A Wanderer in the Perfect City: Selected Passion Pieces - Softcover

Weschler, Lawrence

4.39

101 ratings by Goodreads

9781886913257: A Wanderer in the Perfect City: Selected Passion Pieces

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1886913250 ISBN 13: 9781886913257

Publisher: Hungry Mind Press, 1998

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

...[U]npredictable in the way that only the best nonfiction can be....I found myself thinking of the Bhagavad-Gita...What struck me was the idea of non-attachment....Weschler writes, One works and works at something, which then happens of its own accord....its happening cannot be said to have resulted from all that work, the way effects are said to result from a series of causes."-M.G. Lord, The New York Times Book Review

An excerpt

A few months ago, a friend I was talking with began to tell me about a friend of his named Gary Isaacs, who was working at the downtown headquarters of one of the city's top investment houses as an executive in the division monitoring the savings-and-loan crisis. Though Isaacs was just thirty-two years old, my friend recounted, he had previously worked on the Street in several other capacities as well, and before that he'd had a notably successful career in an entirely different field; what's more, it seemed he was about to quit this one, too, and to head off in yet another direction. When I asked my friend what the previous career had been, and, for that matter, what the new one was going to be, he replied that it would be far more entertaining for me to hear the whole story from the man himself, which is how, a few days later, I came to find myself in the sleek elevator of one of downtown's better-known headquarters zooming up towards I didn't have the faintest idea what.

"Mr. Weschler has an extraordinary power to catch the crucial moment in people's lives--that moment (of passion or conviction) which suddenly alters the course of a life. Such 'conversions' may be absurd or tragic, or delightful, or sublime--we see all of these, and more, in these sometimes very odd, but intensely human, and beautifully told tales." -Oliver Sacks

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:

A few months ago, a friend I was talking with began to tell me about a friend of his named Gary Isaacs, who was working at the downtown headquarters of one of the city's top investment houses as an executive in the division monitoring the savings-and-loan crisis. Though Isaacs was just thirty-two years old, my friend recounted, he had previously worked on the Street in several other capacities as well, and before that he'd had a notably successful career in an entirely different field; what's more, it seemed he was about to quit this one, too, and to head off in yet another direction. When I asked my friend what the previous career had been, and, for that matter, what the new one was going to be, he replied that it would be far more entertaining for me to hear the whole story from the man himself, which is how, a few days later, I came to find myself in the sleek elevator of one of downtown's better-known headquarters zooming up towards I didn't have the faintest idea what.

Lawrence Weschler is, simply put, one of the best journalists ever to have written for the New Yorker--of an equal rank to masters like Joseph Mitchell, Philip Hamburger, and John McPhee. Most of the articles in this volume were first published in 1988 as Shapinsky's Karma, Boggs's Bills, and Other True-Life Tales (the story of Boggs has been extracted and expanded into its own book); each of them profiles a creative individual who "works and works at something, which then happens of its own accord: it would not have happened without all the prior work, true, but its happening cannot be said to have resulted from all that work, the way effects are said to result from a series of causes." For republication, Weschler has provided updates on each of his subjects, from Maus creator Art Spiegelman to the now-deceased musical lexicographer Nicolas Slonimsky (whom Weschler profiled at the age of 92, and arguably at the peak of his career). He's also added two new "passion pieces," including a profile of comic artist Ben Katchor. A Wanderer in the Perfect City is as close to perfect as books get, and my advice to you is to get a copy, read it, and then reread it whenever your faith in literature needs restoring. If at all possible, get two copies, so you can share this graceful anthology yet never have to part with it. (Oh, and in case you were wondering, Gary Isaacs was a former rocket scientist who ran away from Wall Street to join the circus.) --Ron Hogan

About the Author:

Lawrence Weschler has been a staff writer with the New Yorker since 1981.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.