Böcker av David Wagoner

The first book by acclaimed novelist and poet David Wagoner, hailed by the Los Angeles Times as "a breathtaking novel filled with terror and pathos," finally back in print after 70 years... Middle-aged Charlie Bell, a crippled watchman at a railroad crossing, sees a woman thrown out of passing train. He takes the injured woman, and the briefcase she was clutching, with him in search of a phone. She's a reporter, and the briefcase contains papers that could destroy a corrupt Senator. But before Charlie can get her help, a thug attacks them and kills her. Now Charlie is relentlessly pursued through the Chicago underworld by cops who think he's a murderer...and killers intent on silencing him. "A remarkable first novel by a powerful new writer. Compassion, sustained excitement, and acute observation of the Chicago locale make for a moving story." New York Times "It has everything a mystery should have, but it goes one step further." Pittsburgh Press "Wagoner's story is just as relentless as the forces groping and clutching for the doomed man." Richmond Times-Dispatch

"Mark Twain had a way of describing life that let you taste it and laugh at it simultaneously. It isn't a gift that shows up very often among writers, but it's here again in David Wagoner's tale. He writes with wit and sparkle," Courier-Post Seventeen-year-old Andrew Jackson Holcomb suddenly finds himself part owner of a bank and whorehouse in 1890s Wyoming when his father, a crooked judge, skips town to avoid a scandal. But that's only the beginning his troubles. Soon Andrew and his best friend Fred, the preacher's son, take a crash course in "cowboying" from colorful cowpoke Greasy Brown and hit the trail for Indian Territory and into a wild, bawdy adventure for the ages. "Almost every line is worth quoting... a good piece of entertainment, sly, witty, and true." New York Times "Wagoner has a great ear for conversation and some of the scenes are hilarious." Sacramento Bee "It's a long, hilarious tale...a wooly yarn about the old west. Greasy is probably the dumbest, poorest, thirstiest, stubbornest, and funniest fictional cowboy since Cat Ballou." Chicago Tribune

"One of the wildest, funniest, and most memorable trips ever dreamed up by a novelist. Wagoner is a master story-teller." Chicago Tribune It's 1859, and twenty-year-old Ike Bender, eager to escape the yoke of his brutal father, runs away from his family's hard-scrabble Nebraska farm with dreams of making his fortune in the gold-rush country around Pike's Peak, where his older brother Kit has already fled. Ike sets out alone, armed with only his home-made wheelbarrow, a side of bacon, an old pick-ax, a few dollars, and the love of plucky, head-strong teenager Millicent Slaughter to sustain his dangerous, 500-mile journey. "A masterpiece of first-person, vernacular narrative. It's a joy to read." Philadelphia Inquirer "A Twain-ish tale that deftly mixes humor and adventure. And it's all told in language so rich you can take it in big bites, chew and savor it." Minneapolis Star-Tribune "A funny, tough-minded, cheerful novel, which turns the base metal of frontier experience into pure gold. Everyone who reads this wonder-filled book is guaranteed, unconditionally, to strike it rich." Hartford Courant "A novel of immense charm and grace. The Road to Many a Wonder is prose magic. Fort Worth Star-Telegram "An unforgettable experience." The Marysville Advocate

“David Wagoner’s study of American nostalgias is as eloquent as that of James Wright.” —Harold Bloom

  When David Wagoner''s last         collection, Through the Forest: New and Selected Poems, was published,         Harold Bloom noted that Wagoner''s "study of American nostalgias is         as eloquent and moving as that of James Wright, and like Wright''s poetry         carries on some of the deepest currents in American verse." The same         could be said of Walt Whitman Bathing, in which Wagoner''s poems         range from the lyric to the satiric, the elegiac to the transcendental,         the autobiographical to the visionary.       Other comments on Wagoner''s         earlier works:       "Wagoner has the visual         acuity of his loved hawks and a lifelong absorption with living and growing         things. A lovely wit and a lively intelligence inform these poems."         -- Maxine Kumin       "When Wagoner looks at         something, he brings it to vivid and immediate life through an extraordinary         power with a simple name: love. He is as formally various as Thomas Hardy,         as playful as Dickinson, as wry as Frost." -- Dave Smith       "A sharp-eyed, even gutsy         nature poet, the deftest and tenderest of love poets, Wagoner is a verbal         magician capable of surprising, sometimes crazy tours de force."         -- X. J. Kennedy       

Perceptive verses infused with vitality and wry wit

By continually discovering what's new in each day without forgetting yesterday's surprises, the author constantly expanded his range in a career that spans more than 50 years. In this book, the range includes his usual forays into nature and personalities, and poetry for all ages, young and old, amidst a vivid array of memories and explorations.

Offers hundred poems in six parts. This title ventures to the seemingly infinitesimal points where people, legends, and culture collide with nature, memory, and action. It chronicles the material invasions of the natural world, reconsidering Thoreau amid ruminations on voyeurs and destroyers, slug watchers and moth collectors.

Distills the essential emotions from people's encounters with each other, with nature, and with themselves. This book lets us see ourselves and the world that surrounds us through the author's compassionate but unblinking eyes.