Synopsis
In follow up to the multi-award winner, The March, E.L. Doctorow focuses his brilliant mind on writers, with eloquent and surprising essays on the literary craft. These revelatory essays on the nature of creativity in writers run the gamut, from the literary, to the comic, to the cosmic. Rich with philosophical asides, personality, historical context and speculation, personal observations and literary judgments, Doctorow considers creativity from many angles. What emerges is a thoughtful and provocative portrait of art, literature and society, as well as a surprising view into one of the great literary minds of our time.
Ron Powers
Doctorow offers no apologies for the charm. His subjects, all summoned rather pointedly from the past, do have a certain radiance in my eyes, he happily admits early on, adding, "underlying all my attentions is a collegial homage, a sympathy, even a love for the aesthetic struggle as it shines with a kind of blessedness." Edgar Allan Poe (the worst writer of his, etc.) may Nevermore see this bounty of slack cut him.
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