Excellent examination for four literary giants.
923813
Thoroughly researched and well-written examination of Mark Twain, Charles Stoddard, Bret Harte, and Ina Coolbrith as their paths crossed in San Francisco in the 1860s.  All four contributed to the development of an "American" voice in literature.  The bonus here is the inclusion of Coolbrith as a fellow writer.  Her work is rarely read today but gives us insight into the female psyche in California,
3556030
This a great anthology of English romantic poetry, and it will be especially appreciated by those already acquainted with the period. For those who are not familiar with this period, I recommend the Dover Classic "English Romantic Poetry: An Anthology," which is cheap, short, accessible, and great. For those wanting to know the period and its major authors a little deeper, this anthology by Penguin is a great choice.

Usually poetry anthologies are grouped by author. Not always. Some collections, including this one, group poems by themes, such as "Nature," "War," "Love," etc. It's a hit or miss strategy, but here it is very much a "hit." The editors explain that they want to reveal connections between disparate works and authors, and their arrangement achieves that effect gracefully. The selections under each heading are also ordered chronologically to get a sense of development. Bravo I say!

As for the contents, the traditional big 6 (Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Keats, Shelley) are heartily represented, but with a twist: many lesser known but still good pieces by these giants are sampled. I discovered many great poems by these guys that I had never come across before. There are always quibbles on selections in poetry anthologies (Shelley's "Adonais" should be included in full, not excerpted!) Many poems by less known authors are here including women and minorities as dictated by current academic taste. These selections vary in quality, some are quite good (Charlotte Smith's sonnets often stand out), though some of these poems seem to have been included solely on the basis of who authored them rather than their poetic quality. Alas, these are the times we are living in. One day we may return to appreciating poetry for its own sake, but not in these politicized times. "Every bad poem is sincere" said the great Mr. Wilde. How true!

In addition to the poems there are copious notes (very helpful), author biographies, and a few indices that make finding a certain poem a breeze. I recommend this anthology heartily to anyone with a basic knowledge of this period who wants to go deeper. They will discover some great great poems they may never have known before!
407551
"Six American Poets," edited by Joel Conarroe, represents an interesting concept in a poetry anthology. Rather than cover a large number of poets who are represented by just a few poems each, Conarroe decided to focus on six pivotal United States poets and to offer a healthy sampling of some of their most compelling work. Happily, Conarroe succeeds in compiling an excellent volume.
The anthology starts off with the lusty humanism of Walt Whitman and the passionate wit of Emily Dickinson, and then presents some of the choicest fruits from the work of four 20th century greats: Wallace Stevens, William Carlos Williams, Robert Frost, and Langston Hughes. Along the way are some real masterpieces: Stevens' "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird," WCW's poem about the "red wheel / barrow," Frost's "Mending Wall," Hughes' "Mother to Son," and many more.
As a whole, a wonderful variety of poetic forms and themes are represented. The concise but substantial author bios are another strong point of this volume. This book is a wonderful choice both for classroom use and for general reading. You also might want to check out this book's companion volume, "Eight American Poets," also edited by Conarroe.
1571578
Andres Bello strode like a giant across 19th century Latin America. A poet, educator, linguist, political leader, and skilled prose writer, he possessed a truly vast intellect. In these "Selected Writings," editor Ivan Jaksic and translator Frances M. Lopez-Morillas have made a small sample of his legacy--his collected works in Spanish fill 26 volumes--available to English-speaking readers.
Bello's prose and poetry in this anthology focus mainly on the topics of language, literature, education, history, and political science. Some of his more technical writings are a bit dry, and will, I imagine, appeal more to specialists in some of these fields than to the general reader. But to the discriminating general reader, this volume offers a wealth of intellectual delights and insights.
Among the book's many fine highlights are Bello's long poem "Allocution to Poetry," which captures a sweeping vison of Latin America, and an address delivered at the University of Chile in which he prophetically envisions the great Chilean authors who would follow him. His call for universal literacy in "On the Aims of Education" is evidence of a mind truly ahead of its time.
Although this is an excellent edition--it includes superb introductory materials, among them a fascinating chronology--there is room for improvement. Some of Bello's more reference-laden writings would, I believe, be more meaningful to a broader audience if they had been accompanied by more extensive annotations. Nevertheless, this is an outstanding book, and an excellent tribute to a man of truly towering intellect.
1930715
This is a very rich collection of essays. Two of those which were of special interest to me were Jonathan Rosen's, "The Talmud and the Internet" which was later expanded into a book by that name. And Floyd Skoot's Kismet a most moving essay about his own family and his brother's death.

Lopate has a great understanding of the genre. He includes 'rediscoveries' Orwell 's "Some Thoughts on the Common Toad", and Derek Walcott's "The Antilles."
3066710
This is an entertaining and gratifying read.  It began as a long magazine article and then became a book with two added sections (the response to the book [and his response to the responders] and [tongue in cheek] rules for those who would be serious writers).

The argument is simple: many putatively serious and award-winning writers today write prose that is pretentious, lugubrious and, largely, unreadable.  For this they are amply rewarded by reviewers who claim to like this stuff.  The author offers a number of examples of turgid prose (often the sections of novels which have received particular praise); he also offers counter examples from accomplished writers of the past.

The writers singled out for this particular rogues gallery are Annie Proulx, Paul Auster, David Guterson, Cormac McCarthy, and Don DeLillo.  (I would be interested to see Myers take on Thomas Pynchon, a truly serious contemporary writer.)

The implicit issues here are very interesting.  For example, Myers notes that many crisp, clear and engaging writers are eliminated from serious consideration and labeled genre writers, even though many of the pseudo-serious writers (Guterson, e.g.) are leveraging genre elements.  One thought here: almost all great stories are, to some degree, mystery stories, from Oedipus The King to The Great Gatsby.  It is also true that the greatest inheritor of the Hemingway mantle in our times has been Elmore Leonard.  There are also a number of stunning literary mystery writers working today: James Ellroy, James Lee Burke, and William Kent Krueger, to name but a few.  They all transcend genre.

A second issue is the puritanism of both American culture and American writing/criticism (which Myers discusses).  We are still suspicious of humor and comedy, even though they serve important purposes and are very hard to do.  The books shortlisted for awards are unfailingly serious stories, which, in our time, often means political and, usually, politically correct.  They are also often anchored in identity politics, a notion which has trouble standing up to the analysis of geneticists and epistemologists but is a required element for many reviewers.

Finally, there is the fact that literary writing and literary criticism exist today within a league of the self-appointed cognoscenti.  The more ponderous and opaque the writing, the more the field of adept readers is narrowed and the greater the glow issuing from the halos of the anointed.  This war has now largely been lost among the literary critics (mercifully) as the influence of the French Nietzscheans wanes and English teachers realize that much of the recondite prose which characterized high Theory concealed an ultimate obviousness (Wittgenstein had been there first) and an attempt to attract acclaim by other means than trenchant thought, hard facts and common sense.

Myers does not draw many connections between serious fiction and serious theoretical criticism, but the parallels and analogies are clear.  Serious reviewers often assert their claims to authority by exhibiting an ability to luxuriate in the unreadable and use that skill to differentiate themselves from the common reader who seeks the lucidity of truly great writers like (a key Myers example) Joseph Conrad, whose first language was, of course, Polish.
327956
This book presents 72 pieces from the early years of Vanity Fair, 1913-1936, when the magazine was, in the Graydon Carter's words, "the bible for the smart set." The list of noteworthy contributors is mindboggling, as is the range of subjects, which include World War I, prohibition, the stock market crash, art (early plans for a modern art museum in New York) music, movies (I especially enjoyed reading about the success of Tarzan) and people (lots of vivid character sketches of people like Harpo Marx, Joan Crawford, Babe Ruth, Cole Porter)  I was surprised at the wide range of opinions about women, particularly those of Hyman Strunsky and Anne O'Hagan.

This a pretty hefty book, and not all articles will appeal to everyone. Some of them come across as quite cynical, and there are shades of racism and other expressions of intolerance. I found the articles about the depression and the stock market crash the most interesting and at times, moving. I loved reading the words of famous writers, but found just as much pleasure in discovering new authors.

Overall, there is much to enjoy here (4.5 stars) and it is great to broaden one's perspective on the catastrophic events of those years.
123542
To put it simply, Curt Evans's book is a bravura performance. He takes a look at three major mystery authors from the Golden Age: John Rhode/Miles Burton, Freeman Wills Crofts, and J. J. Connginton. All three men have been condemned to out-of-print hell, and when brought up by academics at all, their opinions tend to be largely dismissive of these "mere puzzles". But Curt remains unconvinced, and through his analyses he tries to prove that these books have far more merit to them than such a label might imply.

Curt combines this analysis with a biographical look at the authors, and so we learn about the lives of Rhode, Crofts, and Connington like never before. Often times, the life of the author will influence his work, and now that I know more about the lives of the authors, I feel like I will be able to appreciate their work even more. After all, I'm a big fan of John Rhode and J. J. Connington (and I don't have anything against Crofts, for that matter).

Curt has tackled fascinating questions like that of Crofts' religious influences or Connington's worldview. This is a particularly fun section, because we see the author himself rising out of the sands of time, wondering to himself what on earth Curt is doing because he certainly never intended to put his worldview into his "'tec yarns". No, really--it emerges during correspondence. Curt also looks at the author's apocalyptic and disturbing novel Nordenholt's Million, which eerily foreshadows the cruelties of the Nazi regime.

I bought both the print edition and the Kindle edition, and I have nothing but praise for both. If you like your Kindle and want to save $10 on the cover price, it is a good option. The text is well-edited and proofread. The formatting is also excellent, which is important for this book because there are all sorts of images that you don't want interrupting the flow of the text. It's a book that practically feels like it was made for the Kindle. Meanwhile, the print edition itself is also quite attractive. The font, proofreading, editing, etc. are all excellent and make for pleasant and easy reading. It is a bit taller than the average paperback, but it helps to keep the page count down and it doesn't make much of a difference in reading. The book's production values are quite simply excellent, and the content itself also helps to make you feel like you've spent wisely.

Overall, I recommend Masters of the Humdrum Mystery. This is a very important work in mystery criticism and if I were in charge of the Edgars, I know who would win this year's best critical/biographical award. Curt Evans takes a good, close, and *serious* look at these so-called Humdrums as part of the historical era they belonged in. Too many critics write them off and pretend that only the "Big Four" of Crime Queens were of any interest during the Golden Age, but Curt here has proven that the Humdrums are far more interesting than has been given credit. This book, however, comes with a warning: Curt's enthusiasm is downright infectious. You will find yourself reaching for your wallet - I myself already find that I am the owner of two new John Rhode novels and two new Freeman Wills Crofts novels... and I somehow have the feeling it won't end there!
386625
Something about "The Tales of Ise" really grows on you. If you are expecting characterization and psychological depth or even just a continuous narrative, you won't find it here. In fact, most any of the standards by which we tend to judge literature nowadays are conspicuous in their absence. And yet it doesn't seem to matter. The grace, elegance, and intense regard for the varieties of emotional experience found in these episodic vignettes gets you all the same.

There is also much of historical interest in this work, and that helps it out a little, too. First of all, in terms of literary history, this is definitely a transitional work, as the translator points out in her introduction. In the Kokinshu poetry anthology, for instance, each poem is preceded by a short prose passage explaining its social and situational context, but the poem is the main thing. In later prose narratives like the "Tale of Genji" or the many literary diaries, poems pop up in the characters' conversations but the story is paramount. "Tales of Ise" falls somewhere in-between. The poems are still much in focus, but the prose surrounding them has increased in length, importance, and development, transcending the status of headnotes though serving a similar function. And in terms of social history, this is of great interest, too, for each story gives us a precious fleeting glimpse of Heian courtier society and its values, and of the role of poetry in their social interactions (romantic and otherwise).

As far as waka (or tanka, as we call it today) poetry goes, these were some of the best I've read. It is readily apparent that this was still a relatively new poetic form, fresh and full of possibilities not yet hackneyed and worn thin (this would start to ensue soon enough). The emotion in them seems less affected and stylized, though definitely sublimated by the form's poetic conventions.

It should be noted too that this is definitely the definitive version of this work in English. McCullough has given us a very careful and scholarly translation that is nonetheless lively and literary. Her introduction is informative and extremely helpful in understanding the Tales, and each episode is annotated for specific info (in the back of the book, so that you can consult it if curious or not as you please). There is also a concise discussion of the different manuscripts of "Tales of Ise" and their textual histories, and a translation of the Kokinshu poems that also appear here, often in a different context that alters the import of the poem. So this charming classic has been given the classic treatment it so richly merits.
619884
Malcolm Bradbury's review of the ten great modern writers and their works is both perceptive and revelatory. His style is also very readable and enjoyable.  For anybody interested in modernist writers, this is certainly a very worthwhile book.
2465427
Anthony Arthur takes an interesting look at how far egos can get out of control in this examination of some LITERARY FEUDS. Some of the feuds have been pretty well-discussed in the past, but Arthur's research and willingness to investigate the causes of these feuds makes for an entertaining read. Each feud here has different set up. Starting with the totally one-sided Twain/Harte debacle and wrapping up with latest major battle involving Wolfe, Updike and Irving, Arthur does a fine job recapping the origins and the outcomes of these literary contretemps. He also examines the works that led to these quarrels with a critical eye that gives the reader added insight into these rather fierce battles. While I feel some of these arguments were tempests in a teapot and I still have never read anything by C.P. Snow or F.R. Leavis (Two of the subjects within), I still feel this book added to my understanding of some of these authors and gave me new appreciation for some of their work.
4358593
Cover-to-cover excellence.  If you have favorites among the 22 contemporary authors represented in this anthology, you will enjoy reading samples of their childhood writings.  Young Stephen King, Michael Crichton, Rita Dove, Maxine Hong Kingston and the other authors demonstrate precocity, maturity, and a firm grasp of story structure and plot development.
Marginal notes can be intrusive, but I found myself looking forward to editor Paul Mandelbaum's illuminating comments about each writer's life and work.  The information deepened my understanding of the writer's body of work.  This is a wonderful book to own and a great gift idea.
1040521
With an array of brilliant American writers from Walt Whitman to Edgar Allen Poe, this edition includes writers of different genres, styles, genders, and backgrounds. Yet they all share a quality which seems to define America.  These essential writers and their works of literature have been thoughtfully chosen with poignant biographical information. I would recommend this to anyone curious in regards to the profound wisdom and wit American writers have conveyed.
4175340
If it were not for small publishing houses such as Grove Press - and they are getting fewer and fewer all the time in the days of huge monetary advances to often less-than-memorable authors - worthwhile writers would lack an outlet for their talents.
Folks highlighted in this wonderful anthology -including, to name a few, William Burroughs, Henry Miller and playwrite Samuel Becket - are now considered giants of literature, but this wasn't always the case.  In the 1950s and 1960s, many areas of America were frighteningly conservative and tightly closed to anything new or experimental in literature.  Grove Press was an exception and now, viewed with historical hindsight, one can thank God that they were.
Some entries were banned; others censored when they originally appeared.  Some, read now, appear tame and one wonders why the subject matter caused such a fuss.  Others, like Burroughs "Naked Lunch", still stir the dark places within those who read it, with its gripping, uncompromising prose and frighteningly realistic and powerful portrayals of realities which today we've grown far too accustomed to reading about - drug addiction, violence or the confusion of living in a world that pressures its inhabitants to conform rather than let loose their own imaginative worlds without fear of reprisal.
"The Grove Press Reader" is an invaluable collection of literature, particularly for those - like me - who may sometimes feel intimidated by these writers.  This gives an excellent overall introduction to their works and, as a bonus, boasts an explicit history of the publishing company and the efforts of its owners and staff to ensure that good writing - no matter by whom - was brought to the public.
2591092
Multitudes of readers and movie-goers are familiar with the names and writings of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Many are also aware that the two literary giants were part of a club called The Inklings, though they may not know anything about the group. Fewer realize that there were well over a dozen more Inklings, although some have heard of Christopher Tolkien, Charles Williams, and Owen Barfield. Hardly anyone can name all nineteen, and perhaps nobody has read every single thing ever published by every single one of them  except Dr. Diana Glyer.

From the treasure houses of knowledge accumulated over twenty-plus years of meticulous research, Dr. Glyer presents in Bandersnatch a well-balanced blend of trustworthy factual information and thoughtful insight regarding the individuals who were the Inklings, their personal interactions with one another, and both the public and private workings of the group as a corporate body.

The dual nature of this book makes it particularly helpful: it is not only a genuinely good, accessible biography of the Inklings; it is also an excellent, encouraging guidebook for those who wish to follow their example. Each chapter concludes with a succinct Doing What They Did summary, and the final section of the book is an epilogue outlining specific steps for starting a writing group.

Bandersnatch is both a significant contribution to Inklings scholarship and a valuable resource on collaborative creativity. I highly recommend it to Inklings lovers as well as writers and other artists seeking to live and create in community.
3258998
There are not many anthologies of which you can say they are needed, but this is may be one of them. Eliot Weinberger, best known as a translator of Latin American poetry (especially that of Octavio Paz), has done an admirable job here of articulating how innovation in American poetry was taking place from the 1950s through the 1970s and even into the 1990s. The volume's subtitle, "Innovators and Outsiders," can be misleading, as many of the thirty-five poets included here are now among the most familiar to contemporary readers, few of whom would consider the likes of Williams, Pound, H.D., Creeley, Ginsberg, etc. "outsiders." Yet, all of these poets were or are innovators. Weinberger has put together a fascinating "narrative" and a refreshing, personal rereading of poetry in the U.S. from around 1950 on. (You can quibble all you want with the selection, and some readers, myself included, will find some of the poetry here just awful, but Weinberger's justification for this volume in the brief introductory note is outstanding.) Just as importantly, his brief essay following the selections, "American Poetry Since 1950: A Very Brief History" is offers an excellent and insightful overview of how major creative tendencies have followed one after another in the past fifty years.
126514
This hefty (700+ pages) anthology, far-reaching in scope and viewpoint, attempts to reflect "the historical and contemporary experience of life on the Great Plains." It includes many different types of writings (short stories, memoir excerpts, essays, tribal accounts) from scores of different writers (Mark Twain, Maria Sandoz, Hamlin Garland, Garrison Keillor, Wright Morris, Louise Erdrich, to name only a few). The book's sections are organized around specific themes:

1) The lay of the land and natural history;

2) Natives and newcomers: these include Indian accounts of the first Europeans and early explorer impressions (Louis & Clark, Stephen Long, etc.);

3) Arriving and settling in: reflections of the first white settlers and the creating of communities.

Each passage is fully introduced by the editors in terms of its message and social/historical significance. The anthology provides a comprehensive overview of the Great Plains as a section of North America (Canada included) remarkable for its special, in some ways even unique, life offerings it gave to those who came in contact with it. Excellent for use in college survey courses dealing with the Plains, it's also an interesting book for anyone wanting to gleam insights on the region from a wide array of perspectives.