Thirteen Ways of Looking

McCann, Colum (Get this book)
A superbly crafted and deeply moving collection of fiction, with a provocative back story. The Irish-born, New York-based McCann here offers four pieces of fiction that focus on the process of writing and the interplay between art and its inspiration. As he writes in a concluding Author's Note, "Every word we write is autobiographical, perhaps most especially when we attempt to avoid the autobiographical. For all its imagined moments, literature works in unimaginable ways." He provides literary framing with the title, evoking the oft-cited Wallace Stevens poem. The author's first collection of shorter fiction in more than a decade underscores his reputation as a contemporary master.--Kirkus