The Miró Worm and the Mysteries of Writing

by Sven Birkerts

One of America's most honored and respected essayists, Sven Birkerts, returns with a riveting new collection. In The Miró Worm and the Mysteries of Writing, Birkerts reflects on fundamental questions every writer grapples with at one time or "Ah, the old questions, the good questions, the questions that seem so very basic on the surface, but then you get caught in the implications and realize that they go on and on and that you'll only go crazy trying to answer them." What does it mean to be a writer today, when so many other media compete for audiences? With the humanities seemingly everywhere in retreat, Birkerts probes the singular possibilities offered by a fixed text in a world dominated by social media. Meditating on everything from smart phones to photography, Borges to Dylan, Birkerts proves that "the right words in the right order" continue to offer readers a pathway through the labyrinth.

Genres: Nonfiction, Essays

184 pages, Paperback

Published October 15, 2024

About the author

Sven Birkerts is an American essayist and literary critic of Latvian ancestry. He is best known for his book The Gutenberg Elegies, which posits a decline in reading due to the overwhelming advances of the Internet and other technologies of the "electronic culture."

Birkerts graduated from Cranbrook School and then from the University of Michigan in 1973. He has taught writing at Harvard University, Emerson College, Amherst College, and most recently at Mount Holyoke College. Birkerts is the Director of the Bennington College Writing Seminars and the editor of AGNI, the literary journal. He now lives in the Boston area, specifically Arlington, Massachusetts, with his wife Lynn, daughter Mara, and son Liam.

His father is noted architect Gunnar Birkerts.

Reviews

[Allison Renner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I spent weeks with this book, letting my thoughts wander on Birkerts-inspired tangents, much like he did for other writers he mentions in his essays. It cracked open my mind at a time when I was needing inspiration. Yet even with pages of notes, I couldn’t seem to shape a review. I looked back at some of my reviews for flash and short story collections, but none of those formats seemed right.

I talked with a librarian friend about the issue, saying I didn’t know how to frame the review because my thoughts kept spinning into personal essays sharing my interpretations of what I’d read. She mentioned how the written material informs your response, so what was the book? I said… personal essays. On writing and memory and learning and art.

Suddenly, it felt completely natural to write a review as a personal essay. After all, Birkerts reflects on how Dylan, Borges, and others influenced him, his thoughts, and his writing, just as he has now influenced me.

Read the full review here: https://www.birchbarkediting.com/micr...