Synopsis
Pritchard (English, Amherst College) presents his third collection of shorter pieces focusing on the work of English and American writers primarily from the 20th century: poets, novelists, critics, and belletrists. His final section considers music, teaching, and teachers. Only names are indexed. Annotation ©2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
The New York Times
In Shelf Life, his third collection of previously published pieces, Pritchard writes about jazz and classical music, modern literature and the art of teaching, exploring in detail the work of a handful of writers, including John Updike, Kingsley Amis, James Merrill and Robert Frost. Pritchard, who teaches English at Amherst College, proudly advertises his unfashionable preference for aesthetics over politics, directing his readers' attention to artistic concerns like the technical challenges posed by Hemingway's style, the ''literary allusiveness'' of Anthony Burgess' work and the verbal playfulness of Raymond Chandler's fiction. — Laura Ciolkowski