Clem Anderson

“The best novel I know of on the subject of writing, or on the condition of being a writer.” —Richard Yates Widely recognized as R. V. Cassill’s masterpiece, Clem Anderson is the story of an author whose astonishing talents are outmatched only by his capacity for self-destruction. Arrogant, untrustworthy, moody, and narcissistic, Clem is also a brilliant artist capable of astonishing feats of alchemy: His pen magically transforms real life into the stuff of great literature. But the rising tide of literary success is dangerous ground for a personality as unstable as Clem’s, and when he dies at the age of forty, alone and disgraced, it is up to his few remaining friends to pick up the pieces. The most steadfast and empathetic of these survivors is Dick Hartsell, a former classmate and fellow writer who has long walked in Clem’s shadow. Commissioned by a movie studio to publish a memorial article about his doomed friend, Hartsell struggles to capture the man’s unruly existence in this tidy format. So he sets out to write a novel called Clem Anderson, detailing his eponymous hero’s epic rise and fall. From a rural midwestern childhood to early fame as an undergraduate poet to the intoxicating expatriate literary scene in post–World War II Paris and an unhappy romance with a Hollywood starlet, Hartsell tells the story of Anderson’s life. The result is a work of art as singular and unforgettable as its ill-fated subject.

Adopting a unique historical approach to its subject and with a particular focus on the institutions involved in the creation, dissemination, and reception of literature, this handbook surveys the way in which the Cold War shaped literature and literary production, and how literature affected the course of the Cold War. To do so, in addition to more 'traditional' sources it uses institutions like MFA programs, university literature departments, book-review sections of newspapers, publishing houses, non-governmental cultural agencies, libraries, and literary magazines as a way to understand works of the period differently. Broad in both their geographical range and the range of writers they cover, the book's essays examine works of mainstream American literary fiction from writers such as Roth, Updike and Faulkner, as well as moving beyond the U.S. and the U.K. to detail how writers and readers from countries including, but not limited to, Taiwan, Japan, Uganda, South Africa, India, Cuba, the USSR, and the Czech Republic engaged with and contributed to Anglo-American literary texts and institutions.

Widely recognized as R.V. Cassill's masterpiece, Clem Anderson is the story of an author whose astonishing talents are outmatched only by his capacity for self-destruction. Arrogant, untrustworthy, moody, and narcissistic, Clem Anderson is also a brilliant artist capable of astonishing feats of alchemy: with his pen, real life is magically transformed into the stuff of great literature. But the rising tide of literary success is dangerous ground for a personality as unstable as Anderson's, and when he dies at the age of forty, alone and disgraced, it is up to his few remaining friends to pick up the pieces."The best novel I know of on the subject of writing, or on the condition of being a writer." -- Richard Yates

Perhaps no twentieth century writer was so observant and elegant a chronicler of his times as Truman Capote. Whether he was profiling the rich and famous or creating indelible word-pictures of events and places near and far, Capote’s eye for detail and dazzling style made his reportage and commentary undeniable triumphs of the form. Portraits and Observations is the first volume devoted solely to all the essays ever published by this most beloved of writers. From his travel sketches of Brooklyn, New Orleans, and Hollywood, written when he was twenty-two, to meditations about fame, fortune, and the writer’s art at the peak of his career, to the brief works penned during the isolated denouement of his life, these essays provide an essential window into mid-twentieth-century America as offered by one of its canniest observers. Included are such celebrated masterpieces of narrative nonfiction as “The Muses Are Heard” and the short nonfiction novel “Handcarved Coffins,” as well as many long-out-of-print essays, including portraits of Isak Dinesen, Mae West, Marcel Duchamp, Humphrey Bogart, and Marilyn Monroe. Among the highlights are “Ghosts in Sunlight: The Filming of In Cold Blood, “Preface to Music for Chameleons, in which Capote candidly recounts the highs and lows of his long career, and a playful self-portrait in the form of an imaginary self-interview. The book concludes with the author’s last written words, composed the day before his death in 1984, the recently discovered “Remembering Willa Cather,” Capote’s touching recollection of his encounter with the author when he was a young man at the dawn of his career. Portraits and Observations puts on display the full spectrum of Truman Capote’s brilliance. Certainly, Capote was, as Somerset Maugham famously called him, “a stylist of the first quality.” But as the pieces gathered here remind us, he was also an artist of remarkable substance.

David Garlick, your favourite educational storyteller, is back with a new collection of short stories: The Principal Chronicles Two/Too/II/As Well. It’s a ‘mostly true’ memoir that follows Garlick from pre-school to post retirement. The majority of stories, such as “At the Intersection of Adolescence and Technology,” “Three A.M. Hypochondria,” and “Kid, Your Dad Knows Everybody,” display a gentle sense of humour that will have you laughing and turning the page to get to the next story. Others, like “They’ve Already Won,” will grab at your heartstrings. Some stories do a bit of both. Every aspect of Garlick’s career is dealt with, from student to teacher to vice-principal and principal to retiree. The stories show the rollercoaster ride that is education, whether you’re the student, teacher or principal. As one reviewer of the first book said, “If you are a teacher, were a teacher, or know a teacher, this is a must read!” Although the target audience of The Principal Chronicles was intended to be educators, people from all walks of life, and all ages have found the stories relatable and enjoyable. People who finished that book wanting more will love Two/Too/II/As Well. As long as you like to laugh, this book is for you!

"Experimentation and Versatility considers Chappell's first four novels and his short fiction - the novels chronologically and the short stories thematically - in order to demonstrate the unique range and importance of his fictional prose. Rather than inserting Chappell's fictional variables into a single theoretical formula, Clabough traces and celebrates their various and multifaceted excursions into genres as disparate as Appalachian pastoralism and experimental science fiction. Containing both an interview with Chappell and a previously unpublished short story, Experimentation and Versatility also offers new primary sources on Chappell's work, even as it contextualizes him as one of our most exciting and multi-talented contemporary writers. Investigating the complexities of Chappell's work, Clabough's study offers new ways of considering Chappell, who has been characterized variously as a Appalachian, Southern, and fantasy writer. However, as Clabough demonstrates, he is, in fact, all and none of these things - a writer of immense gifts constantly reinventing himself through his experiments in seemingly disparate genres."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved