The Nearest Thing to Life

"Telling a story about the story you are reading" is how Wood (English, Harvard Univ.; staff writer, The New Yorker; The Fun Stuff) defines literary criticism. In these four lectures, some previously published, Wood takes readers on his journey from lying to homelessness to show how fiction accommodates his life changes. Wood grew up as a "formidable liar," which led him to literature, specifically fiction, in which anything could be imagined. As a youth he realized that no fictional character dies unintentionally, and he saw that the path of history could be changed in novels. The collection is both memoir and criticism. Wood cites the works of Eudora Welty, Henry James, Italo Calvino, Leo Tolstoy, Marilynne Robinson, and others to illustrate his points. He uses his personal quandary of having no desire to become a U.S. citizen even though he has lived in America for nearly 20 years to explain the difference between Home and home. Readers feel his dilemma: he yearns for his British heritage while enjoying America, from general stores in New Hampshire to Boar's Head logos on delivery trucks and the phrase "take it easy."