Wonderlands: Essays on the Life of Literature

Searching and erudite new essays on writing from the author of Burning Down the House.

Charles Baxter's new collection of essays, Wonderlands, joins his other works of nonfiction, Burning Down the House and The Art of Subtext. In the mold of those books, Baxter shares years of wisdom and reflection on what makes fiction work, including essays that were first given as craft talks at the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference.

The essays here range from brilliant thinking on the nature of wonderlands in the fiction of Haruki Murakami and other fabulist writers, to how request moments function in a story. Baxter is equally at home tackling a thorny matter such as charisma (which intersects with political figures like the disastrous forty-fifth US president) as he is bringing new interest to subjects such as list-making in fiction.

Amid these craft essays, an interlude of two personal essays--the story of a horrifying car crash and an introspective "letter to a young poet"--add to the intimate nature of the book. The final essay reflects on a lifetime of writing, and closes with a memorable image of Baxter as a boy, waiting at the window for a parent who never arrives and filling that absence with stories. Wonderlands will stand alongside his prior work as an insightful and lasting work of criticism.

Publisher: Graywolf Press
Published: 07/12/2022
Pages: 304
Weight: 0.72lbs
Size: 8.26h x 5.59w x 0.64d
ISBN: 9781644450918


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 05/01/2022
Publishers Weekly 05/23/2022

About the Author
Charles Baxter is the author of fourteen books, most recently the novel The Sun Collective. His stories have appeared in The Best American Short Stories, The Pushcart Prize Anthology, and The O. Henry Prize Story Anthology. He lives in Minneapolis, Minnesot