The courage of turtles

"Journalism, especially personal or polemical journalism, is a popular vehicle these days. Yet not many real essays are being written--pieces which have no occasion except the author's desire to speak at his convenience as he wishes, linking together memories and observations--perhaps because the form depends as much upon discipline as upon passion. Edward Hoagland's essays are sometimes autobiographical, and usually quite personal, but several are also about events and places; in any case, none is limited to the subject that it begins with. Here he writes about tigers, girl friends, show business, his father, and becoming a father, and the problem of how we treat each other in a world growing steadily more overcrowded. Although he writes painfully and eloquently about matters like stuttering, divorce and death, he tends to seize on subjects he rejoices in--the Vermont woods, county fairs, cowboys, street life, and harbor happenings. He offers even a kind of plan for survival, among other things, for he is a man seeking roots and foundation rocks. Mr. Hoagland is a stylist, a writer of low-keyed sagacity and versatility, and it is a delight to spend time inside his mind. Drawn from magazines as different as The Village Voice, Harper's, and Commentary, The Courage of Turtles contains some of the best English prose being written today."--Jacket.