Synopses & Reviews
Whether recounting events from his past or examining the details of his current experience as a writer, teacher, traveler, and general witness of the world, Reynolds Price shows us how a writer finds meaning in the day-to-day details of living. In this engaging collection of fifty-two personal essays originally aired on NPR's All Things Considered, Price explores topics that range from family and faith to capital punishment and his adventures while navigating an immensely inaccessible America in a wheelchair. Throughout, Price never loses sight of the origin or spirit of the essay -- in French, essayer means to try or attempt -- and each piece is a well-informed, revealing, often amusing and refreshing foray into a moment unlike any other we've shared with him.
Review
Publishers Weekly A panoramic glimpse of the writer's mind at work...a delight...an ideal introduction to this important novelist.
Review
Publishers WeeklyA panoramic glimpse of the writer's mind at work...a delight...an ideal introduction to this important novelist.
Review
Max B. Baker The Fort Worth Star-Telegram Writing in clear-eyed, conversational prose, Price reaffirms his faith in mankind by remembering the healing power of everyday moments, no matter how big or small.
Review
Andrea Grande-Capone Associated Press A literary offering of great depth and intensity.
Review
Nicole Brodeur The Seattle Times An American master of words.
Synopsis
Ranging from his experiences as a writer to topics of faith and racial intolerance, Reynolds Price's stories from National Public Radio's All Things Considered showcase the author's consistent talent for lyrical prose and insightful observations--and all those stories are now compiled here in The Feasting Heart. In the fall of 1993, Alice Winkler of National Public Radio's Morning Edition asked Reynolds Price to write a short story for a Christmas morning broadcast. This assignment would result in NPR's inviting Price to join its varied group of commentators on All Things Considered. The laws of radio require a concision that became a welcome new discipline for Price; these are all the personal essays which he has broadcast since July 25, 1995.
Whether recounting events from his past, examining the details of his current experience as a writer, teacher, traveler, and general witness of the world, Price demonstrates in his direct prose that a writer can instantly connect with his audience. He discusses a few predictable topics--family, the poisonous mysteries of racial intolerance, and faith--but he also deals with new matters: capital punishment, Gone With the Wind, his adventures while navigating an immensely inaccessible America in a wheelchair; and he provides a memorable piece on childlessness.
Throughout, Price never loses sight of the origin of either the word or the spirit of the essay--the French word connotes a try, an attempt --and each piece here is a well-formed, revealing, often amusing, and refreshing foray into a moment unlike any we've encountered in other forms from him. We're unlikely to read more thought-provoking work from a commentator for a great time to come.
About the Author
Reynolds Price (1933-2011) was born in Macon, North Carolina. Educated at Duke University and, as a Rhodes Scholar, at Merton College, Oxford University, he taught at Duke beginning in 1958 and was the James B. Duke Professor of English at the time of his death. His first short stories, and many later ones, are published in his Collected Stories. A Long and Happy Life was published in 1962 and won the William Faulkner Award for a best first novel. Kate Vaiden was published in 1986 and won the National Book Critics Circle Award. The Good Priest's Son in 2005 was his fourteenth novel. Among his thirty-seven volumes are further collections of fiction, poetry, plays, essays, and translations. Price is a member of both the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and his work has been translated into seventeen languages.
Table of Contents
ContentsPREFACE
A CHRISTMAS IN ROME
BOOK TOUR
THE LAST GREAT WEEPER
BIRTHPLACE
JAMES DEAN, STILL HERE
THE GHOST-WRITER IN THE CELLAR
ORAL HISTORY
A HOLE IN THE EARTH
TEACHERS
WHEELCHAIR TRAVEL
A SHALLOW PAST
EYE LEVEL TO A WHEELCHAIR
PRIVATE WORSHIP
GONE WITH THE WIND AND ITS SCARLETT
NATIVE ORPHANS
MY TOLERANCE PROBLEM
A SINGLE DEATH AMONG MANY
THE MAD INVENTOR
SUMMER VACATION
A FULL DAY
LUCKY CATCHES
CASTING BREAD
MRI TIME
TIME-RIDDEN
FATHER AND HISTORY
THE LUCKY CHILD'S CHRISTMAS
SUMMER ON THE DEEP
A STANDING READER
A GALLOP DOWN THE HOMESTRETCH
PORTABLE MUSIC
A MOTTO
THE GAZELLE OF ISRAEL
THE MEMORY DRENCH: WORLD WAR II*
FORTY AND COUNTING
CROSSING GENDERS
BEING REVIEWED
ENGLAND IN THE FIFTIES
THE STAGE, YEARS AGO*
ON THE STONE
MY GHOST STORIES
THE OLD MAN IN HERE WITH ME
DOLLS IN A MAN'S LIFE
THE GREAT IMAGINATION HEIST
JOKE-TELLING LESSONS
WHAT MY PARENTS DIDN'T TELL ME
THE COMMONEST DEMON
WITH IDA
A PERFECT DINNER
KEEPING AN EYE OUT
THE SINGLE CORPS
ELOQUENT LETTERS
A PREMATURE FAREWELL