Writing from the Center - Paperback

by Scott Russell Sanders (Author)

" . . . essays of substance and beauty, and they belong beside the work of Annie Dillard, Samuel Pickering, and Wendell Berry." --Library Journal

"[Sanders] eloquently expresses his love of the land and the responsibility he feels for preventing further erosion of our natural resources . . . " --Publishers Weekly

"Skillfully written in a clear, unmannered style refreshingly devoid of irony and hollow cleverness, the author starts with everyday experiences and gleans from them larger truths." --The Christian Science Monitor

"[These] essays are so good one is tempted to stand up and applaud after reading them. . . . Sanders is a modern day prospector who finds gems of spiritual meaning in both familiar and unusual places." --Body Mind Spirit

Writing from the Center is about one very fine writer's quest for a meaningful and moral life. Lannan Literary Award winner Scott Sanders (Secrets of the Universe, Staying Put, A Paradise of Bombs) seeks and describes a center that is geographical, emotional, artistic, and spiritual--and is rooted in place. The geography is midwestern, the impulses are universal.

"The earth needs fewer tourists and more inhabitants, it seems to me--fewer people who float about in bubbles of money and more people committed to knowing and tending their home ground." --Scott Russell Sanders, from the book

Back Jacket

Writing from the Center is about one very fine writer's quest for a meaningful and moral life. The center he seeks and describes is geographical, emotional, artistic, and spiritual - and it is rooted in place. The geography is midwestern, the impulses are universal. Where and how do we find meaning? Where does a writer find inspiration? How can personal, artistic, family, and community needs be blended to create a harmonious life? What aids exist in such a ""located"" life against despair? How should a writer relate to and represent his place? Twelve interrelated essays probe these questions from different perspectives. ""Buckeye"" examines the resonance of objects and the mysteries of relationships and death. ""Imagining the Midwest"" surveys how other writers have seen and related to their region. ""The Common Life"" makes an eloquent case for community values. ""Sanctuary"" is an eloquent and painful consideration of environmental degradation. ""Writing from the Center"" and ""Letter to a Reader"" deal with Sanders's decisions to locate in the Midwest, to know his place, and to write about it in both fiction and nonfiction.

Author Biography

Scott Russell Sanders is Professor of English at Indiana University, Bloomington. He has published numerous other titles--fiction, nonfiction, and children's books.