New Releases by Annie Dillard

Mit ebenso scharfem Blick wie Verstand, einer Vorliebe für das Wider- und Hintersinnige und einer unbändigen Sehnsucht nach Wahrheit wagt sich Annie Dillard an Fragen kosmischen Ausmaßes wie: Woher kommen wir? Wohin gehen wir? Und was zum Himmel machen wir hier überhaupt? Auf der Suche nach Antworten folgt sie dem jesuitischen Paläontologen Teilhard de Chardin in die chinesische Wüste, beschreibt die ekstatischen Gotteserfahrungen des chassidischen Judentums, die regelhafte Bandbreite menschlicher Geburtsfehler, die Heerschar von Terrakotta-Soldaten, die das Grab des chinesischen Kaisers Shihuangdi bewachen, das schwindelerregende Schauspiel der Wolken ebenso wie das epische Drama bei der Entstehung von Sand. So entlegen die Schauplätze und so disparat die Themen auf den ersten Blick scheinen, beschwört Annie Dillard nichts Geringeres als die gewaltig-gewalttätige Großartigkeit all dessen herauf, was sich unserem Verständnis auf verstörende Weise entzieht. In der Zwischenzeit ist ein Buch wie ein langes Gebet, eine unerschrockene Meditation über Leben und Tod, Gut und Böse, Glauben und Wissen, ein Buch, das unsere Fähigkeit schult, Wunder in den abgelegensten – und oft auch abgründigsten – Winkeln der Welt zu entdecken.

Dans ce « journal météorologique de l’esprit », Annie Dillard chronique la nature et les saisons à Tinker Creek, en Virginie. L’été, elle traque les rats musqués dans le ruisseau et contemple la mécanique des vagues ; l’automne, elle observe la migration des papillons monarques et rêve de caribous arctiques. Elle décrit ainsi certains traits de la vie des mantes religieuses, des serpents venimeux, des parasites, leurs prouesses, beautés et déchéances, la violence et la cruauté mortelle de cet univers de prédateurs qui s’entredévorent. Recluse volontaire parmi ces créatures, Annie Dillard est surtout une extraordinaire écrivaine qui lit la nature et tente de déchiffrer ses signes. Sa culture et sa curiosité immenses font de cette double exploration de la vallée Tinker et de l’esprit humain un livre unique.

Molti libri sull''arte della scrittura offrono cataloghi o manifesti per diventare scrittori di successo, alla moda o adatto a un certo tipo di pubblico. In questa raccolta di saggi brevi Annie Dillard evita consigli o diktat per andare all''essenza della scrittura: ricercare un''idea meritevole, sapersi destreggiare tra passaggi tortuosi e un paziente lavoro di lima, infine giudicare il proprio lavoro con onestà intellettuale – riconoscendo che spesso è un castello di carte che poggia su basi malcerte. "Ogni virtù è una forma di messinscena," diceva Yeats, e Dillard con le sue pagine acute ma dal passo disinvolto esibisce il suo metodo con straordinaria sincerità: alla stregua di un pilota d''aereo acrobatico che appunta in cielo piroette e arabeschi come fossero nastri, così l''autrice dispone sulle pagine le righe delle parole tracciando una linea di pura, nitida bellezza.

Verzameling verhalende essays, geschreven tussen eind jaren zeventig en begin jaren negentig, van de Amerikaanse auteur Annie Dillard (1945).

Traditional Chinese edition of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

Un viaje por algunos de los lugares más remotos del planeta y, también, por regiones del espíritu hasta las que muy pocos exploradores han llegado.

Pellegrinaggio al Tinker Creek è insieme una meditazione filosofica sulla natura, un''autobiografia spirituale, un inno metafisico e un saggio poetico, e non da ultimo una cronaca che si spinge a lambire il senso della creazione. Nei primi anni settanta la ventisettenne Annie Dillard si ritira nelle Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia per studiare da vicino la natura e lasciarsi conquistare dalla meraviglia della contemplazione. Consapevole che il dettaglio è la prima visibile realtà del mondo, tutti i giorni Annie passeggia lungo le rive boscose del Tinker Creek, osserva e descrive i cambiamenti d''intensità della luce e la natura del vento, la vita dei topi muschiati e delle cavallette, la bellezza dei pesci che nuotano controcorrente e di una goccia d''acqua esaminata al microscopio.

Met Pulitzer Prize bekroonde natuurklassieker. In 1971 woont Annie Dillard, schrijfster van ‘Pelgrim langs Tinker Creek’, een jaar in de Amerikaanse staat Virginia, in een vallei waardoor de rivier Tinker Creek stroomt. Bijna dagelijks zwerft ze langs de oevers, waar haar geen detail ontgaat. Energiek en bezield vertelt ze in haar boek over de vaak genadeloze natuur in en rond de rivier en laat ze zien hoe gedurende de seizoenen alles onophoudelijk aan verandering onderhevig is. Ze dwingt de lezer voortdurend naar de details te kijken, en confronteert hem aldoor met het mysterie, de schoonheid én de wreedheid van het leven. En dat is meteen de grootste les van Dillards proza: dat we niet los van de natuurlijke wereld leven, maar er deel van uitmaken. Het met de Pulitzer Prijs bekroonde ‘Pelgrim langs Tinker Creek; is een subliem poëtisch essay, een zoektocht naar de betekenis van het leven en een natuurklassieker van jewelste.

Una raccolta di saggi narrativi per entrare nel mondo di una delle più grandi scrittrici americane, ancora sconosciuta in Italia. Annie Dillard ha trascorso la vita intera a esaminare il mondo intorno a lei con gli occhi bene aperti, assorbendo ogni cosa con voracità implacabile. Con uno spirito unico, una curiosità senza confini e una voce fiera e inconfondibile ha illuminato i momenti più ordinari dell''esistenza. Che sia osservando una sublime eclissi di luna o una falena consumata dalla fiamma di una candela, il tremolio delle ninfee sulla superficie di uno stagno o centinaia di merli dalle ali rosse in volo, la sua meraviglia di fronte alla fragilità del mondo naturale ispira gioia e struggimento. Scritti in una prosa scolpita dove niente è fuori posto, questi saggi narrativi sono la quintessenza dell''opera di non fiction di una delle più grandi scrittrici americane.

"L''éternité est amoureuse des productions du temps", disait Blake. Annie Dillard, qui grandit à Pittsburgh dans les années 1950, écrit ici les épiphanies qui ont marqué son enfance : les concours de blagues organisés par ses parents, la fille des voisins patinant sous un réverbère par une nuit d''hiver, l''exultation physique de la course, et puis la passion de la lecture, la découverte de ces univers parallèles qui réduisent le réel à l''ombre pâle des mots. L''enjeu de ces révélations, qui sont comme autant d''illuminations rimbaldiennes, c''est la genèse d''une conscience d''écrivain à la curiosité insatiable.

"On n''entre pas dans un livre d''Annie Dillard ; on y est accueilli. Avec simplicité, avec courtoisie, avec chaleur, avec le plus grand respect pour l''intelligence de "l''hôte de passage" qu''est le lecteur. Annie Dillard nous parle d''égale à égal. Sans affectation ni condescendance, mais sans compromission ; sans hauteur, mais sans concession. Voyez comme est traitée la petite fille du dernier texte de ce recueil : c''est un peu vous. Vous étiez inconnu, vous devenez ami ; vous étiez loin, vous voici proche ; dites, et l''on vous écoutera ; la distance régnait, vous voici dans l''intime ; vous ignoriez, peut-être, et vous allez savoir ; si vous saviez déjà, vous allez mieux comprendre ; et si vous compreniez, renaîtra le mystère."

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author In recognition of her long and lauded career as a master essayist, a landmark collection including her most beloved pieces and some rarely seen work, rigorously curated by the author herself “Annie Dillard’s books are like comets, like celestial events that remind us that the reality we inhabit is itself a celestial event.”—Marilynne Robinson, Washington Post Book World “Annie Dillard is, was, and will always be the very best at describing the landscapes in which we find ourselves.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune “Annie Dillard is a writer of unusual range, generosity, and ambition. . . . Her prose is bracingly intelligent, lovely, and human. ”—Margot Livesey, Boston Globe “A writer who never seems tired, who has never plodded her way through a page or sentence, Dillard can only be enjoyed by a wide-awake reader,” warns Geoff Dyer in his introduction to this stellar collection. Carefully culled from her past work, The Abundance is quintessential Annie Dillard, delivered in her fierce and undeniably singular voice, filled with fascinating detail and metaphysical fact. The pieces within will exhilarate both admiring fans and a new generation of readers, having been “re-framed and re-hung,” with fresh editing and reordering by the author, to situate these now seminal works within her larger canon. The Abundance reminds us that Dillard’s brand of “novelized nonfiction” pioneered the form long before it came to be widely appreciated. Intense, vivid, and fearless, her work endows the true and seemingly ordinary aspects of life—a commuter chases snowball-throwing children through neighborhood streets, a teenager memorizes Rimbaud’s poetry—with beauty and irony, inviting readers onto sweeping landscapes, to join her in exploring the complexities of time and death, with a sense of humor: on one page, an eagle falls from the sky with a weasel attached to its throat; on another, a man walks into a bar. Reminding us of the indelible contributions of this formative figure in contemporary nonfiction, The Abundance exquisitely showcases Annie Dillard’s enigmatic, enduring genius, as Dillard herself wishes it to be marked.

National Bestseller "Beautifully written and delightfully strange...as earthy as it is sublime...in the truest sense, an eye-opener." --Daily News From Annie Dillard, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and one of the most compelling writers of our time, comes For the Time Being, her most profound narrative to date. With her keen eye, penchant for paradox, and yearning for truth, Dillard renews our ability to discover wonder in life''s smallest--and often darkest--corners. Why do we exist? Where did we come from? How can one person matter? Dillard searches for answers in a powerful array of images: pictures of bird-headed dwarfs in the standard reference of human birth defects; ten thousand terra-cotta figures fashioned for a Chinese emperor in place of the human court that might have followed him into death; the paleontologist and theologian Teilhard de Chardin crossing the Gobi Desert; the dizzying variety of clouds. Vivid, eloquent, haunting, For the Time Being evokes no less than the terrifying grandeur of all that remains tantalizingly and troublingly beyond our understanding. "Stimulating, humbling, original--. [Dillard] illuminate[s] the human perspective of the world, past, present and future, and the individual''s relatively inconsequential but ever so unique place in it."--Rocky Mountain News

Toby Maytree first sees Lou Bigelow on her bicycle in postwar Provincetown, Massachusetts. Her laughter and loveliness catch his breath. Maytree is a Provincetown native, an educated poet of thirty. As he courts Lou, just out of college, her stillness draws him. Hands-off, he hides his serious wooing, and idly shows her his poems. Dillard traces the Maytrees'' decades of loving and longing. They live cheaply among the nonconformist artists and writers that the bare tip of Cape Cod attracts. Lou takes up painting. When their son Pete appears, their innocent Bohemian friend Deary helps care for him. These people are all loving, and ironic. As Dillard intimately depicts nature''s vastness and nearness, she presents willed bonds of loyalty, friendship, and abiding love.--From publisher description.

"For nonwriters, it is a glimpse into the trials and satisfactions of a life spent with words. For writers, it is a warm, rambling, conversation with a stimulating and extraordinarily talented colleague." — Chicago Tribune From Pulitzer Prize-winning Annie Dillard, a collection that illuminates the dedication and daring that characterizes a writer''s life. In these short essays, Annie Dillard—the author of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and An American Childhood—illuminates the dedication, absurdity, and daring that characterize the existence of a writer. A moving account of Dillard’s own experiences while writing her works, The Writing Life offers deep insight into one of the most mysterious professions.

"An American Childhood more than takes the reader''s breath away. It consumes you as you consume it, so that, when you have put down this book, you''re a different person, one who has virtually experienced another childhood." — Chicago Tribune A book that instantly captured the hearts of readers across the country, An American Childhood is Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Dillard''s poignant, vivid memoir of growing up in Pittsburgh in the 1950s and 60s. Dedicated to her parents—from whom she learned a love of language and the importance of following your deepest passions—Dillard''s brilliant memoir will resonate with anyone who has ever recalled with longing playing baseball on an endless summer afternoon, caring for a pristine rock collection, or knowing in your heart that a book was written just for you.

“One of the most distinctive voices in American letters today” (Boston Globe) collects her favorite writing selections in The Annie Dillard Reader. This collection of stories, novel excerpts, essays, poetry and more demonstrates the depth and resonance of the writing of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Dillard. Includes chapters from the novel Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, and An American Childhood, the revised Holy the Firm in its entirety, the revised short story “The Living”, essays from Teaching a Stone to Talk and more. “She has a strange and wonderful mind, and the ability to speak it with enduring grace.” —The New Yorker “A stand up ecstatic . . . Like all great writers, she is fresh, jarring, passionately dedicated to her subject.” —Threepenny Review “This sort of sampler approach works well for a writer whose prose-fiction and non-fiction-often reads like a journal; it also suits readers who like to browse. Dillard moves easily from the specific and physical to the theoretical and metaphysical, blending thought-provoking generalizations with images and descriptions of visceral sensuality. Sure to appeal to Dillard devotees, this collection serves admirably as an introduction to the uninitiated.” —Publishers Weekly “This selection of writings, chosen by Dillard herself, provides a perfect sampling of her incisive, versatile, and impeccable achievements.” —Booklist

"A collection of meditations like polished stones--painstakingly worded, tough-minded, yet partial to mystery, and peerless when it comes to injecting larger resonances into the natural world." — Kirkus Reviews Here, in this compelling assembly of writings, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Dillard explores the world of natural facts and human meanings. Veering away from the long, meditative studies of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek or Holy the Firm, Annie Dillard explores and celebrates moments of spirituality, dipping into descriptions of encounters with flora and fauna, stars, and more, from Ecuador to Miami.

"Everyone who timidly, bombastically, reverently, scholastically--even fraudulently--essays to ''live the life of the mind'' should read this book. It''s elegant and classy, like caviar and champagne, and like these two items, it''s over much too soon." — Los Angeles Times Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Dillard''s classic work of literary criticism Living by Fiction is written for—and dedicated to—people who love literature. Dealing with writers such as Nabokov, Barth, Coover, Pynchon, Borges, García Márquez, Beckett, and Calvino, Annie Dillard shows how contemporary fiction works and why traditional fiction will always move us. Like Joyce Cary''s Art and Reality, this is a book by a writer on the issues raised by the art of literature. Readers of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and Holy the Firm will recognize Dillard''s vivid writing, her humor, and the lively way she tackles the urgent questions of meaning in experience itself.

"[This] is a book of great richness, beauty and power and thus very difficult to do justice to in a brief review. . . . The violence is sometimes unbearable, the language rarely less than superb. Dillard''s description of the moth''s death makes Virginia Woolf''s go dim and Edwardian. . . . Nature seen so clear and hard that the eyes tear. . . . A rare and precious book." — Frederick Buechner, New York Times Book Review A profound book about the natural world—both its beauty and its cruelty—from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Dillard In 1975 Dillard took up residence on an island in Puget Sound, in a wooden room furnished with "one enormous window, one cat, one spider, and one person." For the next two years she asked herself questions about time, reality, sacrifice, death, and the will of God. In Holy the Firm, she writes about a moth consumed in a candle flame, about a seven-year-old girl burned in an airplane accident, about a baptism on a cold beach. But behind the moving curtain of what she calls "the hard things—rock mountain and salt sea," she sees, sometimes far off and sometimes as close by as a veil or air, the power play of holy fire. Here is a lyrical gift to any reader who has ever wondered how best to live with grace and wonder in the natural world.

“Remarkable. . . . A deftly woven narrative saturated with violence, hardship, and triumph. Readers will be richly rewarded, for by the end of this deeply felt novel it is hard to let the frontier town and its people go.” — San Francisco Chronicle This New York Times bestselling novel by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Dillard is a mesmerizing evocation of pioneer life navigated by European settlers and Lummi natives in the Pacific Northwest during the last decades of the 19th century. The Living is a tale full of gold minors, friendly railroad speculators, doe-eyed sweethearts, shifty card players, and 19th century adventures that will stay with you long after you close the book.

"[In] this anthology of well-chosen excerpts by a satisfyingly diverse group of writers....the truth of their lives shines from every beautifully, often courageously composed page."— Booklist “Packed with superb writing.” — New York Newsday Modern American Memoirs is a sampling from 35 quintessential 20th century memoirs, including contributions from Margaret Mead, Malcolm X, Maxine Hong Kingston, Loren Eisely, and Zora Neale Hurston. Supremely written and excellent examples of the art of biography, these excerpts present a beautifully wide range of American life.

Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Dillard''s words are empowering and energizing, making this book the perfect gift for writers or aspiring writers or anyone undertaking a creative endeavor. This gift book features an accordion-book format and slip-cased cover.