In Short: A Collection of Brief Creative Nonfiction: A Gathering of Brief Creative Nonfiction

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Overview

Something is going on out there. Almost simultaneously, many of our finest writers are experimenting with a new nonfiction form: brief pieces that are literary and personal rather than informational, complete in themselves, and short—very short. Although the form has not had a name until now, the writers who are atrracted to it include the known—Tim O'Brien, Barry Lopez, Terry Tempest Williams, Michael Ondaatje—as well as just-discovered voices in the field of creative nonfiction, a genre that is transforming the essay.

Delights and surprises await the reader in this rich gathering of Shorts (ranging from several paragraphs to two thousand words). From Diane Ackerman's fascination with hummingbirds, to Andrei Codrescu's idiosyncratic view of nostalgia, to Albert Goldbarth's free-wheeling riff on the universe, each Short becomes a sharply focused lens on an outer world or an inner sensibility.

In Short, reflecting almost every way in which nonfiction can be written, is for all readers (and writers) who thrive on imaginative play and aesthetic satisfaction. Pick up this book; open it up. See if you can resist it.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

Even readers skeptical of short-attention-span publishing will find these short-short (fewer than 2000 words) essays addictive. They're like a plate of Cheese Doodles at a party: not every one is crisp and perfect, but many are, and so the reader keeps going, waiting for the next flash of brilliance. The short-short essay form seems to inspire people to write about nature. Though some are flaccid, the best, such as Kathleen Norris's paean to rain and Donald Hall's wry notes about the joy we take in suffering bad weather, connect natural events to humanity. Short memoirs are poignant, and the form cuts away any sentimentality. In three paragraphs, Stuart Dybek recalls the summer nights when drivers would occasionally pass through his neighborhood with their headlights off, and Henry Louis Gates Jr. gives his family's reasoning about why white people are poor cooks. Within such a short form, the spaces between things become paramountand in the best cases make exposition unnecessary. Judson Mitcham tells of feeding his mother in the hospital, then spotting a mass of starlings on his way home. In recalling the 50 pounds of moose meat her father gave her when she departed for college in the '60s, Brenda Peterson easily explains the food chain and her place in it. The editors contribute a cogent introduction on this innovative form, and Bernard Cooper writes in his preface about how small events become powerful, then demonstrates just that principle with a concluding meditation on sighing that is both sad and funny. (July)

Library Journal

Kitchen, a poetry reviewer for the Georgia Review, and Jones, a librarian and essayist, have compiled an anthology of 90 brief pieces, ranging from a few paragraphs to a few pages each, to introduce the emerging genre of "creative nonfiction." Somewhat less informational than standard essays, these nonfiction shorts focus on distilled insights, scenes, and memories. Indeed, many of the writers showcased here are best known for their poetry (e.g., Donald Hall, Maxine Kumin, Rita Dove); some, such as Diane Ackerman, Henry Louis Gates Jr., and Lee Gutkind (Creative Nonfiction, LJ 4/1/96), are seasoned in nonfiction; others are less well known. The editors have artfully arranged the works so that a theme or keyword thread connects each writing to the next one. For example, "Across the Street," an essay about a dying neighbor, is followed by "A Wind from the North," which reminisces about a recently deceased uncle. Yet each gem stands on its own. Biographical notes complete the volume. Recommended for public libraries.Cathy Sabol, Northern Virginia Community Coll., Manassas

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780393314922
Publisher: Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date: 7/28/1996
Pages: 336
Sales rank: 256,701
Product dimensions: 5.50 (w) x 8.30 (h) x 1.00 (d)

Meet the Author

Mary Paumier Jones lives in Rochester. Jones, who teaches creative nonfiction, has a degree in library science.

Judith Kitchen, poet, novelist, and essayist, lives in Port Townsend, Washington, where she and her husband have established a low-residency writing program. She is poetry reviewer of The Georgia Review.

	Preface: The Disproportionate Power of the Small	17
	Editors' Introduction	23
	Lights	31
	All-Out Effort	32
	Volar	34
	Around the Corner	37
	Enough Jam for a Lifetime	39
	An Unspoken Hunger	44
	Three Voices	45
	Proofs	48
	Tino & Papi	55
	Last Shot	57
	LZ Gator, Vietnam, February 1994	60
	Culloden	62
	Afternoon Tea	65
	The Shock of Teapots	68
	Harbour	72
	The Opposite of Saffron	74
	In Praise of the Humble Comma	79
	Suspended	83
	The Blues Merchant	85
	The Usual Story	87
	Joe Turner's Come and Gone: The Play	90
	Sunday	92
	Mint Snowball	94
	Borrowed Time	96
	Loose Ends	98
	Nostalgia	100
	Across the Street	102
	A Wind from the North	104
	Snow	107
	Decoy	110
	Growing Up Game	115
	Rose Vegetables	120
	Interlude	123
	Orange Who?	125
	Hands	128
	The Signature of God	131
	My Children Explain the Big Issues	133
	The Complaint	136
	My Mother in Two Photographs, Among Other Things	138
	Ice Cream	142
	On the Street	144
	Call Guy	146
	Locker Room Talk	149
	White Men Can't Drum	152
	Cat-Like	157
	MRI	162
	On Two Wheels	165
	Running Xian	168
	A Note About Allen Tate	172
	Fernando and Marisela	175
	A Voice for the Lonely	178
	Museum Piece	183
	An End to the Still Lifes	185
	Three Fragments	191
	Inheritance	193
	Modern Times	194
	Nostalgia for Everything	198
	On the Way Home	200
	Falling Stars	201
	Three Yards	203
	The Tree Beyond Imagining	206
	December Meditation at Camp Polk Cemetery	210
	Notes Toward Identifying a Body	215
	A Match to the Heart	219
	Rain	221
	Proud Flesh	223
	April 15	227
	Walking	229
	Into the Storm	233
	Crazy Horse	237
	Nacoochee Indian Mound: Helen, Georgia	239
	The Stories Tell the Land	241
	Sanctuary	244
	Buckeye	247
	August	251
	Stonehenge and the Louvre Were Cool	253
	Winter	259
	Natural Edges	261
	Good Use for Bad Weather	264
	Greenhouse	268
	Nature's See-Saw	270
	Outside's Not What We Think	275
	Falling	280
	Grubby	281
	Children in the Woods	284
	We Are Distracted	288
	One Human Hand	293
	Mute Dancers: How to Watch a Hummingbird	295
	Farder to Reache	299
	The Fine Art of Sighing	301
	Biographical Notes	305
	Permissions	321
	Index	329

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In Short: A Collection of Brief Creative Nonfiction: A Gathering of Brief Creative Nonfiction

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