In Praise of Brevity: Life Is Short – Art Is Shorter
In Praise of Brevity
David Shields & Elizabeth Cooperman
On Sale: 04/14/2015 | $17.95
9780989360456 | Paperback 5-1/2 x 9 | 336 pages
Book Description
FEATURING WORK FROM LYDIA DAVIS, JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER, JAMAICA KINCAID, ANNE LAMOTT, GEORGE SAUNDERS, AND MANY MORE
An anthology-manifesto proving that in our mortal, godless, digital age, the shortest art hits hardest—featuring 40 masters of the mini-essay and flash fiction who make every word count
Life Is Short – Art Is Shorter is not just the first anthology to gather both mini-essays and short-short stories; readers, writers, and teachers will get will get an anthology; a course”s worth of writing exercises; a rally for compression, concision, and velocity in an increasingly digital, post-religious age; and a meditation on the brevity of human existence.
1. We are mortal beings.
2. There is no god.
3. We live in a digital culture.
4. Art is related to the body and to the culture.
5. Art should reflect these things.
6. Brevity rules.
The book’s 40 contributors include Donald Barthelme, Kate Chopin, Lydia Davis, Annie Dillard, Jonathan Safran Foer, Barry Hannah, Amy Hempel, Jamaica Kincaid, Wayne Koestenbaum, Anne Lamott, Daphne Merkin, Rick Moody, Dinty W. Moore, George Orwell, Jayne Anne Phillips, George Saunders, Lauren Slater, James Tate, and Paul Theroux.
Praise For This Book
"In his short story, 'Adultery,' Tim Parks writes, 'One lives such a short time, yet wishes to do everything, and then to recapture everything.' Read this collection for the stories, and then read them again and again, taking great care to capture everything." —Santi Elijah Holley, The Portland Mercury"Half meditation on the nature of the form, half textbook for the instruction of the same, the anthology mostly succeeds on both fronts, remaining highly readable and full of erudite commentary." —Alex McCown, The AV Club
"Worthy collection of examples of the flash essay and prose poems." —Nichole L. Reber, Ploughshares
