Synopsis
In the current information age, "memory" is as likely to be an attribute of a computer as a human being. In Graywolf Forum Three: The Business of Memory, editor Charles Baxter invites twelve creative writers to contemplate the externalization of what was once so deeply personal. The resulting essays address a provocative range of topics: the explosion of interest in the memoir; the recovered-memory movement; America in the grip of an "amnesia plague;" the need for coherent stories of our past to help us organize our present; and forgetfulness—political, cultural, and literary—and the shame and allure it holds. Throughout, these fascinating pieces illuminate the art of remembering in a time when memory has become a highly measurable commodity.
Charles Baxter is the author of several books, including Burning Down the House and Believers. He has been honored with an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Baxter lives in Ann Arbor and teaches at the University of Michigan.
Contributors:
Charles Baxter Richard Bausch Karen Brennan Bernard Cooper Lydia Davis Steve Erickson Alvin Greenberg Patricia Hampl Margot Livesey James A. McPherson Victoria Morrow Michael Ryan Sylvia Watanabe
Hungry Mind Review - Frances Phillips
[The book reflects] on the intellectual character of our age....There is not a bad piece in this volume and [the writers'] sharing a body of references creates a web of connections across the varied perspectives.