Myself and Strangers
A Memoir of Apprenticeship
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- £17.99
Publisher Description
In Myself and Strangers, John Graves, the highly regarded author of Goodbye to a River and other classic works, recalls the decade-long apprenticeship in which he found his voice as a writer. He recounts his wanderings from Texas to Mexico, New York, and Spain, where, like Hemingway, he hoped to find the material with which to write books that mattered. With characteristic honesty, Graves admits the false starts and dead ends that dogged much of his writing, along with the exhilaration he felt when the words finally flowed. He frankly describes both the pleasures and the restlessness of expatriate life in Europe after World War II—as well as his surprising discovery, when family obligations eventually called him home to Texas, that the years away had prepared him to embrace his native land as the fit subject matter for his writing. For anyone seeking the springs that fed John Graves’ best-loved books, this memoir of apprenticeship will be genuinely rewarding.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Writer Graves (Hard Scrabble; Texas Heartland; etc.) burned his journal after extracting valuable excerpts, and these passages frame this thought-provoking work. At first, the incidents feel random and scattered, until readers piece them together as a tapestry that contributed to Graves's literary maturity. More than most authors' autobiographical books, this one demonstrates that style and subject matter aren't acquired overnight, but slowly evolve through experience. Graves left his native Texas to travel through Europe, then spent long periods of time in Spain. His writing is lean and pared-down, avoiding melodrama even when Graves describes a grenade exploding during WWII combat and leaving him blind in one eye. He talks of his early job teaching English at the University of Texas, "a basically miserable, overworked, underpaid period," and covers his first, failed marriage, then goes on to introduce various friends and lovers. The book's title is sometimes frustratingly apt, because many of these strangers pass through in too-brief anecdotes. Despite abbreviated characterizations, Graves is a master of visual detail, and his journey unfolds with the picturesque clarity of a film. Writers will recognize what he calls "the writing disease... a permanent affliction," and cheer when the disappointment of A Speckled Horse is followed by the outstanding Goodbye to a River. By the time Graves returns home to stay with his father, stricken with esophageal cancer, and embraces the birthplace he left behind, readers will be moved to acquaint (or reacquaint) themselves with his other books and articles. 18 photos.
