Reviews for Three American Poets: Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, and Herman Melville

The average rating for Three American Poets: Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, and Herman Melville based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-07-03 00:00:00 Troy Hewett I talk to myself a lot. Stuff like, "Why do I like this genre?" for instance. In the case of literary essays, one reason (or so I say) is similar to the reasons I participate at Goodreads, even after it was taken over by the Evil Empire (Jeff Bezos, Inc.). Book recommendations. As sure as the sun rises, any book of literary essays is going to include shop talk. And though many of the allusions will be familiar and even classic in nature, sometimes you'll get titles you never heard of. If you're lucky, there will be an index in the back to help you hunt down titles you remember (if not where) reading about but, in this case, you won't be lucky. No index. (All together now: C'mon Graywolf! Get your indexed act together!) Three titles I noted in this book -- ones heretofore unfamiliar to me -- are Enormous Changes at the Last Minute by Grace Paley and 7 Tattoos: A Memoir in the Flesh by Peter Trachtenberg. And the Collected Poems by Donald Justice. I very much liked the poem he included, Justice's last in his book, "There Is a Gold Light in Certain Old Paintings." As for familiar allusions, I particularly enjoyed the last essay on Chekhov, maybe because I just finished the Letters by everyone's favorite Russkie. Baxter says stuff like this: "Chekhov is always asking us this question, 'How does anyone live with emptiness?' His stories and plays often create a condition bordering on despair, in which happiness is located elsewhere, such as Moscow for the three sisters, or in loving Dr. Astrov for Sonya (in Uncle Vanya), or the preservation of the countryside for Dr. Astrov himself. And then, when no expectation finds its way into actuality, Chekhov's plays grandly, and heroically, struggle with their aftermath condition, and characters begin telling each other what they themselves need to hear. No one is better than Chekhov in depicting the conversations of people shut out from Heaven." And this: "When you are pouring your guts out, someone is almost always off in the next room, practicing the accordion or cutting coupons out of the newspaper or vacuuming up the breadcrumbs under the dining-room table. Icarus falls out of the sky, and the farmer goes on plowing his fields. Someone is not paying attention, and Chekhov always notices this: how the world is ending in one room, and in the other room, people are playing cards and getting drunk or playing the guitar." I also enjoyed the penultimate piece, "Regarding Happiness," which discusses literature's propensity for works preoccupied with death and depression. It so inspired me, I riffed on it here. If you're looking for controversial takes, Baxter won't disappoint, either. He dedicates essays to such eclectically-unpopular fare as not liking epiphanies (sorry, Jimmy Joyce), asserting that melodrama can be GOOD for literature, and asserting that stillness is underappreciated and precious difficult to write. The way I figure, if you're going to write about literature, you might as well throw some elbows. The resulting collection, though up and down and uneven at times, is, for the most part, fun to read. As time goes by, I find I gravitate more and more toward the form. Hell, I'm even picking up my Collected Montaigne essays and reading samples from the Master's works now and then. Especially now that we have more nows and thens to work with (sigh).

Review # 2 was written on 2012-08-19 00:00:00 Bruce Utkov Beware on this one! (Emphasis greatly exaggerated). Don't believe the reviewers on this title'believe Baxter, the author. Many reviewers (and I suspect they are authors or aspiring authors) suggest that their interests in this title is what the title is about'consequently, you'll see many reviewers describe Burning Down the House: Essays on Fiction as a book for writers, on writing as a 'craft' (as if this book has how-to potential), or on the act of writing fiction. These reviewers aren't lying to you or trying to deceive you in any way; none of them seem malicious or poorly informed. Instead, they see what Baxter's collection offers them. Other reviewers seem more inclined to believe Baxter's explicit subtitle: Essays on Fiction. The essays have as much to offer readers as writers. Baxter clearly delights in reading and writing. In this he is rather like James Wood (a personal favorite) pointing to the well-placed word or phrase or sentence and shouting: Look at this! Isn't this something? or Check this out! For me, this is the best kind of criticism, a writer/reader/critic sharing what's has caught his or her eyes in a particular work and describing how those elements work with enthusiasm and from an informed perspective. I'd prefer to give this title four-and-a-half stars, not because it has faults or flaws, but because I wish there was more of it.