An exuberant and erudite collection of essays by "one of the most important novelist-teachers of 20th-century letters" (Publishers Weekly).
For decades, acclaimed author John Barth has strayed from his Monday-through-Thursday-morning routine of fiction-writing and dedicated Friday mornings to the muse of nonfiction. The result is Final Fridays, his third essay collection, following The Friday Book (1984) and Further Fridays (1995). Sixteen years and six novels since his last volume of non-fiction, Barth delivers yet another remarkable work comprised of 27 insightful essays.
With pieces covering everything from reading, writing, and the state of the art, to tributes to writer-friends and family members, this collection is witty and engaging throughout. Barths "unaffected love of learning (San Francisco Examiner & Chronicle) and "joy in thinking that becomes contagious (Washington Post), shine through in this third, and, with an implied question mark, final essay collection.
"Barth's writing is as ebullient and welcoming as ever . . . This collection truly shines, however, when Barth focuses on his true passions: the craft of literature and the authors he has spent a lifetime reading, rereading, and admiring." - Publishers Weekly
"There is no one else writing today who has the resources of Barth's imagination." - The New York Times Book Review
"A dilettante par excellence, Barth has read intelligently and indiscriminately enough to have something interesting to say at almost any time." - Kirkus Reviews
For decades, acclaimed author John Barth has strayed from his Monday-through-Thursday-morning routine of fiction-writing and dedicated Friday mornings to the muse of nonfiction. The result is Final Fridays, his third essay collection, following The Friday Book (1984) and Further Fridays (1995). Sixteen years and six novels since his last volume of non-fiction, Barth delivers yet another remarkable work comprised of 27 insightful essays.
With pieces covering everything from reading, writing, and the state of the art, to tributes to writer-friends and family members, this collection is witty and engaging throughout. Barths "unaffected love of learning (San Francisco Examiner & Chronicle) and "joy in thinking that becomes contagious (Washington Post), shine through in this third, and, with an implied question mark, final essay collection.
"Barth's writing is as ebullient and welcoming as ever . . . This collection truly shines, however, when Barth focuses on his true passions: the craft of literature and the authors he has spent a lifetime reading, rereading, and admiring." - Publishers Weekly
"There is no one else writing today who has the resources of Barth's imagination." - The New York Times Book Review
"A dilettante par excellence, Barth has read intelligently and indiscriminately enough to have something interesting to say at almost any time." - Kirkus Reviews
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