Essays One

This selection of essays on writing and reading showcases the acclaimed authors wise and brilliant… precise and playful command of language (The New York Times).

Lydia Davis is a writer whose originality, influence, and wit are beyond compare. Jonathan Franzen has called her a magician of self-consciousness, while Rick Moody hails her as the best prose stylist in America. And for Claire Messud, Daviss signal gift is to make us feel alive.

Best known for her masterful short stories and translations, Daviss gifts extend equally to her nonfictionas she amply demonstrates in this selection of essays, commentaries, and lectures.

In this first of two volumes, her subjects range from her earliest influences to her favorite short stories, from John Ashberys translation of Rimbaud to Alan Cotes painting, and from the Shepherds Psalm to early tourist photographs. On display is the development and range of one of the sharpest, most capacious minds writing today.