Former poet laureate of the United States Donald Hall's final collection of essays, from the vantage point of very old age, once again “alternately lyrical and laugh-out-loud funny.”• •(New York Times) “Why should a nonagenarian hold anything back?” Donald Hall answers his own question in these self-knowing, fierce, and funny essays on aging, the pleasures of solitude, and the sometimes astonishing freedoms arising from both. Nearing ninety at the time of writing, he intersperses memories of exuberant days in his youth, with uncensored tales of literary friendships spanning decades—with James Wright, Richard Wilbur, Seamus Heaney, and other luminaries. Cementing his place alongside Roger Angell and Joan Didion as a generous and profound chronicler of loss, this final work is as original and searing as anything Hall wrote during his extraordinary literary lifetime.

Works

Hall, Donald, 1928-2018, author

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

First Edition, First Printing, PS, 2018

United States, United States of America

Massachusetts, 2018

Hall lived long enough to leave behind two final books, memento mori titled Essays After Eighty (2014) and now A Carnival of Notes Nearing Ninety.Theyre up there with the best things he did . Dwight Garner, New York Times
From the former poet laureate of the United States,essays from the vantage point of very old age
Donald Hall lived a remarkable life of letters, one capped most recently by the New YorkTimes bestseller Essays After Eighty, a treasure of a book in which he balance[s] frankness about losses with humor and gratitude ( Washington Post ). Before his passing in 2018, nearing ninety, Hall delivered this new collection of self-knowing, fierce, and funny essays on aging, the pleasures of solitude,and the sometimes astonishing freedoms arising from both. He interspersesmemories of exuberant daysasin Paris, 1951,with a French girl memorably inclined to say, I couldnt care lesswithwriting, visceral and hilarious, on what hehas calledthe unknown, unanticipated galaxy of extreme old age.
Why should a nonagenarian hold anything back? Hall answers his own question byrevealing several vivid instances ofthe worst thing I ever did," and throughequally uncensored tales of literary friendships spanning decades, with James Wright, Richard Wilbur, Seamus Heaney,and other luminaries.
Cementing his place alongside Roger Angell and Joan Didion as a generous and profound chronicler of loss, Hallreturns to the deathof his beloved wife, Jane Kenyon, in an essay as original and searing as anything he's written in hisextraordinary literary lifetime.

In this collection of essays Hall discusses aging, the pleasures of solitude, and the sometimes astonishing freedom arising from both. From the vantage point of very old age, Hall also delivers uncensored tales of literary (and other) friendships, and the death of his beloved wife, Jane Kenyon. -- adapted from jacket

216 pages ; 22 cm
"New essays from the vantage point of very old age, once again "alternately lyrical and laugh-out-loud funny, "* from the former poet laureate of the United States *(New York Times)"--
Notes nearing ninety -- The selected poets of Donald Hall -- Necropoetics -- A carnival of losses

New Essays From The Vantage Point Of Very Old Age, Once Again Alternately Lyrical And Laugh-out-loud Funny, * From The Former Poet Laureate Of The United States *(new York Times)-- Notes Nearing Ninety -- The Selected Poets Of Donald Hall -- Necropoetics -- A Carnival Of Losses. Donald Hall.

"New essays from the vantage point of very old age, once again "alternately lyrical and laugh-out-loud funny, "* from the former poet laureate of the United States *(New York Times)"-- Provided by publisher

2023-10-09