On the Shoreline of Knowledge
Irish Wanderings
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- $21.99
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- $21.99
Publisher Description
The carefully crafted, meditative essays in On the Shoreline of Knowledge sometimes start from unlikely objects or thoughts, a pencil or some fragments of commonplace conversation, but they soon lead the reader to consider fundamental themes in human experience. The unexpected circumnavigation of the ordinary unerringly gets to the heart of the matter.
Bringing a diverse range of material into play, from fifteenth-century Japanese Zen Buddhism to how we look at paintings, and from the nature of a briefcase to the ancient nest-sites of gyrfalcons, Chris Arthur reveals the extraordinary dimensions woven invisibly into the ordinary things around us. Compared to Loren Eiseley, George Eliot, Seamus Heaney, Aldo Leopold, V. S. Naipaul, W. G. Sebald, W. B. Yeats, and other literary luminaries, he is a master essayist whose work has quietly been gathering an impressive cargo of critical acclaim. Arthur speaks with an Irish accent, rooting the book in his own unique vision of the world, but he addresses elemental issues of life and death, love and loss, that circle the world and entwine us all.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Arthur is proof that the art of the essay is flourishing. In his newest (after Words of the Grey Wind), the eloquent Irishman meditates on myriad effects of quotidian life his mother s coat, a yellow pencil, his father s briefcase, a handful of flower seeds , and weaves a tapestry of the mundane to ultimately reveal illuminating patterns of thought and understanding. Though Arthur is decidedly Irish his heritage and homeland feature heavily here , he traverses a broad range of subject matter, from his mother s signature in a vocal training textbook to a chestnut tree outside Anne Frank s safe-house, and effortlessly draws connections and parallels that resonate beyond the coasts of his Emerald Isle. The author credits memory with having both "a creative as well as a re-creative element;" so too does this book warrant reading and rereading. Many will likely need a dictionary handy while working their way through this diverse collection, but those who persevere will be richly rewarded for their effort and attention.
