Thirteen Chapters - by Diane Stevenson (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Each chapter in Thirteen Chapters tells a simple story of something simple that happens. In Chapter One, for example, a fish is invented, craves water, finds a river - as abbreviated as that. In Chapter Two grass is invented, then a bird, then a worm, then rain. Sometimes things happen in sequence, sometimes all at once: "There is a cat. There is a dog. The dog barks." An action can result in a chain reaction: a monkey smiles, a second monkey smiles, a third monkey smiles. Altogether, we delight in finding our intuitions confirmed, that wishing, thinking, doing are all connected. It's delightful that a fish exists, that it wishes for water, that it finds a river. Where is that fish? Where is the river the fish finds? How did he get there? These are questions for the reader to ask and answer. It's up to the reader to fill in the blanks. Connections, interjections, delight. Perhaps instead of the sparest of stories we might call these chapters the sparest of poems with illustrations to match the sparseness of the text.

About the Author

Diane Stevenson was born and raised on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. She secured an M.F.A. from Columbia University and was granted a graduate degree without an undergraduate degree. Next, she parlayed Columbia's Ph.D. program in American literature and published The Beauty Shop Monologues, nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She's a Breadloaf Scholar and was listed in an early edition under "Outstanding Writers: Poets." Stevenson was one of the 3 authors of 'Did You Kiss A Cat Today' a book of humorous and poignant poetry for children of all ages. She taught at Sarah Lawrence College, Hobart and William Smith, and the University of Southern Mississippi. She's published poems and articles in The Nation, Boulevard, Pataphysics, Raritan, The Yale Review, Socialist Review, and The Mississippi Review. Her husband was the late great film critic and historian Gilberto Perez.