{"product_id":"the-writer-as-illusionist-uncollected-unpublished-work-9781567927962","title":"The Writer as Illusionist: Uncollected \u0026 Unpublished Work","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Illuminating . . . Handling strong emotions--shame, love, grief--without fuss, Maxwell gives the bald facts of life a poignant shimmer.\"--\u003ci\u003eWall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAs a fiction editor at \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e from 1936 to 1975, William Maxwell helped shaped several generations' sense of the literary short story. At the same time, Maxwell himself was also an exceptional novelist, short story writer, essayist, children's author, and memoirist. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eGiven unique, unfettered access to Maxwell's private papers, Alec Wilkson--whose memoir \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMy Mentor\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e explores his twenty-five-year friendship with Maxwell--has gathered a stunning and revealing collection of some of Maxwell's lesser-known and previously unpublished works of nonfiction and fiction. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Writer as Illusionist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e includes biographical sketches; remembrances of fellow authors, such as the poet Louise Bogan and short story writer Maeve Brennan; a 1941 nonfiction piece about Bermuda that was the only piece of long reporting Maxwell ever published in \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e; and Maxwell's thoughts on the craft of writing, many of them made privately. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhile Maxwell often said he never kept a journal because anything worth writing about was something a writer would remember, \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Writer as Illusionist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e proves otherwise: included are many notes from his private journals, including some that became parts of his revered novels, such as \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Folded Leaf\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eRe-reading Maxwell's work leads Wilkinson to think \"I am still often amazed--at the subtlety of the art, the depth of what he saw, at his capacity for dramatizing situations that require a rare hand and eye.\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eMaxwell passed away in 2000 at the age of ninety-one. \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Writer as Illusionist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e celebrates his legacy in American letters and is part of Godine's Nonpareil series.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Godine","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50717491921170,"sku":"9781567927962","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_e396d8da-9db1-4f13-8c9e-9bf95b7cfc84.jpg?v=1734618944","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-writer-as-illusionist-uncollected-unpublished-work-9781567927962","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}