Nearer

Arthur Saltzman

Description

Lyrical, witty, and elegiac, Nearer’s 25 essays show the imagination at work and play amid the ambiguities, consternations, and beauties of the world.

Informations

• Publié par: Parlor Press, LLC
• Date de parution: 10 février 2006
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781932559743
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

N E A R E R

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NEARER ARTHUR SALTZMAN

ESSAYS

E

Praise for Artur Saltzman’s O  E (2001)

“Eac piece coalesces to reveal a keen mind in love wit words. . . . Many of tese essays deploy riskily mellifluous language; tey all ring personal, fervent and true.” —Publisher’s Weekly

“Saltzman’s prose is pity, allusive, elegant. . . . In stylistic virtuosity, [e] comes peraps closest to Updike.” — Modern Language Review

“hese essays marry te celebration of language wit acuity. . . . he col- lection is, like te work Saltzman esteems most, risky, adventurous, in- quisitive, and callenging.” —Hyde Park Review of Books

Lyrical, witty, and elegiac, te twenty-five essays in N te sow imagination at work and play amid te ambiguities, consternations, and beauties of te world. hey range in subject matter from confrontations wit magnitude (God, deat, and te pysical universe) to examinations of te compact, coiled insistences to be found in te ordinary and te lo- cal—wat Jon Updike refers to as “te small answer of a texture.” here are meditations on te appeals and te pitfalls of celebrity, te strange and complex nature of memorials, te treat of creeping fraudulence in personal and professional life, te place and possibility of fait, and te damage tat settling for “watever” can do. “Getting Known,” “My Ani- mal Instincts,” and “In So Many Words” ave been named Notable Essays in te Best American Essays series.

In addition to N , Artur Saltzman’s previous books include te col- lection of essays O  E (2001, winner of te First Series Creative Nonfiction Award) and six critical studies of literature and writ- ers. Recognitions for is writing include te 2005 Columbia Nonfiction Award, te 2003 Victor J. Emmett Memorial Essay Award (from M Q), te 2002 N R Creative Nonfiction Award, and te inaugural Ames Memorial Essay Award (from L L). He is currently a Professor of Englis at Missouri Soutern State University.

Parlor Press 816 Robinson Street West Lafayette, IN 47906 w w w. p a r l o r p r e s s . c o m S A N 2 5 4 – 8 8 7 9 ISBN 1–932559–74–4

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Nearer

By the same author

Objects and Empathy This Mad Instead: Governing Metaphors in Contemporary American Fiction Understanding Nicholson Baker The Novel in the Balance Designs of Darkness in Contemporary American Fiction Understanding Raymond Carver The Fiction of William Gass: The Consolation of Language

Nearer

Essays

Artur SaltZman

Parlor Press West Lafayette, Indiana www.parlorpress.com

Parlor Press LLC, West Lafayette, Indiana 47906

© 2006 by Parlor Press All rigts reserved. Printed in te United States of America S A N: 2 5 4 - 8 8 7 9

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

SaltZman, Artur M. (Artur Micael), 1953-  Nearer : essays / Artur SaltZman.  p. cm.  ISBN 1-932559-73-6 (acid-free paper) -- ISBN 1-932559-72-8 (pbk. : acid-free paper) -- ISBN 1-932559-74-4 (Adobe eBook)  I. Title.  AC8.S225 2006  081--dc22  2006002762

Printed on acid-free paper. Cover and book design by David Blakesley Cover potograp: “Hubble’s Sarpest View of te Orion Nebula.” NASA,ESA, M. Robberto (Space Telescope Science Institute/ESA) and te Hubble Space Telescope Orion Treasury Project Team

Parlor Press, LLC is an independent publiser of scolarly and trade titles in print and multimedia formats. Tis book is available in paperback, clot and Adobe eBook formats from Parlor Press on te WWW at ttp://www.parlorpress.com. For submission in- formation or to find out about Parlor Press publications, write to Parlor Press, 816 Robinson St., West Lafayette, Indiana, 47906, or e-mail [e-mail].

For Joy and te searc for te tird ting

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Contents

Standing on Fishes 3 Impostors 14 Nearer 30 Chosen People 48 The Porlock Principle 61 Model Behavior 70 The Cast of Characters 86 Some OneonOne 100 Memorial Haul 112 A Few Paces from Hemingway 141 Don’t Breathe a Word 148 Savages 166 Cast Irony 173 Prosthetic Devices 183 Excerpts from the Vertical File 196 The Orders of Magnitude 210 Inadmissible Evidence 230 Waiting for Takeoff 244 Shelf Life 255 Trash Talking 267 Getting Known 288 Mistake and Identity 304

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Contents My Animal Instincts 314 Something Like a Particle, Something Like a Wave 330 In So Many Words 341 Acknowledgments 355

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