The Friday Book

So you're a writer worried about the future of your art? Or you're a reader wondering if you're the last of your breed? Well, here's a book to comfort your soul (and give you a good idea of where to go next). In this, his 1st collection of non-fiction, John Barth, long-considered a master-practitioner of fiction, gives us several dozen essays that should be on the syllabus of any class dealing with the art & craft of writing. As strong a philosopher as he is a storyteller, Barth shows us how his outlook on all things literary has affected his output, especially in the 2 strongest pieces: "The Literature of Exhaustion" & "The Literature of Replenishment." But singling out these 2 essays is like focusing on "Hamlet" and "King Lear" while ignoring the rest of Shakespeare. Like the Bard himself, John Barth is a man whose idea of play is more rigorous & demanding than most people's idea of a career (and what a career he's had!). Here's a book that will make better readers & writers out of all who read it. Oh, and it's funny as hell as well.