A Room Forever: Life Work Letters [Hardcover]

Thomas E. Douglass (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 276 pages
• Publisher: Univ Tennessee Press; 1st edition (March 4, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572330015
• ISBN-13: 978-1572330016
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,386,527 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Biography of Pancake a welcome literary event, December 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Room Forever: Life Work Letters (Hardcover)

This is a satisfying book for anyone interested to learn more about the life of Breece Pancake. A thoughtful biographical account of Pancake's life provides a detail and depth of information about his past, roots and conflicts heretofore unmatched. Also, a thoughtful critique of his work is followed by a most satisfying compilation of his letters, which, for one deeply curious about this author about whom little of substance has been written, is like striking gold. This is a gem of a book for Breece Pancake admirers.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good in depth look at this writer, February 9, 2001

By 

Daniel E. Wickett "EWN and Dzanc Books" (Westland, MI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Room Forever: Life Work Letters (Hardcover)

This is a very good job at putting together a biography of the little written about author. Pancake came to prominence after committing suicide when Jon Casey and John McPherson put together a posthumous collection of his short stories. They both contribute an essay to add to the length of this slim volume and it is published to rave reviews.

With the help of Pancake's mother, ex-University of Virginia students and faculty as well as the treasure trove of Pancake's letters, Douglass has taken the previously thin story line of Breece's life and developed a thoughtful and interesting account of a troubled, talented young man.

Whether or not you enjoy Pancake's stories, you cannot help but be impressed by the power and conviction of the author's words. Reading the biography and more importantly, the letters, you see where this power comes from. Pancake is nearly single-minded in regards to his need to write. Every life decision he makes reflects on how it will affect his writing before he makes it.

It also is very clear that this was a mentally troubled young man in need of help that he never found. It is all the more troubling for the reader of this volume, knowing that Pancake would eventually put a rifle in his mouth and pull the trigger, watching the signs of his depression grow and develop. There are also other writing tidbits included: alternate attempts at a couple of his published stories as well as beginnings to other stories, outlines of stories, and unpublished stories. While these are interesting to read, and certainly help show Pancake's development as a writer, they show that Casey and McPherson were correct in their keeping the collection of short stories slim. Barring the discovery of a decade of Pancake's personal diaries or journals, this should go down as the authoritative account of his life and work.

4 stars.

5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely satisfying, January 23, 2011

By 

Howard Bleach (earth) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Room Forever: The Life, Work, Letters Of Breece D'J Pancake (Paperback)

Exhaustive, meticulous and worth every penny of its relatively steep price, this book contains everything you need to know about Pancake, and provides an ideal, even crucial supplement to the author's lamentably small body of published work.