Thanks for your insightful post, Jim. It’s good to hear your voice (in writing) again after so many years.
Maggie O’Farrell, John Boyne, Anthony Doerr and Margaret Atwood are among my favorite living novelists. I’ve read “Hamnet” several times, and also listened to the audiobook, which she narrates. Her narration is what makes “I Am I Am I Am” all the more powerful in audio form. Your post makes me realize I need to add the book to my Libby hold requests.
It’s interesting to me that you picked her nonfiction. As a now reemerging poet, I have been trying to read more creative nonfiction in essay form because it feels like a natural writing transition for me. The poet Maggie Smith’s new book, “Dear Writer,” explores how to navigate between genres, which she has mastered so well. I recommend it for your students.
Ellen! Great to hear from you, and thanks for your comments on my post. I chose O'Farrell's nonfiction rather than fiction (though yes, "Hamnet" is terrific) because that's what I'm focusing on in this Substack column--the art of personal narrative, as found in memoir, autobiography, the essay, letters, etc. I love a good novel, but I've always been more drawn to nonfiction as both a reader and a writer.
I'll definitely check out Maggie Smith's book. My students tend to be literature majors rather than creative writers, but I always give them the option of writing their own personal narrative at the end of the semester, and many give it a try. I think it's important for them to experience both sides of the scholar/writer border, as you and I did way back at UCSB!
In his new book, “Aflame: Learning from Silence,” Pico Iyer does a wonderful job exploring how a near-death experience being trapped in his mother’s house during Santa Barbara’s 2019 Cave Fire, led him to a silent monastery in Big Sur and an exploration of his life choices and mortality in general. It’s another one I recommend.
Beautiful "review," such a challenging format: you get a couple of pages to do justice to a whole book, it's author, and then animate someone else enough to want to read it. This does all of that work so well. And I agree with your take on the theme: encountering death in a fully human way animates an astoundment with life, a temporary transcendence that changes everything thereafter, that triple "I am" announcing "their" thereness. The loss of those opportunities is the cost of living in a culture as death-averse as ours is.
Thanks for your comment, Paul. You're so right about our "death-averse" culture. That's why I have a unit in my memoir course dedicated to books that tell of loss and grief. Super important for us to make space for students to read, discuss, and write about what our culture wants them to ignore.
Thanks for your insightful post, Jim. It’s good to hear your voice (in writing) again after so many years.
Maggie O’Farrell, John Boyne, Anthony Doerr and Margaret Atwood are among my favorite living novelists. I’ve read “Hamnet” several times, and also listened to the audiobook, which she narrates. Her narration is what makes “I Am I Am I Am” all the more powerful in audio form. Your post makes me realize I need to add the book to my Libby hold requests.
It’s interesting to me that you picked her nonfiction. As a now reemerging poet, I have been trying to read more creative nonfiction in essay form because it feels like a natural writing transition for me. The poet Maggie Smith’s new book, “Dear Writer,” explores how to navigate between genres, which she has mastered so well. I recommend it for your students.
Ellen! Great to hear from you, and thanks for your comments on my post. I chose O'Farrell's nonfiction rather than fiction (though yes, "Hamnet" is terrific) because that's what I'm focusing on in this Substack column--the art of personal narrative, as found in memoir, autobiography, the essay, letters, etc. I love a good novel, but I've always been more drawn to nonfiction as both a reader and a writer.
I'll definitely check out Maggie Smith's book. My students tend to be literature majors rather than creative writers, but I always give them the option of writing their own personal narrative at the end of the semester, and many give it a try. I think it's important for them to experience both sides of the scholar/writer border, as you and I did way back at UCSB!
In his new book, “Aflame: Learning from Silence,” Pico Iyer does a wonderful job exploring how a near-death experience being trapped in his mother’s house during Santa Barbara’s 2019 Cave Fire, led him to a silent monastery in Big Sur and an exploration of his life choices and mortality in general. It’s another one I recommend.
Thanks for this recommendation, Ellen. I'll definitely give it a look.
Beautiful "review," such a challenging format: you get a couple of pages to do justice to a whole book, it's author, and then animate someone else enough to want to read it. This does all of that work so well. And I agree with your take on the theme: encountering death in a fully human way animates an astoundment with life, a temporary transcendence that changes everything thereafter, that triple "I am" announcing "their" thereness. The loss of those opportunities is the cost of living in a culture as death-averse as ours is.
Thanks for your comment, Paul. You're so right about our "death-averse" culture. That's why I have a unit in my memoir course dedicated to books that tell of loss and grief. Super important for us to make space for students to read, discuss, and write about what our culture wants them to ignore.
Every time I read one of your posts, my books-to-read-list lengthens! I enjoy how artfully you persuade!