[(On the Shoreline of Knowledge: Irish Wanderings)] [Author: Chris Arthur] published on

by Chris Arthur

The carefully crafted, meditative essays in On the Shoreline of Knowledge sometimes start from unlikely objects or thoughts, a pencil or some fragments of commonplace conversation, but they soon lead the reader to consider fundamental themes in human experience. The unexpected circumnavigation of the ordinary unerringly gets to the heart of the matter. Bringing a diverse range of material into play, from fifteenth-century Japanese Zen Buddhism to how we look at paintings, and from the nature of a briefcase to the ancient nest-sites of gyrfalcons, Chris Arthur reveals the extraordinary dimensions woven invisibly into the ordinary things around us. Compared to Loren Eiseley, George Eliot, Seamus Heaney, Aldo Leopold, V. S. Naipaul, W. G. Sebald, W. B. Yeats, and other literary luminaries, he is a master essayist whose work has quietly been gathering an impressive cargo of critical acclaim. Arthur speaks with an Irish accent, rooting the book in his own unique vision of the world, but he addresses elemental issues of life and death, love and loss, that circle the world and entwine us all.

Genres: Essays

Paperback

First published August 15, 2012

Reviews

[Bobby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some books come at just the right time. Chris Arthur may be my new favorite essayist. This collection is filled with excellent writing, careful reflection, and deliberate detail. Memory and how we think about objects and events takes center stage throughout the thirteen essays. I was immediately drawn in with the consideration of a special object found in the coat pocket of his recently deceased mother. Arthur discusses religious and political conflict during his growing up years in Ireland, memories of paintings that hung in his family's home, and the cultivation and scattering of seeds given to him by a great aunt. His essay titled "Relics" asks the reader to consider objects in a new and profound way, not sacred, but with a sense of reverence. In "The Wandflower Ladder" he quotes Basho's haiku which pretty much sums up my experience with this book:
From the pine tree
learn from the pine tree,
and from the bamboo
of the bamboo.

[Myrl Coulter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a terrific read, like floating down a river on a raft steered by a submarine captain. The surface is enticing but it's what going on underneath that's driving the journey. Chris Arthur is a skilled navigator.

[Maggie Duval · Rating 5 out of 5]

The essay is my favorite form of writing. Arthur’s style is dreamlike and transcendent, existing both in and out of time simultaneously. Dreamlike, nuanced, deeply observational and reflective. Took me a long while to finish the book because I savored every bit of it.

I’m even inspired to write a book based on the form of the essay, “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Briefcase,” itself inspired by Wallace Stevens’ “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.”

[Yue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read Chestnut on tutor instruction. Could see the appeal, but for me, he's been going around in circles too much.


Like this sentence:
"Her dying seemed like something tidal, at once familiar, elemental, devastating."

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chris Arthur's prose is impeccable. He makes the simple complex and the complex simple. I want to start reading it again immediately.