Just before Dark: Collected Nonfiction

by Jim Harrison

Overview

Jim Harrison's essays and articles have been selected from twenty-five years of work, from venues as diverse as PLAYBOY, THE NATION, OUTSIDE, and the AMERICAN POETRY REVIEW. They explore the passions and concerns of a classic American writer: ice fishing and bar pool, nouvelle cuisine and night walks.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780618001934
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	09/01/1999
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	609,103
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.84(d)

About the Author

Screenwriter, poet, and fiction writer Jim Harrison lives in Michigan.

Editorial Reviews

"Harrison is truly one of those writers whose books are hard to put down." The Los Angeles Times

"Somewhere in that big literary acreage staked out by Thoreau, Hemingway, and Hunter Thompson is a chunk of space for Jim Harrison." Playboy —

From the Publisher

Best known for his fiction, Harrison here sorts magazine pieces written over four decades. "Food'' celebrates the pleasures of cooking, eating and drinking, with exuberant disdain for trendy health-consciousness. "Travel and Sport'' defends hunting and fishing as time-honored, ecologically sound pursuits that, practiced responsibly, draw us closer to the natural world. "Literary Matters'' includes book reviews and dissections of the author's own working methods. Harrison, who came of professional age in the 1960s, favors a casual, intimate journalistic style that reveals as much about himself as his topics. We learn about the loss of an eye when he was seven and the deaths of his father and sister when he was 19. While a few phrases and stories turn up more than once, and while some of the early-'70s sporting pieces display a hip swagger that now seems hilariously dated, the essays taken together suggest the life experience and philosophy that underpin such novels as Legends of the Fall and Dalva. (July)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Poet, novelist, gourmet, and self-described "amateur naturalist,'' Harrison's wide interests make eclecticism one of the hallmarks of his writing. This volume, drawn from over 25 years of work, collects pieces that first appeared in forums as diverse as Sports Illustrated, Antaeus, and The Psychoanalytic Review, as well as several unpublished essays. While not all the material has held up equally well, few of the pieces are without moments of insight or pleasure, and some, such as "Passacaglia on Getting Lost,'' are near-classics. The unifying thread is Harrison's passion for the genuine, for a life lived exuberantly and deeply. Whether describing the pleasures of a good poem, a good meal, a fishing trip, or a walk in the Michigan woods, Harrison is really celebrating the things he loves. For larger collections and where interest warrants.-- Lawrence Rungren, Bedford Free P.L., Mass.

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