The Burning Library: Essays

By Edmund White

Book Overview

From the National Book Award honored author of A Previous Life and a master of American literature comes a dazzling collection of 25 years of groundbreaking essays that redefined politics, language, identity, and friendship.

"A testament to White's versatility, his insatiable curiosity about the emergence of gays in modern American life.... Fascinating." --San Francisco Chronicle

Along with his essays of gay experience and desire, this magisterial collection of White's nonfiction writings includes dazzling subversive appreciations of cultural icons as diverse as Truman Capote and Cormac McCarthy, Robert Mapplethorpe and the singer formerly known as Prince.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679754741
• ISBN13: 9780679754749
• Release Date: October 1995
• Publisher: Vintage
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 0.78 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Another Angle

It always pays to look at things from another angle. You may discover they are not exactly what you took them for at the first glance. Reading this book gives you a perfect oportunity to look at literature not only from a very different angle but also through the eyes of an eminent novelist and a keen literary critic. You may quarrel with White, reject his views but one thing is certain - it is very difficult to remain indifferent. A perfect addition to White's novels and an unorthodox course in 20th century literature.

A Provocative and Far Ranging Collection

Edmund White is one of the foremost novelists of our day. He is also a literary critic and social observer of the first order.This collection of essays and reviews spans the period of the late 60's through the mid 90's and charts the changing views and mores of the gay world of which White is an important member. In addition, White's literary analysis of both well known figures such as Nabokov and lesser known poets and authors from all over is acute and thoughtful. White's discussion of his own work is invaluable to those of us, like myself, who are devotés and places it within the greater context of literature. Reading these essays and reviews made me want to explore further the authors and poets favored by the author, and that is what literary criticism is all about.

The Reader in the new world--non fiction.

As a struggling writer I find it difficult to consult my creativity in a nurturing yet properly instructive way. One of the main difficulties is finding the right literary setting to allow my ideas to flourish (or at least a place to plant them). Until I read The Burning Library I was only familiar with White's fiction. I was apprehensive about his essays; that the power of his imaginary voice would be subdued in the realm of non fiction. It is subdued but it is no less brilliant, no less insightful, and no less stimulating. White rules his world with a brutal and sensitive brain; he debunks "myth" as he creates it. When the essays turn to biography it helps to be familiar with who he's talking about (I reccomend a class in contemporary French Literary Criticism) but it isn't necessary. White is accessible, provocative and entertaining. After reading these essays it took me a long time to return to fiction--both reading and writing it. These are inspiring articles; intellectual, risque, humorous, and most importantly... still chic. I am--as with all White's writing--inspired to create but usually disappointed with how short I fall in my attempts to be similar. I highly reccomend this book to anyone interested in gay history or the contemporary gay culture.