Literary Genius

Selected and edited by Joseph Epstein
Wood engravings by Barry Moser
Also available in hardcover.

Paperback
59 wood engravings, 246 pp., $18.95
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Our finest essayists discuss six centuries of literary genius.

"Genius is one of those words upon which the world has agreed to form no clear consensus," Joseph Epstein tells us in his introduction. How then shall we define "literary genius"? In this collection, twenty-five contemporary authors endeavor to answer that question by considering twenty-five clas . . . [read more]

My Business is Circumference

Edited by Stephen Berg

Trade Paper, 294 pp., $26.95
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Twenty-eight distinguished contemporary American poets provide a multifaceted view of the creative process. Each poet has contributed a poem and chosen several poems by other poets that have influenced it. In an essay, each poet then describes how those influences have led to a sense of poetic mastery.

The Contributors:

• A.R. Ammons
• L.S. Asekoff
• S . . . [read more]

The Secret of Fame

Gabriel Zaid

Translated from the Spanish by Natasha Wimmer

Hardcover, 182 pp., $14.95
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"Gabriel Zaid is a marvelously elegant and playful writer—a cosmopolitan critic with sound judgment and a light touch. He is a jewel of Latin American letters, which is no small thing to be. Read him—you’ll see." —Paul Berman

In So Many B . . . [read more]

Seven Conversations with Jorge Luis Borges

Fernando Sorrentino

Translated from the Spanish by Clark M. Zlotchew

Trade Paper, 196 pp., $16.95
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These wide-ranging conversations have an open and intimate tone, giving readers a uniquely personal glimpse of one of the most fascinating figures in contemporary world literature.

Interviewer Fernando Sorrentino, an Argentinian writer and anthologist, displays literary acumen, sensitivity, urbanity, and an encyclopedic knowledge of Borges' work. (In his prologue, Borges jokes that So . . . [read more]

Shakespeare's Use of the Arts of Language

Sister Miriam Joseph

Now available in paperback

Hardcover, 423 pp., $34.95
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Grammar-school students in Shakespeare's time were taught to recognize the two hundred figures of speech that Renaissance scholars had derived from Latin and Greek sources (from amphibologia through onomatopoeia to zeugma). This knowledge was one element in their thorough grounding in the liberal arts of logic, grammar, and rhetoric, known as the trivium. In Shakespeare's Use of the Arts of . . . [read more]

So Many Books

Gabriel Zaid

Translated from the Spanish by Natasha Wimmer

Trade Paper, 144 pp., $12.00
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"Reading liberates the reader and transports him from his book to a reading of himself and all of life. It leads him to participate in conversations, and in some cases to arrange them . . . It could even be said that to publish a book is to insert it into the middle of a conversation." —from So Many Books

Join the conversation! In So Many Books, Gabriel . . . [read more]

The Telescope in the Parlor

James McConkey

Trade Paper, 196 pp., $10.00
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Retail: $14.95. BACKLIST SALE PRICE $10.00

In this collection of essays, James McConkey—novelist, professor, and memoirist—writes about the authors and experiences that have meant the most to him. In "Three Autobiographical Essays" and "A Story for a Child," McConkey poignantly recalls events of courting and family life that rema . . . [read more]

Writers on the Air

Donna Seaman

Hardcover, 467 pp., $20.00
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Retail: $24.95. BACKLIST SALE PRICE $20.00

Writers on the Air brings to print for the first time Donna Seaman's vibrant author interviews from her Chicago-based radio program, Open Books. In these conversations, authors discuss their inspirations, their favorite books, their working and research habits. Seaman also connects the author's books with othe . . . [read more]