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Off the Shelf: Narrative Beginnings edited by Brian Richardson

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Read from the introduction of Narrative Beginnings: Theories and Practices edited by Brian Richardson: "The beginning is a foundational element of any narrative, fictional or nonfictional, public or private, official or subversive. The full importance of beginnings, however, has long been neglected or misunderstood and is only recently becoming known. Currently, only a handful of studies address this surprisingly rich and elusive subject. Others, many of them represented in this volume, are now starting to give beginnings the historical, theoretical, and ideological analysis they require. This critical and theoretical neglect is particularly surprising given the power beginnings possess for the … Continue reading Off the Shelf: Narrative Beginnings edited by Brian Richardson

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Guest blogger: Kate Flaherty

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Lopate and Loren: Two Reasons to Fall in Love with the Essay All Over Again
By Kate Flaherty

Againstjoiedevivre Let me begin by telling you I love essays. I was one of the two kids in my high school English class who was sorry when the Emerson and Thoreau unit ended. My favorite scene in the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder did not have to do with her move to the great plains in a wagon or riding a wild mustang or meeting her true love Almonzo, but instead with when she was able to go to high school and write her first composition (her topic was “ambition”).

And when I first began working at Prairie Schooner, I loved everything in the magazine—poetry, interviews, stories (what can I say, I’m a bookworm)—but the essays were my favorite sons and daughters. Sydney Lea, Paul Mariani, Nancy Willard, Linda Pastan, JoAnn Beard, Maxine Kumin—these writers were the scientists of literature, examining nature or people or truth with a microscopic eye and sharing their discoveries with their readers. It didn’t matter to me if the essays were about tramping around in the Loreneiseley Vermont woods, following the descent into madness of a brilliant poet, attending a wedding in an Iowa cornfield, or dissecting the meaning behind the random murder of a family member in Detroit. I loved the attention to detail, the connections writers made between one world and others, the thoughtfulness of their meditations, and the fact (and yes, fact is an important word in the world of the essay) that it all was real.

So it should be no surprise I was thrilled Bison Books has republished the collection of essays Against Joie de Vivre by Phillip Lopate, one of the modern masters of the essay form, and republished a collection of essays about poet and literary nonfiction writer Loren Eiseley, Loren Eiseley: Commentary, Biography, and Remembrance, a collection that originally was a special issue of Prairie Schooner edited by Hilda Raz. These are two distinctly different essay collections—the Lopate book is a collection of essays by Lopate, and the Eiseley book is a collection of essays by other writers about Eiseley—and yet they appeal to me for the same reasons. The work in these two books makes me want to revisit writers or worlds I have loved, seek out new writing or new worlds I have yet to discover, and meditate on my own writing and the world I live in right now. 

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This Week in History: January 5-9, 2009

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The first full week in January is always the official week of buckling down, returning to pre-holiday routines and hunkering down for another few months of winter (let’s hope we don’t see a return to the sub-zero temps we had here in Nebraska in the weeks before the holidays). January may not be as crazy as December, but over the years many important events have still happened this month. Let’s take a look, shall we? January 5, 1972 – President Richard Nixon orders the development of an organized space shuttle program. Homesteading Space: The Skylab Story, by David Hitt, Owen … Continue reading This Week in History: January 5-9, 2009

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Linking in Lincoln: January 8, 2009

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New this month from the University of Nebraska Press:Narrative Beginnings: Theories and Practices, edited by Brian Richardson. This is a book about beginnings, an appropriate topic as we begin a new year. But specifically, Narrative Beginnings is about the beginnings of stories – sometimes descriptions of people or places, sometimes interruptions of actions, sometimes bold, unforgettable statements that stick with a reader long after he or she has finished the book. Yet for as powerful as beginnings can often be, they’re a little-studied topic. In Narrative Beginnings, sixteen essays shed some light on this important element of any story. This … Continue reading Linking in Lincoln: January 8, 2009

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Tuesday Trivia: January 6, 2009

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New this month from the University of Nebraska Press, is The Art and Aesthetics of Boxing by David Scott. What separates a street fight from a boxing match? What link is there between boxing and cubist painting? Scott addresses these questions, and many more, by making daring correlations between the athletic world and the artistic one. He suggests that not only does boxing have intrinsic aesthetic qualities but that these qualities have been influencing artists throughout history. This weeks Tuesday Trivia will try and test that theory by quizzing all you literature buffs on how well versed you are in the … Continue reading Tuesday Trivia: January 6, 2009

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Off the Shelf: Green Plans: Blueprint for a Sustainable Earth by Huey D. Johnson

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Green Plans Read from the introduction of Green Plans: Blueprint for a Sustainable Earth by Huey D. Johnson:

"It has been twelve years since the first edition of this book. In it I described Green Planning as a concept of great importance and a promising step toward solving environmental problems. Since then, the environmental programs of most nations have not kept pace with the growth of those problems, which are now capped off by the arrival of the huge threat of global warming. Nonetheless, I’m pleased to say that in certain countries, principally the Netherlands, Singapore, and New Zealand, Green Planning has shown exemplary success as a way to work toward social, economic, and environmental sustainability.

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This Week in History: December 29- January 2, 2009

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Well readers, it’s a new year! I don’t know about you but I plan on keeping all my new year’s resolutions in 2009. I have a feeling the dieting one will probably be the hardest though. I’ve heard it always is! The weather seems to be looking up, so that has to be a good karmic sign. If anything, we’ve got a few things this week to give your new year a very bright start! December 29, 1851: The first YMCA opens in Boston, Massachusetts. The YMCA has always been a proponent for joining communities through athletics and physical activity. … Continue reading This Week in History: December 29- January 2, 2009

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Linking in Lincoln: January 1, 2009

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New this month from the University of Nebraska Press is Song of the Oktahutche: Collected Poems by Alexander Posey, edited and with an introduction by Matthew Wynn Sivils. Muscogee (Creek) writer and humorist Alexander Posey (1873–1908) lived most of his short but productive life in the Muscogee Nation, in what is now Oklahoma. He was one of the most prominent American Indian literary figures of his era. Song of the Oktahutche collects for the first time all of Posey’s poetry, which has until now been scattered in various rare volumes, either unpublished or replete with textual errors. This week Linking … Continue reading Linking in Lincoln: January 1, 2009