Jay Parini Livres

Paris, 1940. Walter Benjamin has laboured for ten years to complete the work which will secure his reputation as one of the century's seminal thinkers. Finally, when Nazi tanks surround the city, he packs the 1000-page manuscript and sets off for the Spanish border and freedom.

An intimate and magical memoir about embarking on a road trip with Borges through Scotland and the famed writer's thoughts on literature, love and poetry

Explore the transcendent world of unity and ultimate beauty in Edgar Allan Poe’s verse in this complete poetry collection. Although best known for his short stories, Edgar Allan Poe was by nature and choice a poet. From his exquisite lyric “To Helen,” to his immortal masterpieces, “Annabel Lee,” “The Bells,” and “The Raven,” Poe stands beside the celebrated English romantic poets Shelley, Byron, and Keats, and his haunting, sensuous poetic vision profoundly influenced the Victorian giants Swinburne, Tennyson, and Rossetti. Today his dark side speaks eloquently to contemporary readers in poems such as “The Haunted Palace” and “The Conqueror Worm,” with their powerful images of madness and the macabre. But even at the end of his life, Poe reached out to his art for comfort and courage, giving us in “Eldorado” a talisman to hold during our darkest moments—a timeless gift from a great American writer. Includes an Introduction by Jay Parini and an Afterword by April Bernard

This fascinating reassessment of America's most popular and famous poet reveals a more complex and enigmatic man than many readers might expect. Jay Parini spent over twenty years interviewing friends of Frost and working in the poet's archives at Dartmouth, Amherst, and elsewhere to produce this definitive and insightful portrait of both the public and private man. While he depicts the various stages of Frost's colorful life, Parini also sensitively explores the poet's psyche, showing how he dealt with adversity, family tragedy, and depression. By taking the reader into the poetry itself, which he reads closely and brilliantly, Parini offers an insightful road map to Frost's remarkable world.

Examines the importance of the poetic voice and the mysteries of metaphor. This book argues that a poet's originality depends on a deep understanding of the traditions of political poetry, nature poetry, and religious poetry. It is suitable for those interested in a fresh introduction to an art that lies at the centre of Western civilization.

From the author of the international bestseller The Last Station, a superb historical novel of the Apostle Paul, whose tireless and epic preaching of the message of Jesus brought Christianity into existence and changed human history forever. In the years after Christ's crucifixion, Paul of Tarsus, a prosperous tentmaker and Jewish scholar, took it upon himself to persecute the small groups of his followers that sprung up. But on the road to Damascus, he had some sort of blinding vision, a profound conversion experience that transformed Paul into the most effective and influential messenger Christianity has ever had. In The Damascus Road novelist Jay Parini brings this fascinating and ever-controversial figure to full human life, capturing his visionary passions and vast contradictions. In relating Paul's epic journeys, both geographical and spiritual, he unfolds a vivid panorama of the ancient world on the verge of epochal change. And in the alternating voice of the Gospel writer Luke, Paul's travel companion, scribe, and ghostwriter, a cooler perspective on his actions and beliefs emerges -- ironic but still filled with wonder at Paul's unshakable commitment to the Christ and his divinity.

Essays look at important periods, movements, and writers

"Americans need periodic reminding that they are, to a great extent, people of the book -- or, rather, books. In Promised Land, Jay Parini repossesses that vibrant intellectual heritage by examining the life and times of 'thirteen books that changed America.' Each of the books has been a watershed, gathering intellectual currents already in motion and marking a turn in American life and thought. Their influence remains pervasive, however hidden, and in his essays Parini demonstrates how these books entered American life and altered how we think and act in the world."-- from the book's front flap

SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE A New York Times Notable Book As Leo Tolstoy’s life draws to a tumultuous close, his tempestuous wife and most cunning disciple are locked in a whirlwind battle for the great man’s soul. Torn between his professed doctrine of poverty and chastity and the reality of his enormous wealth and thirteen children, Tolstoy dramatically flees his home, only to fall ill at a tiny nearby rail station. The famous (and famously troubled) writer believes he is dying alone, unaware that over a hundred newspapermen camp outside awaiting hourly reports on his condition. Jay Parini moves deftly between a colorful cast of characters to create a stunning portrait of one of the world’s most treasured authors. Dancing between fact and fiction, The Last Station is a brilliant and moving literary performance.

Contemporary commentators have observed that postmodern America is less a melting pot than a buffet table. In American Identities people of diverse ethnic, religious, social, gender, and sexual backgrounds "refuse to merge but insist on a multiplicity of well-maintained identities," editors Robert Pack and Jay Parini explain. This sixth volume in the popular Bread Loaf Anthology series gathers more than three dozen voices who testify that there is no single American Experience, but instead a multiplicity of experiences. These poems, stories, and essays describe in occasionally stark, sometimes humorous, and often moving terms what it means to be black and American, or gay and American, or Latino and American, or Jewish and American within this society

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE Starring Helen Mirren, Christopher Plummer, & James McAvoy In 1910, Count Leo Tolstoy, the most famous writer in the world, is caught in the struggle between his devoted wife and an equally devoted acolyte over the master's legacy. Sofya Andreyevna fears that she and the children she has borne Tolstoy will lose all to Vladimir Chertkov and the Tolstoyan movement, which preaches the ideals of poverty, chastity, and pacifism. As Tolstoy seeks peace in his final days, Valentin Bulgakov is hired to be his secretary and enlisted as a spy by both camps. But Valentin's loyalty is to the great man, who in turn recognizes in the young idealist his own youthful struggle with worldly passions. Deftly moving among a colorful cast of characters, drawing on the writings of the people on whom they are based, Jay Parini has created a stunning portrait of an enduring genius and a deeply affecting novel. From the Trade Paperback edition.