Senior Moments: Looking Back, Looking Ahead

Eight wide-ranging essays bring together the prominent themes of a lifetime devoted to teaching, reading, and writing. While Spiegelman (Hughes Professor of English, Southern Methodist Univ.; former editor in chief, Southwest Review) might be considered an elder statesman on the literary scene, he takes himself lightly and brings fresh energy to an appreciation of many subjects. Spiegelman invites readers on a tour of his life and times in essays titled "Dallas," "Japan," and "Manhattan," with conversational whimsy and genuine gratitude for the people, places, ideas, and memories they inspire. In this exploration of career and ancestral history, the cultural gems of food and neighborhoods, randomly illuminative poetic and prose passages from literature and lessons transmitted to generations of students, the author draws on an equal blend of critical rigor and love for his themes. He surveys his brash Jewish American upbringing; the epiphanies of aging and death; the spiritual dimensions of art; and the vital significance of reading, language, and interpersonal conversation with measured humor and insight.