{"product_id":"incarnation-metamorphosis-can-literature-change-us-paperback","title":"Incarnation \u0026 Metamorphosis: Can Literature Change Us? - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eDavid Mason\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Witty and heartfelt essays, shaken and stirred.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\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\u003c\/p\u003e\"\u003cb\u003eDavid Mason believes in literature as a weather event--even an extreme one. He reads to be changed--drenched, burned, blown away. He has no wish to have his standing position confirmed, and is alert to the ways in which his subjects are changed, both by their writing and its reception. These essays move comfortably from the lines of a Nobel Prize-winning poet to the dwelling of a Greek peasant who could have stepped out of Homer, on to the perils of literary biography. Mason is a reader as much as he is a writer. He looks into the political in order to find the personal--not the other way round. Incarnation \u0026amp; Metamorphosis is engaging all the way through, not least when Mason acts on the assumption, 'The imagination is free.'\"\u003cbr\u003e--James Campbell, author of \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eTalking at the Gates: A Life of James Baldwin\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\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 \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\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.\"\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\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\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 226\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e March 07, 2023\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51766295986464,"sku":"9781589881723","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0974\/9764\/5344\/files\/05153796135fd04ea23766bcc4876d6c.webp?v=1780289478","url":"https:\/\/ebocreations.com\/products\/incarnation-metamorphosis-can-literature-change-us-paperback","provider":"The E-Book Oasis LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}