In Short: A Collection of Brief Creative Nonfiction

Bys: Judith Kitchen and Mary Paumier Jones

Book Overview

Something is going on out there. Almost simultaneously, many of our finest writers are experimenting with a new nonfiction form: brief pieces that are literary and personal rather than informational, complete in themselves, and short--very short. Although the form has not had a name until now, the writers who are attracted to it include the known--Tim O'Brien, Barry Lopez, Terry Tempest Williams, Michael Ondaatje--as well as just-discovered voices...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393314928
• ISBN13: 9780393314922
• Release Date: July 1996
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.98 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.6" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Enjoyable.

Here's my quibble, and it's a quibble against the genre more than this book: I'm not sure how I feel about the 'short'. (I know, so why'd I buy the dang book?) Part of me distrusts the genre as pandering to the ever-shrinking attention spans of our culture. We get our news in disconnected soundbytes, the average news story is 30 seconds long...you know the 'crabby old timer' diatribe. So, I'm ambivalent about the genre. That being said, this is a great book. It has consoled me that not everything short is shallow. I keep it by my computer to leaf through when my ancient dialup is cranking its way to the hinternets, and have found the nibble-sized essays to be just the ticket to turn a wait into a refreshing pause. The editors took enormous care in sequencing the selections, and part of the enjoyment as a reader for me has come from tracing themes (birds, gender, death, etc) as they pop up like threads in a tapestry throughout the book as a whole. It's best read in little nibbles, with a bit of thought after each piece. Now, I'm not crazy in love with every selection in this book. There are some standouts (can anyone make it through "Tino & Papi" without getting choked up?), a good number of very good essays, and a few 'ehh' pieces that left me unmoved. (That may be just my taste, though). The benefit of 'shorts' is that in a relatively small space, the editors can give you tons and tons of range. You get essays that strike your heart. Essays that get your brain working. Essays that cause you to well with nostalgia. Essays that bring you peace and calm. Creative nonfiction has in the last five years (since I started teaching--whoa, that makes me sound like I'm somehow instrumental in it. I'm not!) begun to grow as a genre. Memoir, reflection, meditation, personal essay are represented in this book. Literary journalism is not. But there are at least three massive LJ anthologies I can think of, while this is one of a kind, and specializing in the supershort. It's a good addition to the library of anyone teaching the genre, as well as anyone who wants to experience the wider horizon of creative nonfiction.

Don't miss this inspiring collection

Whether you're a reader, a writer, or a dabbler, you'll surely find plenty in this lovely collection to please your mind and lighten your spirit. Not one of the essays is longer than 2000 words, and many are only a paragraph or three in length. Yet each is a little sparkling gem, a nugget of pure gold. There's one by Kathleen Norris (already known for her lyrical spiritual writing) about rain that just takes the breath away. Each, in some small way, connects us to the common pulse of humanity running through the veins of the world around us.Top rating.

A truly collaborative work of art

So many of the stories in this book are just so poignant, so special, so.... ! They are like individual little works of art.

Best collection of nonfiction I ever read--inspiring.

I could not put this book down. An aspiring writer, it filled me with fire to get back to writing in my journal--noting details of the day's people and events with new passion and belief in my own observations. So many of the pieces in the book are wondrous, but I especially liked INTO THE STORM by Jerry Ellis which is from his book, WALKING THE TRAIL, about his 900 mile walk along the Cherokee Trail of Tears.

A Must For Any Doctor's Office or Bathroom Stand

This is a sharp collection of creative non-fiction, each piece in the book could stand alone as a powerful piece of writing--and the collection of works define (in a collaborative sense) the very essence of the direction that this "new" branch of literature is taking. From heartwarming introspection to horrifying accounts of war, this book travels the spectrum of human emotion with short, deeply personal glimpses.