Replaying the past Nov 16, 2008
I have been reading William Maxwell's "Later Novels and Stories," the second and final volume of the writer's work published on this centenary of his birth by the Library of America ($35). Like the earlier volume, the contents of this one - two novels, many short stories, and a collection of "improvisations" - have been selected by Christopher Carduff, who has also provided notes and a detailed, indispensable timeline. (Boston Globe)
Beyond reason, rhymes - New Yorker has 'enlarged the vocabulary of American poetry’ Nov 8, 2008
Ashbery is the first living poet to have a full volume of his work released by Library of America, publishing s unofficial canon maker, and his reading is an hourlong summary of poems inspired by dreams, pronouns, Richard Strauss, and Peaches and Herb s Reunited. He concludes with some recent material, including They, consisting entirely of movie titles, from They Were Expendable to They Knew What They Wanted. (Missoulian, MT)
Blending the spiritual with the financial Sep 5, 2008
And for 184 years, there she has stood, home to Plimoth s artifacts, a leading library of America s history. Then suddenly, this old gal has reawakened. (Kingston Mariner, MA)
Books For the Fall: Obama, Woodward and Moore Aug 19, 2008
The Library of America will honor poet John Ashbery with a volume of his early work, a rare tribute to a living artist. The letters between Robert Lowell and Elizabeth Bishop, celebrated poets and equally intense correspondents, have been compiled. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
Book Buzz: 'Rules' gives Silva his best debut Jul 31, 2008
"It's one of the masterpieces of American literature," he says of So Long. The Library of America is marking the centenary of Maxwell's birth (1908-2000) with two new volumes of his work. William Maxwell: Later Novels and Stories ($35), to be published in September, includes So Long.. (USA Today -- Life)
Dark prophet Jul 28, 2008
Philip K. Dick: Five Novels of the 1960s and 70sEdited by Jonathan LethemLibrary of America, 1,128 pp ... This is the second Dick volume from the Library of America, following last year's "Four Novels of the 1960s." The library began publishing its sets of classic American authors more than 25 years ago ... Dick belongs in the Library of America as Melville and the rest do. (Boston Globe)
Friends for faraway places Jun 14, 2008
Elizabeth Bishop's Poems, Prose and Letters has just come out from the Library of America and is probably the best record of half a lifetime's encounter with Brazil. It includes translations of many important Brazilian poets, plus three stories by the strange Brazilian genius Clarice Lispector (check out her book The Hour of the Star, Carcanet), as well as poems and letters by Bishop about the glories and mysteries of Brazilian life. (Guardian Unlimited -- Arts)
Welty's house, garden are Jackson treasures May 29, 2008
She was the first living writer to be published in The Library of America in two volumes. Libraries around the world have been named for her. (The Clarion-Ledger)
Home from home May 17, 2008
For his radio programmes, he adopted, in the words of Richard Sieburth, editor of the superb Library of America Poems and Translations (2003), "an exaggerated cracker-barrel idiom laced with antisemitic slurs". He was transferred to St Elizabeths mental hospital in Washington DC, where he remained until 1958. (Guardian Unlimited -- Arts)
• Key nominations Mar 25, 2008
Book Awards, Writing on Food: American Food Writing: An Anthology with Classic Recipes, edited by Molly O'Neill (The Library of America); Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, Barbara Kingsolver (HarperCollins Publishers); Rethinking Thin: The New Science of Weight Loss-and the Myths and Realities of Dieting, Gina Kolata (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) ... Book Awards, Writing on Food: American Food Writing: An Anthology with Classic Recipes, edited by Molly O'Neill (The Library of... (AZCentral -- Entertainment)
A. J. Liebling goes to war Mar 23, 2008
The fruits of this mission and those elsewhere after the German occupation of France may be found in the Library of America's "A. J. Liebling: World War II Writings" ($40) ... Most momentous of all, he was present on D-Day for the invasion of Normandy ("Our [craft] made a turn and headed for the opening like a halfback going into a hole in the line." Liebling's eye for idiosyncratic detail and wry observation (Britain is "the only nation in the world that habitually boasts of its own modesty) is... (Boston Globe)
Davidson: Allying in hope Feb 20, 2008
On a recent frigid Sunday afternoon, 400 people gathered at the Armenian Museum and Library of America in Watertown to view both a new and a permanent exhibit of inhumanity. Among them were State Senators Susan C. Fargo, Anthony D. Galluccio, Steven A. Tolman and Marian Walsh, and State Representatives Ruth B. Balser, William N. Brownsberger, Linda Dorcena Forry, Peter J. Koutoujian, Charles A. Murphy, Frank I. Smizik, Timothy J. Toomey and Alice K. Wolf, as well as World War II veteran and... (Watertown TAB & Press, MA)
Light, shadow in a long-ago Midwest Feb 11, 2008
This year marks the 100th anniversary of William Maxwell's birth and the publication by the Library of America of the first of two volumes of his work (the second will appear this autumn). It also brings the revelation to me, who had been living under the impression that Maxwell was a "New York writer" (ho hum), that five of his six novels are set in the Midwest. (Boston Globe)
In a season of tradition, hard questions about hope Dec 25, 2007
American Poetry: The Seventeenth and Eighteenth CenturiesEdited by Davis S. Shields, Library of America, 952 pp ... Christmas, even ambivalently, was not a subject for Longfellow's Puritan predecessors whose works are included in the Library of America's "American Poetry: The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries.". (Boston Globe)
What a carve-up Dec 1, 2007
Then, in 1991, with the backing of Wright's widow, Ellen, the Library of America published a text that restored the scene in which Bigger is shown "polishing my nightstick" and saying "I wish I had Bessie here now" (one of two girls he later murders). The recovered material was certainly of interest to readers familiar with Wright's novel, and his difficult life in New York and Paris, but unlike in the Kerouac case, the "restored" text was served up not as a curiosity, but as the real thing -... (Guardian Unlimited -- Books)
Nathanael West Biography Nov 4, 2007
Nathanael West: Novels and Other Writings -- The Library of America (1997). more in suite. (Suite101.com)
What’s new at the Brook Public Library? Oct 26, 2007
Philip Roth has won many awards for his fiction writing and is the only living American writer to have his work published in a comprehensive, definitive edition of the Library of America. Tomb of the Golden Bird by Elizabeth Peters. (Kentland Newton County Enterprise, IN)
More arts coverage Oct 21, 2007
The Library of America has published two volumes of Edmund Wilson, the best literary critic America has ever had. Volume I collects material from the 1920s and '30s - Axel's Castle, The Shores of Light and, what particularly interested me, a batch of previously uncollected material. (The Palm Beach Post)
Finally, literary 'knighthood' for Edmund Wilson Oct 11, 2007
The latest inclusion in the Library of America, that clothbound hall of literary fame, is two big volumes of Edmund Wilson's critical writings. It's about time, considering that the Library of America was Wilson's idea in the first place ... He probably would have preferred that the Library of America first bring out "Memoirs of Hecate County," his novel based in part on a long affair he had in the 1920s with a taxi dancer, Frances Minihan. (International Herald Tribune -- Arts)
A scandalous figure takes his final bow Oct 3, 2007
"I thought, 'No no no no, this was too much stuff for too little space.' So I took it apart, and first I wrote 'The Ghost Writer' (published in 1979) and finally worked my way down to 'The Prague Orgy,' " he says, referring to the first and fourth of his Zuckerman books, the first four of which were just reissued by the Library of America. Like Roth, Nathan is a New Jersey native famous for a scandalous novel ("Portnoy's Complaint" for Roth, "Carnovsky" for Nathan). (CNN -- Showbiz)
Philip Roth's 'Ghost' may be Zuckerman's exit Oct 1, 2007
Zuckerman Bound (Library of America, $35). Roth's first four Zuckerman novels. (USA Today)
Who is Hollywood's favorite sci-fi writer? Sep 15, 2007
(Four of Dick's 1960s novels have just been reissued by the prestigious Library of America, giving the paperback writer some new hardcover cachet. . (Los Angeles Times)
On The Road and Jack Kerouac still inspire Sep 3, 2007
On the Road is widely taught and has officially been placed in the canon by the Library of America, which just released a bound edition of On the Road, The Subterraneans and other road novels. According to Viking vice president and associate publisher Paul Slovak, On the Road has been published in 32 languages and continues to sell around 100,000 copies a year. (MSNBC -- News)
Kerouac still inspires young and old Sep 3, 2007
" Kerouac's novel takes readers all over the country, from New York City and New Orleans to Chicago and Denver and San Francisco, all stops on the wild and fictionalized adventures of Kerouac and buddy Neal Cassady, renamed and beloved as Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty. The literary establishment, with some dissenters, welcomes him. "On the Road" is widely taught and has officially been placed in the canon by the Library of America, which just released a bound edition of "On the Road," "The... (Athens Banner-Herald)
Rereading 'On the Road,' without the baggage Sep 3, 2007
With the 50th anniversary of the publication of "On the Road," in an exhaustive (and sometimes exhausting) anthology titled Jack Kerouac: Road Novels 1957-1960 (The Library of America; 864 pages; $35) that also includes "The Dharma Bums," "The Subterraneans," "Tristessa," "Lonesome Traveler" and excerpts from the author's journal sections, comes an inevitable reconsideration of Kerouac's work ... "The Dharma Bums" and "The Subterraneans," each reprinted in their entirety in the Library of... (San Francisco Chronicle)
The 'Road' much traveled Sep 2, 2007
Several new books commemorate the novel's 50th anniversary, including "Road Novels 1957-1960," edited by Douglas Brinkley (Library of America: 864 pp. $35); "Why Kerouac Matters: The Lessons of 'On the Road' (They're Not What You Think)" by John Leland (Viking: 206 pp. (Los Angeles Times)
On the Road, and Jack Kerouac, still inspire young and old Sep 2, 2007
"On the Road" is widely taught and has officially been placed in the canon by the Library of America, which just released a bound edition of "On the Road," "The Subterraneans" and other "road" novels ... "He was haunted by Lowell," says Douglas Brinkley, who edited the Library of America volume. (North County Times)
Check out the fall books preview Aug 27, 2007
Denis Johnson's Tree of Smoke (FSG); Sebastian Faulks' novel Engleby (Doubleday); Zakes Mda's novel Cion (Picador Original); Jesse Ball's novel Samedi the Deafness (Vintage Original); and Library of America's Kerouac: Road Novels 1957-1960 and On the Road: The Original Scroll (Viking) ... Rick Atkinson's The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944 (Henry Holt); Edmund Wilson's Literary Essays and Reviews of the 1920s and 1930s (Library of America) and his Literary Essays and... (San Francisco Chronicle)
Jack's back: New books celebrate 'On the Road' Aug 21, 2007
Kerouac: Road Novels 1957-1960 (Library of America, $35, Sept. 6) collects his five "road books" and journals. Leland's book celebrates On the Road but argues it is misread as an ode to rebellion rather than as a "spiritual quest" and a guide to growing up. (USA Today)
* 'On the Road' turns 50 Aug 16, 2007
The Library of America will include On the Road in a collection of Kerouac's "road novels" to be published next month. And the New York Public Library will pay homage in November with an exhibition of the original scroll and other materials from the Kerouac archives. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World Business)
A poet, and immortality Jul 8, 2007
More than a century after her death, Amherst poet Emily Dickinson (below) still inspires, as evidenced by a handful of new books, as well as the appearance of the poet's recipe for "black cake" (made with 19 eggs and a half-pint of brandy) in "American Food Writing: An Anthology With Classic Recipes" edited by Molly O'Neill (Library of America). "The Sister," a novel by Argentine Paola Kaufmann (Overlook/Rookery), views Dickinson through the eyes of her younger sister, Lavinia. (Boston Globe)
Meanwhile: Dreaming of electric sheep Jun 12, 2007
The rehabilitation hit a literary high note earlier this month, when the Library of America issued "Philip K. Dick: Four Novels of the 1960s," which placed him in the company of Henry James, Saul Bellow, Faulkner and other heavyweights. Dick wrote his share of bad novels, which is hardly surprising given that he wrote stoked up on drugs and suffered no end of paranoid delusions. (International Herald Tribune -- Ed/Op)
My Favorite Font: May 26, 2007
I have a special abhorrence of squat, bubbly fonts, like whatever it is that the Library of America is typeset in, perhaps because my astigmatism makes such fonts look even pudgier than they actually are. New York was far from perfectthe serifs are too pronounced and give it a higgledy-piggledy look, and its round forms began to look a little too orotund after a whileso I went to Palatino when that was released. (Slate)
Listen to the sound of Ezra Pound May 10, 2007
Pound's Poems and Translations is published by the Library of America. PennSound Ezra Pound page edited by Richard Sieburth Note: The bracketed page numbers for non-Cantos materials are taken from the Library of America edition of Pound's Poems and Translations. (USA Today -- Tech)
Read More... May 7, 2007
and Ubik are being reissued by the Library of America in that now-classic Hall of Fame format: full cloth binding, tasseled bookmark, acid-free, Bible-thin paper ... A wary, hard-core Dickian might argue that the Library of America volume is just a diversion, an attempt to turn a deeply subversive writer into another canonical brand name. (Disinformation)
'Age of Betrayal' Apr 30, 2007
15] Ward, Railroads and the Character of American Life, p. 81; Ralph Waldo Emerson, "The Young American," in Emerson: Essays and Lectures (New York: Library of America, 1983), p. 213. 16] Gustavus Myers, The Great Fortunes, vol. 2 (Chicago: C. H. Kerr, 1910), p. 44. (USA Today -- Money)
More of this story Apr 29, 2007
As part of a delicious evening roundtable discussion on Tuesday, May 1, exploring the pleasures of great food writing, CalArts will present "Food for Thought: Great American Writing About the Food We Eat." Unfolding in the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater, a panel of chefs, food writers and culinary historians will reflect on American Food Writing: An Anthology with Classic Recipes, a new collection from the Library of America covering 250 years of writing about culinary tradition, history... (Los Angeles Downtown News, CA)
Foodie nation Apr 21, 2007
Photo illustration: Pelle Berglund / Eisa/Corbis American Food Writing: An Anthology With Classic RecipesEdited by Molly O'Neill The Library of America: 754 pp ... Published by the Library of America and edited by former New York Times food columnist Molly O'Neill, this volume is more than an anthology; selection builds upon selection (from Thomas Jefferson's recipe for ice cream to Michael Pollan's musings on the organic frozen dinner) to become a portrait of a nation seen through the prism of... (Los Angeles Times)
A 'creation story from hell' from which a nation sprang Apr 4, 2007
Captain John Smith: Writings With Other Narratives of Roanoke, Jamestown, and the First English Settlement of America, Edited by James Horn, The Library of America, 1,329 pp. illustrated $40. (Boston Globe -- Living)
Here be monsters Mar 25, 2007
At the risk of seeming to trivialize the Library of America, I will say that its most recently published volume makes a splendid companion to "The Terror." "Capt. John Smith: Writings With Other Narratives of Roanoke, Jamestown, and the First English Settlement of America" ($45) throbs with the spirit of exultant exploration, resourcefulness, and endurance. But, more to the point, it is replete with disasters and disappearances, treachery and bloody revenge -- and the giving of names. (Boston Globe)
From Ben Franklin to MLK, a glorious marathon of oratory Mar 19, 2007
American Speeches: Political Oratory From the Revolution to the Civil WarEdited by Ted WidmerThe Library of America, 810 pp ... American Speeches: Political Oratory From Abraham Lincoln to Bill ClintonEdited by Ted WidmerThe Library of America, 872 pp ... These speeches and scores of others -- 128 in all, delivered by 77 Americans at times of peace, war, challenge, crisis, reflection , and revolution -- have been deftly assembled by Ted Widmer, director and librarian of the John Carter Brown... (Boston Globe)
Seeing Wilder through time Mar 12, 2007
" But few seemed to regard the lack of scenery as revolutionary. The '20s and '30s had been hotbeds of experimentation in all the arts, and "Our Town" had its precedents -- some of which had been written by Wilder himself. That's one of the primary advantages of the Library of America's new "Thornton Wilder: Collected Plays ngs on Theater" -- the opportunity to place "Our Town" and Wilder's other plays within the context of his life's work in the theater. It's also one of the book's limitations.... (San Francisco Chronicle)
Review: Complete Poems and Selected Letters of Hart Crane Jan 27, 2007
The Library of America ... He was a fan of Pound before "The Cantos" and Joyce before "Ulysses," and was terrified by Eliot before "The Waste Land." As early as 1920 he was recommending, before either had published a book, Wallace Stevens and Marianne Moore, whom he referred to as "Marion" (Crane's deranged spelling offers one of the quiet comedies of the new Library of America edition of his work). (International Herald Tribune -- Arts)
Poet Wilbur can review a life well-lived Jan 14, 2007
He will "inevitably" have a volume of his own released by the Library of America, publisher Max Rudin says, although no date has been set. Wilbur is regarded, not always to his liking, as a leading "formalist" "formal" can be found near "formaldehyde" in the dictionary, he jokes a master of traditional, tempered verse that can seem old-fashioned in more radical times. (The Standard-Times, MA)
