A George P. Elliott Reader: Selected Poetry and Prose (Bread Loaf Series of Contemporary Writers)

George P. Elliott, who died in 1980, is remembered both as a "writer's writer"--a master craftsman with an equal command of poetry and prose, fiction and nonfiction--and as a gifted and dedicated teacher, one of the architects of the Syracuse University graduate writing program. The Bread Loaf Series of Contemporary Writers introduces a new generation of readers and students to this versatile man of letters.
Collecting short stories, essays, and the long narrative poem "Fever and Chills," this Reader reveals the range of Elliott's talents and his seemingly effortless command of the written word. The smooth, realistic style of his short stories enhances the emotional resonance of such pieces as "Hymn of Angels," or contrasts with the caustic satire of others, such as the darkly Orwellian "The N.R.A.C.P." His clear and elegant essays are constructed of incisive judgments and carefully considered opinions, founded on his sense of literature as a dynamic force, a mystery to be experienced, shared, and discussed. Among the pieces presented here is the previously uncollected "Snarls of Beauty," one of Elliott's strongest and most characteristic essays.