From Publishers Weekly
Devotees of Young ( Miss MacIntosh, My Darling ) will welcome this collection of her early writings. Included are three short stories (one not published before); 15 essays; 23 book reviews; and character sketches on Johnny Gruelle, who created Raggedy Ann, and on poet Marianne Moore. Young's passion for literature is reflected in her piece "On Teaching," as well as in her book reviews. She expresses respect for authors who use symbolism and mysticism in their work, such as Truman Capote's Other Voices, Other Rooms and Doris Lessing's Children of Violence series. She is vehement in her criticism of Jean-Paul Sartre, denouncing his theories on the meaningless of life. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Young is best known for her novel Miss MacIntosh, My Darling (1965; Dalkey Archive Pr., 1993. reprint). This collection contains three short stories, 15 essays, and 23 reviews by Young, who has long been at work on a biography of Eugene Debs. One of the stories and three of the essays have never been published before. The short stories provide an interesting glimpse into the development of Young's fiction. The essays cover a variety of topics, including the Indiana of her youth, the creator of the Raggedy Ann doll, favorite writers, and imagination. Her reviews are of novels by famous writers such as Henry Miller and Anais Nin as well as poets such as Rosalie Dunlap Hickler. Recommended for academic libraries with graduate programs in literature.Cheryl L. Conway, Univ. of Arkansas Lib., FayettevilleCopyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
If Young is known at all, it is for her enormous novel, Miss MacIntosh, My Darling (1965), which has become something of a cult item. Her shorter prose writings have mostly remained unknown even to the novel's cult. Although this volume first proffers three short stories, one previously unpublished, most of it is criticism in which Young displays the wide range of her interests and concerns. Those include such authors as Marianne Moore and Mari Sandoz; a Colorado Arabian horse-breeding ranch; the once-influential, now-forgotten pre-Romantic English poem Night Thoughts by Edward Young; and the "life" and cultural significance of Raggedy Ann. The book concludes by collecting Young's book reviews, which further attest her wide range of interest. John Shreffler

Anais: An International Journal vol 13
"This previously uncollected prose adds up to a fascinating portrait of the author's intellectual world, her concerns and visions, emerging from her deeply Midwestern roots."

Harvey Pekar, Metro Literary Quarterly 12-8-94
"The contents of Inviting the Muses shed light on Young's beliefs and the formation of her style. . . . Insight into her aesthetic and philosophical viewpointas well as another taste of her exceptional prose stylecan be gained."

Library Journal 7-94
"[A]n interesting glimpse into the development of Young's fiction."

South Bend Tribune 10-23-94
"Here is a remarkable mind which can penetrate other remarkable minds and share its findings with clarity and skill."

Voice Literary Supplement 10-94
"Young is always finding ways to write about art in America, and insisting that we account for our dreams and delusions, no matter what her subject."

Book Description
Young's collected shorter works

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Marguerite Young is best known as the author of Miss MacIntosh, My Darling, a 1200-page novel published to great critical acclaim in 1965 and since then considered a landmark of contemporary American literature. But she is also an enchanting essayist and a perceptive critic, and Inviting the Muses gathers all her shorter prose writings, most of which are unknown even to her admirers. Three short stories (one previously unpublished) are followed by essays and reviews on a wide variety of topics: the Midwest in which Young grew up, writers she admires, the act of writing itself, dolls, horses, deaf-mutes, Mormons (Young is a descendant of Brigham Young), and always the primacy of the imagination in all human endeavors. Young celebrates "complex life and complex letters" (the title of one of the essays), avoiding the commonplace to seek out the mysterious unities that bind disparate activities. Her style mixes elegance with whimsy, wisdom with wit, and her attitude alternates between wonder for life in all its bizarre variety and impatience with those blind to that variety. Inviting the Muses reconfirms Young's eminence as a grande dame of American letters.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Devotees of Young ( Miss MacIntosh, My Darling ) will welcome this collection of her early writings. Included are three short stories (one not published before); 15 essays; 23 book reviews; and character sketches on Johnny Gruelle, who created Raggedy Ann, and on poet Marianne Moore. Young's passion for literature is reflected in her piece ``On Teaching,'' as well as in her book reviews. She expresses respect for authors who use symbolism and mysticism in their work, such as Truman Capote's Other Voices, Other Rooms and Doris Lessing's Children of Violence series. She is vehement in her criticism of Jean-Paul Sartre, denouncing his theories on the meaningless of life. (Aug.)

Library Journal

Young is best known for her novel Miss MacIntosh, My Darling (1965; Dalkey Archive Pr., 1993. reprint). This collection contains three short stories, 15 essays, and 23 reviews by Young, who has long been at work on a biography of Eugene Debs. One of the stories and three of the essays have never been published before. The short stories provide an interesting glimpse into the development of Young's fiction. The essays cover a variety of topics, including the Indiana of her youth, the creator of the Raggedy Ann doll, favorite writers, and imagination. Her reviews are of novels by famous writers such as Henry Miller and Anas Nin as well as poets such as Rosalie Dunlap Hickler. Recommended for academic libraries with graduate programs in literature.-Cheryl L. Conway, Univ. of Arkansas Lib., Fayetteville

BookList - John Shreffler