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Studying with Miss Bishop: Memoirs from a Young Writer’s Life
"Highly enjoyable . . . Studying with Miss Bishop offers the opportunity to encounter writing as an act of civility."
― Wall Street Journal
"Fascinating snapshots of remarkable encounters which, when brought together, chart a delightfully unusual path to literary success."
― Booklist
"Reading this memoir is like being at one of those memorable dinner parties, attended by the best and brightest, sparkling with wit and excellent conversations. You don’t want it to be over, the conversations to end! But with books, you need not worry. You can go back to the party, savor it, reread it again, and again."
—Julia Alvarez, author of In the Time of the Butterflies and Afterlife
In Studying with Miss Bishop , Dana Gioia discusses six people who helped him become a writer and better understand what it meant to dedicate one’s life to writing. Four were famous authors—Elizabeth Bishop, John Cheever, James Dickey, and Robert Fitzgerald. Two were unknown—Gioia’s Merchant Marine uncle and Ronald Perry, a forgotten poet. Each of the six essays provides a vivid portrait; taken together they tell the story of Gioia’s own journey from working-class LA to international literary success.
― Wall Street Journal
"Fascinating snapshots of remarkable encounters which, when brought together, chart a delightfully unusual path to literary success."
― Booklist
"Reading this memoir is like being at one of those memorable dinner parties, attended by the best and brightest, sparkling with wit and excellent conversations. You don’t want it to be over, the conversations to end! But with books, you need not worry. You can go back to the party, savor it, reread it again, and again."
—Julia Alvarez, author of In the Time of the Butterflies and Afterlife
In Studying with Miss Bishop , Dana Gioia discusses six people who helped him become a writer and better understand what it meant to dedicate one’s life to writing. Four were famous authors—Elizabeth Bishop, John Cheever, James Dickey, and Robert Fitzgerald. Two were unknown—Gioia’s Merchant Marine uncle and Ronald Perry, a forgotten poet. Each of the six essays provides a vivid portrait; taken together they tell the story of Gioia’s own journey from working-class LA to international literary success.
184 pages, Paperback
Published January 12, 2021
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248 people want to read
About the author
Dana Gioia
174 books120 followersDana Gioia is an internationally acclaimed and award-winning poet. Former Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, Gioia is a native Californian of Italian and Mexican descent. He received a B.A. and a M.B.A. from Stanford University and an M.A. in Comparative Literature from Harvard University. (Gioia is pronounced JOY-uh.)
Gioia has published four full-length collections of poetry, as well as eight chapbooks. His poetry collection, Interrogations at Noon, won the 2002 American Book Award. An influential critic as well, Gioia's 1991 volume Can Poetry Matter?, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle award, is credited with helping to revive the role of poetry in American public culture.
Gioia's reviews have appeared in many magazines including The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Washington Post Book World, The New York Times Book Review, Slate, and The Hudson Review. Gioia has written two opera libretti and is an active translator of poetry from Latin, Italian, and German.
As Chairman of the NEA, Gioia succeeded in garnering enthusiastic bi-partisan support in the United States Congress for the mission of the Arts Endowment, as well as in strengthening the national consensus in favor of public funding for the arts and arts education. (Business Week Magazine referred to him as "The Man Who Saved the NEA.")
Gioia's creation of a series of NEA National Initiatives combined with a wider distribution of direct grants to reach previously underserved communities making the agency truly national in scope. Through programs such as Shakespeare in American Communities, Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience, NEA Jazz Masters, American Masterpieces, and Poetry Out Loud, the Arts Endowment has successfully reached millions of Americans in all corners of the country.
The Big Read became the largest literary program in the history of the federal government. By the end of 2008, 400 communities had held month-long celebrations of great literature. Because of these successes as well as the continued artistic excellence of the NEA's core grant programs, the Arts Endowment, under Chairman Gioia, reestablished itself as a preeminent federal agency and a leader in the arts and arts education.
Renominated in November 2006 for a second term and once again unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Dana Gioia is the ninth Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Gioia left his position as Chairman on January 22, 2009. In 2011 Gioia became the Judge Widney Professor of Poetry and Public Culture at the University of Southern California where he teaches each fall semester.
Gioia has been the recipient of ten honorary degrees. He has won numerous awards, including the 2010 Laetare Medal from Notre Dame. He and his wife, Mary, have two sons. He divides his time between Los Angeles and Sonoma County, California
Gioia has published four full-length collections of poetry, as well as eight chapbooks. His poetry collection, Interrogations at Noon, won the 2002 American Book Award. An influential critic as well, Gioia's 1991 volume Can Poetry Matter?, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle award, is credited with helping to revive the role of poetry in American public culture.
Gioia's reviews have appeared in many magazines including The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Washington Post Book World, The New York Times Book Review, Slate, and The Hudson Review. Gioia has written two opera libretti and is an active translator of poetry from Latin, Italian, and German.
As Chairman of the NEA, Gioia succeeded in garnering enthusiastic bi-partisan support in the United States Congress for the mission of the Arts Endowment, as well as in strengthening the national consensus in favor of public funding for the arts and arts education. (Business Week Magazine referred to him as "The Man Who Saved the NEA.")
Gioia's creation of a series of NEA National Initiatives combined with a wider distribution of direct grants to reach previously underserved communities making the agency truly national in scope. Through programs such as Shakespeare in American Communities, Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience, NEA Jazz Masters, American Masterpieces, and Poetry Out Loud, the Arts Endowment has successfully reached millions of Americans in all corners of the country.
The Big Read became the largest literary program in the history of the federal government. By the end of 2008, 400 communities had held month-long celebrations of great literature. Because of these successes as well as the continued artistic excellence of the NEA's core grant programs, the Arts Endowment, under Chairman Gioia, reestablished itself as a preeminent federal agency and a leader in the arts and arts education.
Renominated in November 2006 for a second term and once again unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Dana Gioia is the ninth Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Gioia left his position as Chairman on January 22, 2009. In 2011 Gioia became the Judge Widney Professor of Poetry and Public Culture at the University of Southern California where he teaches each fall semester.
Gioia has been the recipient of ten honorary degrees. He has won numerous awards, including the 2010 Laetare Medal from Notre Dame. He and his wife, Mary, have two sons. He divides his time between Los Angeles and Sonoma County, California
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
October 22, 2021
Dana Goya may not be a poet I knew of before this book, however his style and nuanced writing drew me into a world so fascinating, I read this fully in one sitting.
The times he speaks of were certainly more academically and socially challenging. But the six poets are so compelling and memorable, I just couldn’t put this down. His personal connections wave proudly, but his critical mind acknowledges that “literary life is strange” Highly Recommended 5/5
[disclaimer:I received this book from an outside source. I voluntarily read and reviewed it]
The times he speaks of were certainly more academically and socially challenging. But the six poets are so compelling and memorable, I just couldn’t put this down. His personal connections wave proudly, but his critical mind acknowledges that “literary life is strange” Highly Recommended 5/5
[disclaimer:I received this book from an outside source. I voluntarily read and reviewed it]
March 8, 2021
A really enjoyable book! Very well written and flows well, even as it includes essays about several different impactful people in the author’s life. Not only this, but it lays out foundations and tips and hints of what matters in writing and how a person can make a difference by pursuing and sharing their writing.
Highly recommended for aspiring writers!
Highly recommended for aspiring writers!
February 24, 2021
If the review below looks too long, read this: This is a remarkable short collection of memoir-essays that I would recommend to anyone with an interest in a poet's formative years.
How am I to review this book? I can begin by saying that the text of the review is far more important than the star rating. It will mean far more, and be more accurate.
I've only recently joined Goodreads, and (perhaps as a bit of a game) I set out to take literally the descriptions of the star ratings, ranging from the one-star 'I didn't like it' through 'It was ok', 'I liked it', the adverb abusing 'I really liked it', and the five-star 'It was amazing'. I've tried to use these overgeneralized subjective reactions as the criteria for my ratings. Maybe someday I'll have to give up on this game, review in a way that makes more sense to me, and go back and change my previous reviews.
Now, as to this particular work: if you asked me if I liked it, I would equivocate. If you asked me how good it was, I would say that it was marvelous.
So why then would I equivocate as to whether or not I 'liked it'? I suppose it comes down to the two reasons I read memoirs. The first reason is that I have a particular interest in the memoirist or in the time and place in which they lived. In the second case, I have no particular interest in the author or in their life, but am interested in setting myself aside and letting them place their shoes on my feet and lead me down the road they've traveled. I came to this memoir via recommendation, and for the second reason.
Here we come to the equivocation. I found that I loved some of the places the author took me (Essays 1 and 3), disliked others of them (Essays 4 and 6), and felt a sort of relaxed ambivalence to the rest. He always conducted the trip with consummate skill, writing prose with a poet's sensibility (and no surprise there). I do not exaggerate when I say that this is a remarkable memoir, but ask me whether I liked it or I did not and I cannot answer. Stuck between those two poles I am left with the flavorless 'It was ok'.
As I read my own review, I find my decision to give this book a bland two stars less and less palatable. I'm upgrading it to the four stars it deserves, my little game of taking descriptions literally be hanged (in this case).
How am I to review this book? I can begin by saying that the text of the review is far more important than the star rating. It will mean far more, and be more accurate.
I've only recently joined Goodreads, and (perhaps as a bit of a game) I set out to take literally the descriptions of the star ratings, ranging from the one-star 'I didn't like it' through 'It was ok', 'I liked it', the adverb abusing 'I really liked it', and the five-star 'It was amazing'. I've tried to use these overgeneralized subjective reactions as the criteria for my ratings. Maybe someday I'll have to give up on this game, review in a way that makes more sense to me, and go back and change my previous reviews.
Now, as to this particular work: if you asked me if I liked it, I would equivocate. If you asked me how good it was, I would say that it was marvelous.
So why then would I equivocate as to whether or not I 'liked it'? I suppose it comes down to the two reasons I read memoirs. The first reason is that I have a particular interest in the memoirist or in the time and place in which they lived. In the second case, I have no particular interest in the author or in their life, but am interested in setting myself aside and letting them place their shoes on my feet and lead me down the road they've traveled. I came to this memoir via recommendation, and for the second reason.
Here we come to the equivocation. I found that I loved some of the places the author took me (Essays 1 and 3), disliked others of them (Essays 4 and 6), and felt a sort of relaxed ambivalence to the rest. He always conducted the trip with consummate skill, writing prose with a poet's sensibility (and no surprise there). I do not exaggerate when I say that this is a remarkable memoir, but ask me whether I liked it or I did not and I cannot answer. Stuck between those two poles I am left with the flavorless 'It was ok'.
As I read my own review, I find my decision to give this book a bland two stars less and less palatable. I'm upgrading it to the four stars it deserves, my little game of taking descriptions literally be hanged (in this case).
May 27, 2021
"To Miss Bishop, Stevens's greatest subject was not poetry, the supreme fiction. It was Florida, the supreme landscape. She introduced us to Stevens with a long discourse on Florida--'the state with the prettiest name,' she said--and returned to the subject repeatedly, always with affection and enthusiasm" (42).
"One did not interpret poetry; one experienced it. Showing us how to experience it clearly, intensely, and, above all, directly was the substance of her teaching. One did not need a sophisticated theory. One needed only intelligence, intuition, and a good dictionary. There was no subtext, only text. A painter among Platonists, she preferred observation to analysis, and poems to poetry" (56).
"What made the consensus singular in Robert's case was that none of his otherwise articulate admirers, most of them writers, could explain exactly what made his company so uniquely appealing.
Conversations about Robert with his friends often came around to that question. Even intimates like William Maxwell, who knew him for half a century, ultimately declared his allure ineffable. There was his intelligence, but it wasn't just that. Neither was it his swift, understated humor nor his native gentleness and humility. There was something else--impossible to describe--hidden at the core of his personality that kept the visible gifts in perfect accord. It was that harmony that made Robert so special [...] Being with him, I understood for the first time how legendary pilgrims recognize their next master. A few people truly possess an aura, a tangible sense of their integrity which draws one in" (62-63).
"Poe famously posits that no poem can be successfully sustained for more than about 120 lines" (69).
"The surface of the poem, Fitzgerald's method implied, *was* the poem. No epic survived the welter of history unless both its language and story were unforgettable. From a plot, posterity demands both immediate pleasure and enduring significance" (70).
"Years later I heard an astronomer explain that the 'simplicity and elegance' of a scientific solution represented the best criteria for its adoption. The simplicity and elegance of Fitzgerald's approach to poetry led me to question my own needlessly complicated assumptions" (70).
"'You cannot learn to write by reading English,' claimed Ezra Pound" (77).
"One recognized a genuine work of art by its *radiance*, the splendid clarity communicating not only its identity but its mystery. What we apprehend in art, therefore, is always greater than what we understand. Even in poetry, an art drawn from speech, most of a poem's essence remains, to use Rilke's term, 'unsayable.' We approach art not only with our intellect, but also with our imagination, intuition, and physical senses" (80).
"Fitzgerald began by quoting from three letters Gustave Flaubert sent to Louise Colet. ('A good prose sentence should be like a good line of poetry--*unchangeable*, just as rhythmic, just as sonorous.')" (83).
"Twice he quoted the maxim Seneca borrowed from Hippocrates, *Ars longa, vita brevis est*. Neither Seneca nor Hippocrates, he reminded us, implied that art endures, as the phrase is so often misconstrued. Instead, the Latin meant, as Chaucer aptly translated it, 'The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne.' The humane arts are immensely difficult to master. They require a life of constant application" (84).
"Teaching hovers between two realities. First, there is the formal curriculum. Then there is what one really learns, which may have little to do with the syllabus. So much of what one absorbs comes neither from lesson nor lecture but from example. The way a person teaches becomes an essential part of what is taught. Robert Fitzgerald was a splendid teacher in both ways. [...] Whenever I read Maritain's phrase, 'the secrets of being radiating into intelligence,' I always think of Robert and the aura of wisdom and grace he brought into class. It is a light I still learn by" (87-88).
"Criticism should be a conversation about the experience of reading a literary work. It is not the paid patter of public relations; it should be an honest account of the critic's reactions. Our relation to a book--like most other things in life--is usually mixed. We like some aspects of a thing and not others. To articulate the slippery experience accurately is the challenge of criticism, even in the modest form of a book review. Literary culture depends on trust" (125).
"Ambiguity is a dangerous technique in poetry. When it works, it can create a mysterious and haunting atmosphere, a sense that the ultimate meaning lies just out of reach. When it fails, it results in pretense and obscurity" (136).
"Oblivion is the fate of most poets" (155).
Cheever interview:
"I give what is known as a drill. My favorite drills are: give me three pages on your imagined introspection of a jogger, write me a love letter written in a burning building, give me eight disparate incidents that are superficially alien and profoundly allied. I can't remember the other drills (I had about twenty). Flaubert used to drill de Maupassant, used to send him down to the Rouen railroad station where there were about twenty cab drivers and to tell him to describe each face in a sentence. Then Flaubert would go down and check and see how de Maupassant did" (165).
"Teaching, after all, is a profession, and an exalted profession, and one can't assume that it is simply a way of making money to continue some other occupation. If one tries to, the students will disabuse you of that idea very quickly" (175).
"Well, it seems to me that the impact is questionably social. The political burden that literature can carry is inestimably delicate. We have very little good political fiction. I can't, for example, think of a good political novel--that is, a novel that has corrective social power. The spiritual impact is, of course, what one seeks in fiction. It is for the depth of the emotion--to make memory more coherent, more creatively accessible" (175-176).
"One did not interpret poetry; one experienced it. Showing us how to experience it clearly, intensely, and, above all, directly was the substance of her teaching. One did not need a sophisticated theory. One needed only intelligence, intuition, and a good dictionary. There was no subtext, only text. A painter among Platonists, she preferred observation to analysis, and poems to poetry" (56).
"What made the consensus singular in Robert's case was that none of his otherwise articulate admirers, most of them writers, could explain exactly what made his company so uniquely appealing.
Conversations about Robert with his friends often came around to that question. Even intimates like William Maxwell, who knew him for half a century, ultimately declared his allure ineffable. There was his intelligence, but it wasn't just that. Neither was it his swift, understated humor nor his native gentleness and humility. There was something else--impossible to describe--hidden at the core of his personality that kept the visible gifts in perfect accord. It was that harmony that made Robert so special [...] Being with him, I understood for the first time how legendary pilgrims recognize their next master. A few people truly possess an aura, a tangible sense of their integrity which draws one in" (62-63).
"Poe famously posits that no poem can be successfully sustained for more than about 120 lines" (69).
"The surface of the poem, Fitzgerald's method implied, *was* the poem. No epic survived the welter of history unless both its language and story were unforgettable. From a plot, posterity demands both immediate pleasure and enduring significance" (70).
"Years later I heard an astronomer explain that the 'simplicity and elegance' of a scientific solution represented the best criteria for its adoption. The simplicity and elegance of Fitzgerald's approach to poetry led me to question my own needlessly complicated assumptions" (70).
"'You cannot learn to write by reading English,' claimed Ezra Pound" (77).
"One recognized a genuine work of art by its *radiance*, the splendid clarity communicating not only its identity but its mystery. What we apprehend in art, therefore, is always greater than what we understand. Even in poetry, an art drawn from speech, most of a poem's essence remains, to use Rilke's term, 'unsayable.' We approach art not only with our intellect, but also with our imagination, intuition, and physical senses" (80).
"Fitzgerald began by quoting from three letters Gustave Flaubert sent to Louise Colet. ('A good prose sentence should be like a good line of poetry--*unchangeable*, just as rhythmic, just as sonorous.')" (83).
"Twice he quoted the maxim Seneca borrowed from Hippocrates, *Ars longa, vita brevis est*. Neither Seneca nor Hippocrates, he reminded us, implied that art endures, as the phrase is so often misconstrued. Instead, the Latin meant, as Chaucer aptly translated it, 'The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne.' The humane arts are immensely difficult to master. They require a life of constant application" (84).
"Teaching hovers between two realities. First, there is the formal curriculum. Then there is what one really learns, which may have little to do with the syllabus. So much of what one absorbs comes neither from lesson nor lecture but from example. The way a person teaches becomes an essential part of what is taught. Robert Fitzgerald was a splendid teacher in both ways. [...] Whenever I read Maritain's phrase, 'the secrets of being radiating into intelligence,' I always think of Robert and the aura of wisdom and grace he brought into class. It is a light I still learn by" (87-88).
"Criticism should be a conversation about the experience of reading a literary work. It is not the paid patter of public relations; it should be an honest account of the critic's reactions. Our relation to a book--like most other things in life--is usually mixed. We like some aspects of a thing and not others. To articulate the slippery experience accurately is the challenge of criticism, even in the modest form of a book review. Literary culture depends on trust" (125).
"Ambiguity is a dangerous technique in poetry. When it works, it can create a mysterious and haunting atmosphere, a sense that the ultimate meaning lies just out of reach. When it fails, it results in pretense and obscurity" (136).
"Oblivion is the fate of most poets" (155).
Cheever interview:
"I give what is known as a drill. My favorite drills are: give me three pages on your imagined introspection of a jogger, write me a love letter written in a burning building, give me eight disparate incidents that are superficially alien and profoundly allied. I can't remember the other drills (I had about twenty). Flaubert used to drill de Maupassant, used to send him down to the Rouen railroad station where there were about twenty cab drivers and to tell him to describe each face in a sentence. Then Flaubert would go down and check and see how de Maupassant did" (165).
"Teaching, after all, is a profession, and an exalted profession, and one can't assume that it is simply a way of making money to continue some other occupation. If one tries to, the students will disabuse you of that idea very quickly" (175).
"Well, it seems to me that the impact is questionably social. The political burden that literature can carry is inestimably delicate. We have very little good political fiction. I can't, for example, think of a good political novel--that is, a novel that has corrective social power. The spiritual impact is, of course, what one seeks in fiction. It is for the depth of the emotion--to make memory more coherent, more creatively accessible" (175-176).
March 28, 2021
I absolutely loved this book. Reminded me to not forget (!) the pleasures of both reading and studying poetry, as well as how one's reading history intersects with perspectives on living. This collection of essays was insightful, provocative, and energizing.
March 20, 2021
Well told stories of the writing life
I had known Dana Gioia only through my familiarity with some of his poems and his talks online about beauty and poetry. I was reluctant to make the commitment to read “Studying with Miss Bishop,” but I thought it was short enough so what the heck. By the time I finished (at one sitting) I was sorry it had ended. I learned about the craftsmanship underlying the art and the personal commitment to the poet’s life, a life that is not always a happy one. I am inspired to read Elizabeth Bishop more closely, but not James Dickey’s Puella.
I had known Dana Gioia only through my familiarity with some of his poems and his talks online about beauty and poetry. I was reluctant to make the commitment to read “Studying with Miss Bishop,” but I thought it was short enough so what the heck. By the time I finished (at one sitting) I was sorry it had ended. I learned about the craftsmanship underlying the art and the personal commitment to the poet’s life, a life that is not always a happy one. I am inspired to read Elizabeth Bishop more closely, but not James Dickey’s Puella.
January 20, 2021
A very powerful memoir
It was interesting and a great pleasure to how he developed as a thinker and a writer. His discussion of becoming a bookworm was enjoyable. He chose five people he saw as playing pivotal roles is his life and wrote an essay about each. The process both teaches about those people and illustrates the writers development.
It was interesting and a great pleasure to how he developed as a thinker and a writer. His discussion of becoming a bookworm was enjoyable. He chose five people he saw as playing pivotal roles is his life and wrote an essay about each. The process both teaches about those people and illustrates the writers development.
December 24, 2022
After hearing Dana Gioia’s unconventional reading biography on a First Things podcast, I felt compelled to read this short memoir. How fortunate that Gioia ended up encountering all these literary mentors throughout his life; how wise of him to collect the wisdom they shared. I was especially enamored of Miss Bishop’s teaching style and her admission that she wasn’t much of a teacher. Nonetheless, she gave me a gift, too, with her insistence that all you need to read poetry is a good dictionary and a healthy distance from all the critics. As Gioia recalls, her main lesson was “one did not interpret poetry; one experienced it. Showing us how to experience it clearly, intensely, and above all, directly was the substance of her teaching. One did not need a sophisticated theory. One needed only intelligence, intuition, and a good dictionary.” I can’t really convey how much that gave me confidence to approach teaching poetry again this year. “She preferred observation to analysis, and poems to poetry.”
I’m not sure how many other people will want to read a book about poet-teachers (and to be honest, none of the chapters moved me quite as much as the Bishop one), but this book felt like a lucky find to me.
I’m not sure how many other people will want to read a book about poet-teachers (and to be honest, none of the chapters moved me quite as much as the Bishop one), but this book felt like a lucky find to me.
December 26, 2021
This review is from one who doesn't usually get poetry but respects it. I learned a lot from this book.
I tried this book because the author gave an enlightening talk at my writer's club, and he had solid credentials. He chose poems that I could understand, and he read them beautifully. The memoir format assured me it wouldn't be too academic. Literary poems tend to go over my head for want of the mental facility to recognize or appreciate their abstractions. I've only written one poem that was deep and meaningful to me, and it's not terribly abstract.
The writing in Studying with Miss Bishop is masterful and accessible. Elegant and clear. Personal but not too forward. Not one needless word. The essence of the literary figures in the book came through in great depth. Though Mr. Gioia is a poet, his prose is inspiring to read. I found gems worth defacing the pages with notes so I could find them again, to learn from the examples.
Brian T.N. Gunney (Dragon's Ridge)
I tried this book because the author gave an enlightening talk at my writer's club, and he had solid credentials. He chose poems that I could understand, and he read them beautifully. The memoir format assured me it wouldn't be too academic. Literary poems tend to go over my head for want of the mental facility to recognize or appreciate their abstractions. I've only written one poem that was deep and meaningful to me, and it's not terribly abstract.
The writing in Studying with Miss Bishop is masterful and accessible. Elegant and clear. Personal but not too forward. Not one needless word. The essence of the literary figures in the book came through in great depth. Though Mr. Gioia is a poet, his prose is inspiring to read. I found gems worth defacing the pages with notes so I could find them again, to learn from the examples.
Brian T.N. Gunney (Dragon's Ridge)
April 13, 2021
I enjoyed this book. In my younger life I quite enjoyed poetry, this book reminds me to start again. I was familiar with Gioia’s work but not his education or background. This book gives us a look into the remarkable people he was fortunate to study under and with. The book is collection of essays and includes poetry as well to enjoy. It reads as if we are sitting with him and having a conversation. My only disappointment is I wish it was much longer!
*I especially appreciated reading about Miss Bishop’s class.
*I especially appreciated reading about Miss Bishop’s class.
May 5, 2021
A wonderful collection of memoirs from a master of the English language. This is an enjoyable read from both the content and the prose. His words simply flow and create a rhythm I have seldom found in other works. Highly recommend not only because you will learn about authors you have never heard of, and look into an interesting life, but also for the shear pleasure of reading meticulously crafted English. (Drawn here from the author’s interview on EconTalk, which I would also recommend.)
October 5, 2022
A pleasure to read, though the technical aspects of the subject matter are over my head and the conversation with Cheever as an addendum was difficult for me to follow. Gioia's tempo is comfortable with a good dose of humor and familiarity.
February 27, 2021
A pleasure to read—Gioia is an excellent writer, and these essays offer insightful snapshots of some fascinating authors at specific moments in their careers.
April 13, 2021
This is not just a book for those who love poetry. I loved the story and all the famous writers mentioned.
May 27, 2021
Found first two chapters very fascinating. Enjoyed reading some sections aloud to my family at dinner. Time to get a book of Gioia's poems.
August 28, 2021
An absolute delight! The first four essays are impeccable. A must read for all teachers.
January 1, 2025
A beautiful memoir. His prose is as beautiful as his verse.
Read
April 21, 2021This book is a gem. Poet, critic, essayist Dana Gioia exams six people who helped his path as an early writer. The six are diverse
January 29, 2022
Another book that I added to my list, in this case from a NYT review (not anything Goodreads recommended). What wonderful writing, short stories that end up building into a fantastic memoir. Had no idea what to expect and was so pleasantly surprised.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews