An Elemental Thing

By Eliot Weinberger

With An Elemental Thing, Weinberger turns from his celebrated political chronicles to the timelessness of the subjects of his literary essays. With the wisdom of a literary archaeologist-astronomer-anthropologist-zookeeper, he leads us through histories, fables, and meditations about the ten thousand things in the universe: the wind and the rhinoceros, Catholic saints and people named Chang, the Mandaeans on the Iran-Iraq border and the Kaluli in the mountains of New Guinea. Among the thirty-five essays included are a poetic biography of the prophet Muhammad, which was praised by the London Times for its "great beauty and grace," and "The Stars," a reverie on what's up there that has already been translated into Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, and Maori.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0811216942
• ISBN13: 9780811216944
• Release Date: May 2007
• Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation
• Length: 194 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 8.0"