Broken Vessels: Essays [Hardcover]

Andre Dubus (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1991 | ISBN-10: 0879238852 | ISBN-13: 978-0879238858 | Edition: 1st

The classic Dubus collection—now available as an ebook

 

The reflective essays of one of America’s most accomplished authors

 

Andre Dubus is celebrated for his ability to depict the subtlest of human emotions in his characters, and when he turns the microscope on himself, the resulting insights are no less illuminative. Intimate and expressive, these autobiographical accounts of his childhood in Louisiana, his experiences in the Marine Corps, and, later, his life as a husband and father, paint a vivid portrait of this acclaimed author.

 

Limned with sapience and depth of feeling, Broken Vessels contains the personal reflections of a writer whose keen perceptions of the human heart are destined to be treasured for generations to come.

 

@font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }

This ebook features an illustrated biography of Andre Dubus including rare photos and never-before-seen documents from the author’s estate.

 

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Fiction writer Dubus ( Finding a Girl in America ) writes with searing candor, grace and tenderness in these autobiographical essays. He celebrates the small daily sacraments of love, recalls growing up in Cajun-Creole Louisiana, gauges the sadness of America while riding a Boston-San Francisco train and describes an encounter with a ghost in a house in Provincetown, Mass. Several pieces deal with topics reminiscent of his short stories, such as an act of violence against a rose-eating sheep or the trial of a punk accused of assaulting a 15-year-old girl. One fluid meditation links the existential challenge of being a writer to a paean to womanhood. The powerful closing section focuses on the 1986 car accident that crippled Dubus, leading to the breakup of his marriage and enforced separation from his two small daughters. His account of this tragedy is intense, heartbreaking yet ultimately triumphant. A soul-baring self-portrait, this magical volume contains some of the finest personal essays in recent memory.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Dubus's first volume of nonfiction is a collection of personal essays written over the last 13 years. The adjective moving is overused but entirely appropriate to these wonderful pieces. One deals with the futility of literature in the face of poverty and suffering, another with our culture's tendency to violence, a tendency Dubus freely admits to sharing. "On Charon's Wharf" celebrates "that loveliest of all sacraments between man and woman." Most striking is Dubus's description of the automobile accident that cost him one leg and the use of the other. Quite simply, this is an exceptional volume that belongs in collections of contemporary American literature and all libraries where essays are read.
- Grove Koger, Boise P.L., Id.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 195 pages
• Publisher: David R Godine Pub; 1st edition (August 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879238852
• ISBN-13: 978-0879238858
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #573,098 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Andre Dubus (1936-1999) is considered one of the greatest American short story writers of the twentieth century. His collections of short fiction, which include Adultery & Other Choices (1977), The Times Are Never So Bad (1983), and The Last Worthless Evening (1986), are notable for their spare prose and illuminative, albeit subtle, insights into the human heart. He is often compared to Anton Chekhov and revered as a "writer's writer."