Synopses & Reviews
Pleasure has not ruled all aspects of Richard Costa's world, but books and their writers have brought innumerable hours of it to his thought-filled years. In this insightful journey through a life suffused with literature, he introduces readers to the literary figures whose paths crossed his: Somerset Maugham, H. G. Wells, Conrad Aiken, Edmund Wilson, Kingsley Amis, Dorothy Parker, Edith Wharton, and others.
In these pages lie answers to questions, and questions for many answers. What did Wells fear more than the bombs during the London Blitz? What is Edmund Wilson's favorite of all his books? What writer, after declaring his walking-stick unbreakable, watched as Ernest Hemingway broke the stick over his own head? Why is it impossible to "discover" a new book today?
Readers who accompany Costa on his journey of the mind and heart will have the opportunity to experience the vicarious pleasures of a tea, a chat, and a good read in the light of literary stars.
Review
"Like his mentor Edmund Wilson, Richard Hauer Costa makes unfashionable connections between life and books. Starting from personal experience, he brings his reporter's eye to his interviews with the urbane and successful Somerset Maugham, and the defeated and irascible Conrad Aiken. He provides vivid sketches of two literary widows, Mrs. Malcolm Lowry and Mrs. Ernest Hemingway. At the same time, his study of the evolution of Lowry's Under the Volcano and his comparison of Dostoevsky and Joseph Heller show the value of the scholarly approach when it is backed by a genuine love of the work in question.This is a work whose lively and relaxed attitude never belies the importance of its content. I believe that it is likely to be of lasting interest."--Frank Tuohy, author of Collected Stories
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [207]-219) and index.
About the Author
RICHARD HAUER COSTA was a journalist before turning to an academic career. He is the author of Edmund Wilson: Our Neighbor from Talcottville and other books and articles on contemporary writers. He is now professor emeritus of English at Texas AandM University.