{"product_id":"incarnation-metamorphosis-can-literature-change-us-9781589881723","title":"Incarnation \u0026 Metamorphosis: Can Literature Change Us?","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Witty and heartfelt essays, shaken and stirred.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Mason's sharp interpretations make a persuasive case that great literature's complexity and ambiguity can, at its best, produce empathy and understanding in readers. Book lovers will find much to ponder.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"These essays are by turns expansive, sustaining and astringent, occasionally bromidic yet often incisive. One feels Mason hitting his stride as he enthuses infectiously over Tom Stoppard and Kay Ryan, Seamus Heaney and Sylvia Plath ('a lesson in critical circumspection'), fellow poet-critics Clive James and John Burnside, unfashionable writers such as Joyce Carey and Weldon Kees, and the Australian Helen Garner. He argues convincingly, if counterintuitively, for the outsider status of Dana Gioia, and laments that despite his 'mastery of dramatic voice' and 'comic melancholia, ' Michael Donaghy is 'yet to find a major American publisher.'\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e--Jaya Savige, \u003ci\u003eTimes Literary Supplement\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Literary criticism,\" David Mason writes, \"ought to entertain as well as illuminate.\" In these essays Mason tells stories about embodiment and change, incarnation and metamorphosis, drawing connections between art and life without confusing the two. Mason considers the many kinds of change we encounter in our lives, our desire for justice, and the ways great writers complicate that desire. He discusses the lives and works of Montaigne, Diderot, and Neruda, as well as his colorful father's fascination with a fictional character. He takes up such contemporary figures as the daring Australian writer Helen Garner, the playwright Tom Stoppard, and the poet-critic Dana Gioia; and he has fresh things to say about the perils of fame in the careers of Sylvia Plath and Seamus Heaney and mourns the loss of poet Michael Donaghy.\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eIncarnation \u0026amp; Metamorphosis\u003c\/i\u003e is a book about living with literature--Mason writes that literature tells \"us that we are seen, warts and all. Criticism, such as the essays in this book, is a way of seeing back.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=AUTH-12400076\"\u003eDavid Mason\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Paul Dry Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/07\/2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 226\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.65lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781589881723\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1589881729\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBISAC Categories:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-LIT\"\u003eLiterary Criticism\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-LIT007000\"\u003eBooks \u0026amp; Reading\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-LIT\"\u003eLiterary Criticism\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-LIT025000\"\u003eSubjects \u0026amp; Themes | General\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-LIT\"\u003eLiterary Criticism\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-LIT014000\"\u003ePoetry\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eDavid Mason\u003c\/b\u003e grew up in Bellingham, Washington, and has lived in many parts of the world, including Greece and Colorado, where he served as poet laureate for four years. He is the author of eight books of poetry including \u003ci\u003eThe Country I Remember, Sea Salt, Davey McGravy\u003c\/i\u003e (Paul Dry Books, 2015), \u003ci\u003eThe Sound, \u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eLudlow\u003c\/i\u003e, which won the Colorado Book Award and was featured on the PBS \u003ci\u003eNewsHour\u003c\/i\u003e. He has also written a memoir and four collections of essays including \u003ci\u003eVoices, Places \u003c\/i\u003e(Paul Dry Books, 2018). His poetry, prose, and translations have appeared in such periodicals as \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker, Harper's, The Nation, The New Republic, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Times Literary Supplement, Poetry\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe Hudson Review. \u003c\/i\u003eMason currently lives with his wife Chrissy (poet Cally Conan-Davies) on the Australian island of Tasmania, near the Southern Ocean.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Paul Dry Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44489196699885,"sku":"9781589881723","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0550\/8097\/6621\/products\/img_496b77d6-ea1d-491b-8ccb-24e5e5887fff.jpg?v=1700863144","url":"https:\/\/sureshotbooks.com\/products\/incarnation-metamorphosis-can-literature-change-us-9781589881723","provider":"SureShot Books Publishing LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}