Synopses & Reviews
For thirty years, Frank Conroy's commentaries on life, music, and writing have appeared regularly in the New York Times Magazine, Harper's Magazine, Esquire, and GQ. DOGS BARK, BUT THE CARAVAN ROLLS ON collects these pieces into an autobiography in journalistic snapshots. They evoke Conroy's southern childhood, his teen years in New York as a truant hanging out at pool halls and Harlem jazz clubs, his first glimmers of the power of language and the writing life in college, his romantic life, and his experiences as a teacher and as director of the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Here, too, are profiles of the musicians he has come to know -- and jammed with: Keith Jarrett, Wynton Marsalis, Peter Serkin, even the Rolling Stones.
New essays fill out the collection from Conroy's wry retrospective viewpoint. DOGS BARK, BUT THE CARAVAN ROLLS ON is imbued with the honesty, humor, and insight that made his memoir STOP-TIME a classic.
Review
Barking can be interpreted as an unleashed enthusiasm/eagerness...This superb blend of personal essays and journalistic articles certainly proves that...
Review
Uniformly well written, amiable, smart and, in this age of literary narcissism, something unusual: almost wholly self-absorbed, yet self-effacing.
Review
Conroy combines improvisational oomph with meticulous control when writing about Wynton Marsalis and his own history at the pool table.
Review
Seemingly effortless, entirely transportive.
Review
Conroy delivers a running commentary on life in this collection of articles and essays, at once subtle and dazzling...
Review
Interesting and well-done anthology
Review
Barking can be interpreted as an unleashed enthusiasm/eagerness...This superb blend of personal essays and journalistic articles certainly proves that...
The Chicago Sun-Times
Uniformly well written, amiable, smart and, in this age of literary narcissism, something unusual: almost wholly self-absorbed, yet self-effacing.
The Washington Post
Conroy combines improvisational oomph with meticulous control when writing about Wynton Marsalis and his own history at the pool table.
Entertainment Weekly
Seemingly effortless, entirely transportive.
Kirkus Reviews
Conroy delivers a running commentary on life in this collection of articles and essays, at once subtle and dazzling...
Publishers Weekly
Highly enjoyable and illuminating..."Dogs Bark" is simply one of the best books published in a long, long time.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Interesting and well-done anthology Library Journal
About the Author
FRANK CONROY is the director of the Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa. He is also an accomplished jazz pianist.
Table of Contents
Contents
a note on the title ix Some Observations Now 1 Father 8 ScoutsHonor 16 Running the Table 19 My Generation 28 The Basic Imperative 35 Leaving New York 43 Small-Town America 48 The Mystery of Coincidence 54 A New Father 59 Father Thoughts 66 More Observations Now 73 Think About It 75 My Teacher 83 The WritersWorkshop 98 The House of Representatives and Me 114 Me and Conroy 121 More Observations Now 123 My Harlem 129 Jarrett 139 Marsalis at Twenty-three 154 Marsalis at Thirty-four 168 The Serkin Touch 186 Hip Vaudeville 196 Observations Now 210 Great Scott 212