“In pain and discomfort enough so that I could not sleep, last night I decided to take a powerful pain killer (I'm greatly reluctant to use chemistry for such trials.) While waiting for the medicine to take effect, I picked up Rereadings - edited by Anne Fadiman. Being a collection of 17 essays, I reasoned that I could stop reading when my body granted me the ability to sleep because of the easy breaks provided by the book's structure.
Hah! This was such enchanting reading that I ended up reading through to the end - sleep is over-rated. I'd never heard of any of the contributors but the writing is so mesmerizing that I am anxious to seek out any published work by each of them to see if that writing excellence is found in other offerings. One essay even convinced me to give Whitman another chance when (after 3 attempts) I had decided my mind just didn't accommodate itself to that writing. The subjects (and the books referenced) are widely varied from 9/11 to plant biology to Sargent Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band while including timeless works from such titans as Stendhal, Rimbaud and dancing across Jane Austen, Colette, and Joseph Conrad. Unfamiliar-to-me authors such as Katherine Mansfield and Knut Hamsun sent me immediately to Amazon to seek out purchases but convinced me that I am most likely unable to appreciate Christina Stead - I am too weak-minded! I no longer associate Salinger only with that twit - Holden Caulfield. I am much more willing to investigate more of Waugh and will look at Shakespeare with a new eye.
One phrase from the essay featuring Rimbaud (A Companion of the Prophet by Luc Sante) neatly sums up my delight in this book: "...alchemy of language." Indeed, some magic has transformed these collections of words into solid gold.
Simply outstanding.”
