From Publishers Weekly
Former Prairie Schooner managing editor Flaherty notes in her introduction that few of the 16 writers collected here are essayists foremost. Flaherty and Raz, the journal's editor, gather work from poets (Maxine Kumin, Jonathan Holden, Judith Ortiz Cofer), novelists (Robin Hemley, Wright Morris), a biographer (Nancy Willard) and a critic (the late Virginia Faulkner). Despite this diversity, childhood and family are frequent topics. Holden's "Tea and Sympathy" recalls how his struggle to accept his identical twin's homosexuality complicated his adolescent isolation and fed his burgeoning interest in poetry. Hemley's wry "Jinx" recounts how childhood guilt over the death of friends and relatives shaped his self-image as an oddball. Stephen K. Bauer sounds a similar note of teenage angst in "Reading the Currents," a poignant tale of adolescent obsession with fishing. Cofer's "Casa: A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood" and Jo Ann Beard's "Cousins" evocatively explore the tight familial bonds between women in New York City and the rural South. Though this volume commemorates the literary magazine's 75th anniversary, it's less a testament to the journal's vitality than to the endurance and dexterity of the essay form. A few pieces fall flat, because they're dated (Faulkner's 1932 travel essay seems as antique as a Victorian valentine) or too brief to answer satisfactorily the questions they pose. A notable exception is Albert Alvaro Rios's compact "Translating Translation: Finding the Beginning," which swiftly and deftly illustrates the difficult nuances of literary translation with earthy anecdotes that demonstrate how "Language is more than what we say.... It is the how as much as the what, form as much as content, intent as much as words." Any reader who values the essay form will find pleasures in this volume. (Dec.) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

SYNOPSIS

The "Best of..." anything carries with it the burden of expectation. That which claims to be above the rest is ultimately a matter of taste. Therefore, picking up and reading this collection of personal essays is somewhat similar to the approach taken by a foreigner faced with a plate of unfamiliar foods. With enthusiasm and a spirit of discovery, the traveller-reader will find that certain flavors and preparations are agreeable, while others are not.

What is appealing is the range of subjects and nuances of style and voice, from pieces about a mother's cancer, to a young man's homophobia and how he reacts when his identical twin brother comes out, to one about the death of a brother-in-law in a surreal shooting on the highway.

What may appear at first glance to be a deft arrangement of words and images, can also impart interesting philosophical and political content. Amidst compost, blossoms, and the ritual of harvest, Maxine Kumin writes "Around here the calves are not confined in slatted cages in the dark, chickens scratch in capacious barnyards and are not debeaked, sows farrow in full-size pens or in the open. Does it matter how they live, since they are all going to die to feed us? I think it matters mightily, not only because these uncrowded creatures need not be shot full of antibiotics to survive to marketable size, but because how we treat the animals in our keeping defines us as human beings."

What is accomplished here, and in the best of cases, is the merging of an intimate, distinctive voice with moral and aesthetic concerns. The personal essay form allows for this in a way that is superior to other genres, though it depends somewhat upon the author finding the right reader--or vice versa.

A collection such as this one, representing sixteen accomplished writers culled over time from a respected American literary magazine, offers a hungry reader a place to start sampling.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Former Prairie Schooner managing editor Flaherty notes in her introduction that few of the 16 writers collected here are essayists foremost. Flaherty and Raz, the journal's editor, gather work from poets (Maxine Kumin, Jonathan Holden, Judith Ortiz Cofer), novelists (Robin Hemley, Wright Morris), a biographer (Nancy Willard) and a critic (the late Virginia Faulkner). Despite this diversity, childhood and family are frequent topics. Holden's "Tea and Sympathy" recalls how his struggle to accept his identical twin's homosexuality complicated his adolescent isolation and fed his burgeoning interest in poetry. Hemley's wry "Jinx" recounts how childhood guilt over the death of friends and relatives shaped his self-image as an oddball. Stephen K. Bauer sounds a similar note of teenage angst in "Reading the Currents," a poignant tale of adolescent obsession with fishing. Cofer's "Casa: A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood" and Jo Ann Beard's "Cousins" evocatively explore the tight familial bonds between women in New York City and the rural South. Though this volume commemorates the literary magazine's 75th anniversary, it's less a testament to the journal's vitality than to the endurance and dexterity of the essay form. A few pieces fall flat, because they're dated (Faulkner's 1932 travel essay seems as antique as a Victorian valentine) or too brief to answer satisfactorily the questions they pose. A notable exception is Albert Alvaro Rios's compact "Translating Translation: Finding the Beginning," which swiftly and deftly illustrates the difficult nuances of literary translation with earthy anecdotes that demonstrate how "Language is more than what we say.... It is the how as much as the what, form as much as content, intent as much as words." Any reader who values the essay form will find pleasures in this volume. (Dec.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

This collection from the respected Prairie Schooner celebrates the personal essay with 16 selections by some of the poets, novelists, and critics who have contributed to the literary magazine over the years. The experiences and memories presented by Raz and Flaherty (editor and former managing editor, respectively) include a meditation on planting and nurturing a garden, an account of a young girl eavesdropping on family conversations in Puerto Rico, a paean to the power an adolescent boy finds in fishing, and an attempt to understand a father's death. One of the most compelling offerings is David Haward Bain's blend of personal memory and history of his now-devastated hometown of Camden, NJ, once the booming river port where Walt Whitman lived. A companion to the Prairie Schooner Seventy-Fifth Anniversary Anthology to be published in 2001, this volume will delight readers searching for the experimentation and personal revelation the journal typically offers. Strongly recommended for public and academic libraries.--Nancy R. Ives, SUNY at Geneseo Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Foreword