New Books in Literary Studies MY GENERATION
Collected Nonfiction by WILLIAM STYRON Edited by James L. W. West III Foreword by Tom Brokaw y Generation is the definitive gathering of William Styron’s nonfiction from his literary emergence in the 1950s to his death in 2006. Styron’s essays, memoirs, reviews, op-eds, articles, eulogies, and speeches reflect the same style and informed thinking that he brought to his fiction and to a deeply committed public life.
M
“If Styron is best remembered for his fiction and his harrowing memoir of depression, Darkness Visible, his extensive output of short nonfiction stands as additional testament to his enormous talent and range of interests. His writing on his literary efforts, and those of his contemporaries, is honest, generous, and insightful. . . . This is a major addition to our knowledge of one of an impressive literary generation’s foremost authors.” —Booklist (starred review) Random House • HC • 978-0-8129-9705-7 • 656pp. • $35.00
MONSIEUR PROUST’S LIBRARY by ANKA MUHLSTEIN arcel Proust made literary taste a means of defining personalities and gave literature an actual role to play in his novels. In Monsieur Proust’s Library, scholar and biographer Anka Muhlstein, the author of Balzac’s Omelette, draws out these themes in Proust’s work and life, thus providing not only an enjoyable introduction to In Search of Lost Time, but also highlights of some of the finest work in French literature.
M
Other Press • TR • 978-1-59051-745-1 160pp. • $17.95
WHERE I’M READING FROM The Changing World of Books by TIM PARKS hirty-seven interlocking essays examine the rise of the “international” novel and the disappearance of “national” literary styles; how market forces shape “serious” fiction; the unintended effects of translation; the growing stasis of literary criticism; and the problematic relationship between writers’ lives and their work.
T
New York Review Books • HC 978-1-59017-884-3 • 256pp. • $19.95
PATIENCE AND FORTITUDE Power, Real Estate, and the Fight to Save a Public Library
by SCOTT SHERMAN n a series of cover stories for The Nation magazine, Scott Sherman uncovered how Wall Street logic almost took down the New York Public Library. Rich with revealing interviews, Patience and Fortitude is both a readable history of the library’s secret plans, and an account of a rare triumph against the forces of money and power.
I
“The battle over the New York Public Library was such an important fight to win, and Scott Sherman’s reporting was an essential part of that victory.” —Salman Rushdie Melville House • HC •978-1-61219-429-5 • 224pp. • $24.95
� www.randomhouse.com/academic
/randomhouseacademic
@RHacademic
/commonreads
Professors: To order an Examination Copy, go to: www.randomhouseacademic.com