In a collection of twelve incisive and intimate essays, the noted critic, essayist, and author of The Gutenberg Elegies reexamines key works of fiction in terms of the personal meaning and influence they have had in his life, covering such works as The Catcher in the Rye, To the Lighthouse, Humboldt's Gift, and Lolita. Original.

Considers the impact of computers and online information on the printed word

One of the nation's great literary critics shares memories of growing up as an outcast in suburban Detroit, reaching deep back into his own family's history to paint a rich portrait of a life lived as an outsider in America. Reprint.

Determined that he will someday be a great poet, Olaf Karason pursues his dream in the face of the contempt and indifference of the people around him, taking up a life of poverty, loneliness, failed love affairs, and sexual scandal as he journeys across Iceland to seek his goal. Reprint. 17,500 first printing.

Product Description: Readings combines the best of Sven Birkerts's previously published criticism with vital new essays. A dazzling writer whose clarity, rigor, and far-flung intellectual curiosity have been widely praised, Birkerts the literary critic is in top form in these pages...read more

Co-authored by two esteemed writers, Writing Well, is a beautifully-written and thoroughly readable guide to the craft of writing prose. This concise, lively text covers all aspects of writing but is best known for its signature chapters on words, sentences, and paragraphs. Going beyond the basics of composition, the text teaches originality and elegance in writing encouraging students to develop their own written voice. Sample student papers Ð including several works-in-progress - allow students to learn the writing process through the work of their peers. A brief handbook section rounds out the coverage.

A collection of writers, including Birkerts, Wendy Lesser, Mark Slouka, Albert Goldbarth, and Paul West, share their opinions about the electronic age and the decline of reading

Evaluates the postmodern literary scene and the effect the media have had on the way we think and write, and examines the diversity of the novelistic styles of such writers as Philip Roth, Norman Mailer, and Leslie Marmon Silko

Product Description: Organized to accommodate both the chronological and selective approaches to teaching fiction, this book offers a generous range of international and American multicultural authors. It presents 12 stories in each of three sections: "Storytelling Backgrounds"; "The First Golden Age"; and "The Modern Age"...read more

Product Description: Writing Well/Students Edition

Discusses Max Frisch, Heinrich Boll, Osip Mandelstam, Joseph Brodsky, Blaise Cendrars, Primo Levi, Umberto Eco, Malcolm Lowry, Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortazar, and Cyril Connolly

Discusses modern poetry and examines the poems of Keats, Marianne Moore, Pasternak, Paz, Robert Lowell, and Adrienne Rich