From Publishers Weekly
While this volume's everything-but-the-kitchen-sink title may seem to imply an odd combination of editorial insecurity or pretension, it only takes one spin through the table of contents to know why the editors felt the need for such a busy, bursting name. This astoundingly diverse anthology, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Paris Review, is jam-packed with resonant and provocative work from some of our greatest writers, past and present: W.H. Auden, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, Jack Kerouac, Elizabeth Bishop, Truman Capote, William Burroughs, Susan Sontag, Joyce Carol Oates, Toni Morrison, Jonathan Franzen, Ian McEwan and Alice Munro, to name just a fraction. Rather than relying on critics to illuminate the craft of writing secondhand, the founders inaugurated a series of interviews with the authors themselves, creating what Plimpton, in his introduction, refers to as "a DNA of literature"; several excerpts from those interviews are included here. A look at the eras and themes represented shows that the journal's only abiding mandate has been an evolving brand of artistic humanism, which has morphed and adapted to the changing times. How else can one explain being able to jump with such joy and ease from a hilarious and poignant story by Lorrie Moore to an interview with Ted Hughes about his first meeting with Sylvia Plath, then to Allen Ginsberg's loving, sexually charged poem about the life and death of Frank O'Hara? It is a tribute to Plimpton and his cofounders that the entries in this wonderful book can be read in any order, for the reader will be able to see his or her life reflected on every page. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
The Paris Review, that mighty "little" literary magazine, is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary with an anthology every bit as mammoth and marvelous as its endless title suggests. Founded by Peter Matthiessen, Harold L. Humes, Donald Hall, William Pene du Bois, and George Plimpton, who remains at the helm, the Paris Review has published an extraordinary group of seminal fiction writers, poets, and essayists and some of the best writer interviews extant, irresistible conversations (Truman Capote responds to a simple question thusly: "Good Lord! I'm afraid you've let yourself in for quite a saga. The answer is a snake's nest of no's and a few yesses") excerpted throughout this dynamic compendium showcasing more than 100 writers past and present. A shattering short story by Lorrie Moore kicks off the "Heartbreak" section, while Zelda Fitzgerald is first up in the "Madness" category. Rick Moody offers a painfully graphic variation on "Sex," and Jonathan Lethem writes of a Tourette's sufferer in "Outsiders." Elsewhere the entranced reader will find Faulkner, Auden, Elkin, Cheever, Komunyakaa, Boyle, Erdrich, Munro, and Clifton. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"A richly endowed night-table volume that keeps on giving."
--The New Yorker
"This astoundingly diverse anthology...is jam-packed with resonant and provocative work from some of our greatest writers, past and present.... The entries in this wonderful book can be read in any order, for the reader will be able to see his or her life reflected on every page." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)


Book Description
For a half-century, The Paris Review has published writing and interviews from the world's most brilliant authors. To commemorate the anniversary, a breathtakingly diverse and illuminating anthology has been assembled. The greatest writers here write and speak upon the greatest subjects of our time:
*Lorrie Moore and Raymond Carver on "Heartbreak"
*Vladimir Nabokov on SEX
*Kurt Vonnegut and Susan Sontag on "War"
*Jonathan Franzen on "Betrayal"
*Jeffrey Eugenides and Norman Mailer on "Death"
*Philip Roth on "God"
Inspiring a dizzying range of thought and emotion, the collection holds a mirror to the world we live in and to the reader's own hopes, dreams, fears, and joy.


About the Author
The Paris Review has published fiction, poetry, interviews, essays, and art since 1953. They have published the work of Philip Roth and Seamus Heaney, William Styron and Truman Capote, Toni Morrison and Alice Munro, among others, and have interviewed everyone from Vladimir Nabokov to Ralph Ellison to Richard Ford.

FROM THE PUBLISHER