strikingly original meditations reveal a James Baldwin swaddled in Black music whose masterful ear heard the overtones, the changes, echoes of memory, cries of agony and joy. By excavating experience from song and turning social critique into lyric, Baldwin produced a deeper, more dangerous truth." -- -Robin D. G. Kelley author of Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original "Ed Pavlic's Who Can Afford to Improvise? is remarkably present in how it sings-in all that it does for Baldwin, for his mediums, and for the book's listeners." -The Georgia ReviewTable of ContentsIntroduction BOOK I The Uses of the Blues: James Baldwin's Lyrical Quest 1. "Not the country we're sitting in now": Amputation/Gangrene Past and Present 2. Blues Constants, Jazz Changes: Toward a Writing Immune to Bullshit 3. "Making words do something": Retracing James Baldwin's Career BOOK II The Uses of the Lyric: Billie's Quest, Dinah's Blues, Jimmy's Amen, and Brother Ray's Hallelujah 4. Billie Holiday: Radical Lyricist 5. Dinah Washington's Blues and the Trans- Digressive Ocean 6. "But Amen is the price": James Baldwin and Ray Charles in "The Hallelujah Chorus" BOOK III "For you I was a flame": Baldwin's Lyrical Lens on Contemporary Culture 7. On Camden Row: Amy Winehouse's Lyric Lines in a Living Inheritance 8. Speechless in San Francisco. "A somewhat better place to lie about": An Inter-View 9. "In a way they must ...": Turf Feinz and Black Style in an Age of Sights for the Speechless 10. "Shades cannot be fixed": On Privilege, Blindness, and Second Sight Conclusion: The Brilliance of Children, the Duty of Citizens Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index

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