Expelled from Eden: A William T. Vollmann Reader [Paperback]

William T. Vollmann (Author), Larry McCaffery (Author), Michael Hemmingson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2004

William T. Vollmann is one of our greatest living writers. Masterworks such as You Bright and Risen Angels, The Royal Family, and Rising Up and Rising Down—his latest work, a stunning 3,300-page tour-de-force—have launched him into the literary stratosphere. He stands today as one of America's leading contenders for a future Nobel Prize in literature. Here is his long-awaited "best-of" collection, intended both as an introduction for the curious reader, and as a necessary addition to the existing fan's collection. With excerpts from all of Vollmann's novels (including several not yet published), journalistic pieces, essays, correspondence, and poetry, Expelled from Eden creates a unique, kaleidoscopic portrait of one of America's most notorious, protean, devastating, and necessary writers.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

If any living writer merits a mammoth reader, it's intrepid journalist and novelist William T. Vollmann, whose colossal body of work stands unsurpassed for its range, moral imperative, and artistry. Given the splendid complexity of Seven Dreams, a series of historical novels about North America; the enormity of his inquiry into the nature of violence, Rising Up and Rising Down (2003); and the scope of his newest work of fiction, Europe Central [BKL Ja 1 & 15 05], to mention but a few of his major accomplishments, readers will welcome this illuminating and innovatively conceived overview. Vollmann and his discerning, and pleasingly irreverent, coeditors present an electrifying assemblage of samplings from his major work and less-known yet pivotal pieces, including arresting autobiographical essays and correspondence with editors in which Vollmann explicates and defends his work. Also included are photographs and drawings, and, best of all, an extraordinarily revealing and witty chronology that creeps forward from the primordial era through the unfolding of civilization to Vollmann's globe-circling adventures and the fruits of his fertile and febrile imagination. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"William T. Vollmann looks to be the most prodigiously talented and historically important novelist under 35...he has published books which tower over his contemporaries by virtue of their enormous range, huge ambition, stylistic daring, wide learning, audacius innovation, and sardonic wit."

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Thunder's Mouth Press (December 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560254416
• ISBN-13: 978-1560254416
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #857,913 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Vollmann 101, May 17, 2006

By 

Rabel Stoltzfus "Rabel" (OR) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Expelled from Eden: A William T. Vollmann Reader (Paperback)

The extraordinary range of writing here by Vollmann, himself an extraordinarily prolific writer, is a great window into the man's literary ambition and accomplishment. From poetry (just one), photos, essays, letters to editors and publishing houses, short stories, interviews...his calm intelligence and blazen sincerity shine in this collection I recommend for the uninitiated.
Then move on to Europe Central. You need this primer just to appreciate his scope.