At Large and At Small: Familiar Essays (Paperback)

by Anne Fadiman (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Fadiman, a National Book Critics Circle Award winner for The Spirit Catches You and You Fall, makes a bold claim: "I believe the survival of the familiar essay is worth fighting for." The "familiar essays" that Fadiman champions and writes are in the mold of the early 19th century, rather than critical or personal works as we've come to know them. Her essays combine a personal perspective with a far-reaching curiosity about the world, resulting in pieces that are neither so objective the reader can't see the writer behind them nor too self-absorbed. And spending some time with Fadiman is a pure delight. She loves the natural world and taxonomies of all kinds, as well as ice cream and coffee. Her love of the romantic age goes beyond the stylistic, and she prefers Coleridge and Lamb over Wordsworth and Southey. The collection rolls good-naturedly through its subjects until the final piece—an account of a whitewater rafting trip that went tragically awry, a harrowing reminder of the stakes on which all endeavors rest. This collection is a perfectly faceted little gem. Essayists, of both the critical and personal sort, could do worse than to follow Fadiman into the realm of the familiar. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist
Fadiman begins her second essay collection by quoting her father, the waggish intellectual of page, radio, and television Clifton Fadiman, lamenting the impending demise of the "familiar essay." Decades later, Anne is happy to report that the essay has survived, even if the familiar essay is now less, well, familiar than the critical or personal essay. A familiar essay is a confiding, inquiring, and witty reflection on a passionately considered subject. This intimate form was perfected by Charles Lamb, a writer Anne adores. With Lamb and her father serving as muses, Fadiman writes funny and keen essays that seemingly without effort mesh the personal with the literary and historical to surprising and edifying ends. Fadiman finds lessons for living in the contemplation of ice cream and coffee, the adventures of an Arctic explorer, and the collecting of butterflies. A master of the tangential, a close observer, and a lover of language, Fadiman is blithely brilliant in her pursuit of beauty and meaning as she wrestles with questions of life, death, and rebirth. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (May 27, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374531315
• ISBN-13: 978-0374531317
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #64,751 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must-Read Book of Essays, June 14, 2007

By	Alan Naftalin (Washington, D.C.) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: At Large and At Small: Familiar Essays (Hardcover)

Anne Fadiman in one of her essays says that a key question in the culture wars is: "Should we read great books because of their literary value or because they . . . teach us how to live?" I am not much interested in the culture wars. I read books, great and small, for pleasure. I do not remember when I have read a book with greater pleasure than this small, beautifully written, book of essays. The subjects range from butterfly collecting to ice cream to Coleridge to flying the flag after 9/11 to unexpected death. The author reveals herself as learned, loving and at times very funny. Give yourself a treat. Read this book.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars write stuff, July 5, 2007

By	A. Fine (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: At Large and At Small: Familiar Essays (Hardcover)

Anne Fadiman's prose is as good as it gets, even if the subjects of her essays are not always as interesting to the rest of us as they are to her. Never afraid to use a large word when a diminutive one might do, an occasional trip to the dictionary may be necessary. But the trip is always informative, and my brain was grateful for the exercise.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars this book will make you smarter, November 8, 2007

By	Raya Madison "lifelong lit lover" (NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: At Large and At Small: Familiar Essays (Hardcover)

Really, it will. In this collection of essays (available separately in other venues, but nestled together with great mutual congeniality in this book), Fadiman begins with her own confessed interests and obsessions--Charles Lamb and Coleridge, ice cream and coffee, arctic exploration and mail delivery, mounting butterflies and flying the flag--and traces a patient, curious path through all sorts of trackless wildernesses (ancient literature, Romantic poetry, familiar essays and out-of-print tomes) to piece together observations that are quietly illuminating not just of the subject matter but the ways Fadiman--quietly, subtly--suggests that books are to read, loves are to be cherished, life is to be lived. The clarity and precision of her prose are breath-taking; readers would never guess that Fadiman's process could entail, as she reveals in one essay, moving paragraphs about in the manner that a pet hamster transports food from one side of his cage to the other. Surprising, rewarding, and deeply interesting, this book is a necessary addition not just to your library but your experience, as it will make you want to read more widely, look more closely, and think more deeply about things, just as Fadiman does.