Writing on Air

by David Rothenberg (Editor), Wandee J. Pryor (Editor)

Air in our everyday and imaginative lives, as portrayed by a wide range of writers, photographers, and artists.

For centuries, humans have tried to master air. Sea captains rein it in with their sails, and pilots cut through it with their wings. We have machines to pump air into our lungs and computers to anticipate the movement of the winds. Air pervades everything we do and gives us life, yet it is impossible to capture. We can only evoke it through images, impressions, and feelings. This book offers a collage of such evocations expressed through prose, poetry, photography, and drawings. From aerial plankton to Navajo wind gods, from joyful singing to painful emphysema, from gentle breezes to violent storms, Writing on Air creates a fresh way of thinking about the role of air in our everyday lives. Included in the book are prose pieces by poet Hayden Carruth, paulo da costa, Kristjana Gunnars, filmmaker Werner Herzog, Howard Mansfield, Sarah Menin, and C. L. Rawlins; an excerpt from a play by Carl Djerassi and Roald Hoffmann on the discovery of oxygen; poems by Lori Anderson, Tonu Õnnepalu, Andrew Schelling, and Virgil Suárez; and art and photography by Manuel Acevedo, Stuart Allen, Marsha Cottrell, Susan Derges, the Korwa tribe of the Indian hills, Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Tuula Närhinen, and the airborne dancers of Project Bandaloop.

308 pages, Hardcover

First published May 23, 2003

About the author

David Rothenberg is a professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. His research investigates the musicality of animals and the role of nature in philosophy. He received his BA from Harvard College in 1984 and his PhD from Boston University in 1991.