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Sam Pickering has been teaching, guiding, performing, and inspiring
for more than forty years. As a young English teacher at Montgomery
Bell Academy in Tennessee, his musings on literature and his
maverick pedagogy touched a student named Tommy Schulman, who later
wrote the screenplay for Dead Poets Society. Letters to a Teacher
is a welcome reminder that teaching is a joy and an art. In ten
graceful yet conversational letters addressed to teachers of all
types, Pickering shares compelling, funny, always elucidating
anecdotes from a lifetime in the classrooms of school and
universities. His priceless, homespun observations touch on topics
such as competition, curiosity, enthusiasm, and truth. More than a
how-to guide, Letters to a Teacher is an invitation into the hearts
and minds of an extraordinary educator and his students, and an
irresistible call to reflection for the teacher who knows he or she
must be compassionate, optimistic, respectful, firm, and above all
dynamic. This is an indispensable guide for teachers and laymen
alike.
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Aesop's Fables (Paperback)
Aesop; Introduction by Sam Pickering; Edited by Jack Zipes; Afterword by Jack Zipes
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R194
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"Kindness is seldom wasted."
--from "The Lion and the Mouse" It is both amazing and wonderful
that so much of the richness of our language and our moral
education still owes a huge debt to a Greek slave who was executed
more than two thousand years ago. Yet "sour grapes," "crying 'wolf,
'" "actions speak louder than words," "honesty is the best policy,"
and literally hundreds of other metaphors, axioms, and ideas that
are now woven into the very fabric of Western culture all came from
Aesop's Fables. An extraordinary storyteller who used cunning
foxes, surly dogs, clever mice, fearsome lions, and foolish humans
to describe the reality of a harsh world, Aesop created narratives
that are appealing, funny, politically astute, and profoundly true.
And Aesop's truth--often summed up in the pithy "moral of the
story"--retains an awesome power to affect us, reaching us through
both our intellects and our hearts. This exclusive Signet Classic
edition contains 203 of Aesop's most enduring and popular fables,
translated into readable, modern American English and beautifully
illustrated with classic woodcuts by the great French artist J. J.
Grandville.
Includes:
"The Fox and the Grapes"
"The Ants and the Grasshopper"
"The Country Mouse and the Town Mouse" Edited and with an
Afterword by Jack ZipesWith an Introduction by Sam Pickering
Sweeping in and out of real and imagined places, Dreamtime
highlights the curious character of an unconventional teacher,
writer, traveler, husband, and father as he takes stock of his
multifaceted life. Sam Pickering--the inspiration for the main
character in Dead Poets Society--guides us on a journey through his
reflections on retirement, aging, gardening, and travel. He
describes the pleasures of domesticity, summers spent in Nova
Scotia, and the joy of sharing a simple life with his wife of
almost forty years.
"Life is a tiresome journey," Pickering muses, "and when a man
arrives at the end, he is generally out of breath." Although
Pickering is now more likely to shuffle than gallop, he isn't yet
out of breath, ideas, or ink. The refreshing and reflective
substance of these essays shines through a patina of wit in
Pickering's characteristically evocative and sincere prose. The
separate events depicted in Dreamtime invite the reader into
Pickering's personal experiences as well as into his viewpoints on
teaching and encounters with former students. In "Spring Pruning,"
Pickering describes the precarious tumor in his parathyroid and the
possibility of cancer affecting his daily life. In a refreshingly
honest tone Pickering says, "Moreover the funeral had become a
staple of chat, so much so I'd recently mulled having the raucous,
insolent ringer on my telephone replaced by the recording of taps."
Appealing to creative writers and readers who enjoy an adventurous
account of travels through life, Dreamtime accentuates the
lifestyle of a longtime master teacher whose experiences take him
from sunny days in the classroom to falling headfirst over a fence
after running a half-marathon. Unpredictable, spontaneous, and
always enlightening, Pickering's idiosyncratic approach and
companionable charm will delight anyone who shares his intoxication
with all the surprising treasures that might furnish a life with
happiness.
Readers familiar with Sam Pickering's delightful essays will
certainly hope that the title of his latest collection is not
intended as prophecy. A true original, Pickering offers observation
on everyday life that never fail to sparkle with wit, insight,
amusement, and wonder.
Freely blending fact with fiction-"Writing makes liars of us all,"
he notes-Pickering ranges easily and amiably from his home base in
Storrs, Connecticut, to his roots in middle Tennessee, with
numerous side trips to observe the natural world to refelct on the
bonds of family and friends. One essay finds him playing auctioneer
at a local arts council event, jollying the attendees with
"tattered country tales" and fanciful, extravagant claims for items
being sold. In another piece, his tongue-in-check remarks about the
split infinitive, when quoted in a newspaper, ignite a small
controversy that lands him on radio talk shows and provokes a flood
of sometimes angry e-mail. Yet, whenever the irritations of the
human world become a bit too wearying, Pickering finds ready
refreshment in the doings of birds and insects and the splash of
sunlight on a tree or flower.
Throughout these sixteen essays, Pickering implicitly heeds the
advice he offers his son just before the boy much meet the parents
of his prom date: : The good storyteller, I instructed Francis,
heaps paragraph upon paragraph, just like a waitress serving mashed
potatoes in a family-style restaurant." Having dined at the table
of a master storyteller, readers will depart this collection
feeling fully sated-indeed, well nourished.
The Author:
A native of Nashville, Sam Pickering is a professor of English at
the University of Connecticut and author of eleven previous books
of essays. His most recent collections are "Living to Prowl,
Deprived of Happiness," and "A Little Fling."
"These essays are saturated in Pickering's quirky, warm, amusing,
and bemused sense of the world."
Jay Parini
Author of Robert Frost: A Life and Benjamin's Crossing
No matter where he finds himself, Sam Pickering's thoughts
invariably return to his roots. Whether traipsing through a New
England field near his home, overhearing a conversation at the
local coffee shop, or enjoying idle time in Nova Scotia, he finds
connections in life that always seem to lead him back to Tennessee.
Pickering's "little flings" with language-his fleeting, well turned
phrases that sparkle for a moment and make one forget weighty
significance-fill the essays. With a style renowned for humor and
craft, Pickering writes essays that he likens to three-legged
stools, equally supported by observations of nature, commentaries
on family activities, and anecdotes drawn from memory. A Little
Fling and Other Essays brings readers more of this delightful
prose.
Pickering captures the rich wonder of daily life: a son's playing
high school football, the friendly scorn of a wife long-married to
the same conversation, the sound of sparrows flicking tails and
cries through brambles. In the course of his verbal strolls, he
transports readers to places and states of mind that are both real
and mythic. Describing humorous and human characters like Googoo
Hooberry and minister Slubey Garts, and events like a "Homegoing"
parade, he finds lessons for modern life in the eccentricities of
small-town Tennessee. Through his close observations, Pickering
reminds us how varied the world is and how it can restore the
spirit, examining things we often overlook, like moss or beetles or
the quality of November light.
Here, then, are what Pickering describes as "miscellanies green and
blue with family doings, ramblings over hill and field, old country
tales dressed up and gone to prose." Through essays grounded in his
rich sense of the world and a poet's feel for language, he invites
readers to recognize bits of their own hours on these pages, to
laugh without feeling guilty, and to appreciate the simple glories
blooming in their lives.
The Author: Sam Pickering is professor of English at he University
of Connecticut and was the inspiration for the character of
Professor John Keating in the movie Dead Poets Society. He is the
author of more than a dozen other books, the most recent of which
are Deprived of Unhappiness and Living to Prowl.
Parade's End is a collection of familiar essays. The author comes
from the generation in which girls read books about horses, and
boys, about dogs, and his prose is old-fashioned and marvelously
clear. He is a meanderer, and Parade's End celebrates the passing
drift of days and the quiet miracles of living. Trees bud, snow
falls, and Christmas blooms green and red with joy and happiness.
As Time passes, acquaintances vanish. In these essays the author
cruises the Adriatic and the Caribbean, he summers on a farm in
Nova Scotia, receives an honorary degree in Tennessee, and roams
the fields and woods of Eastern Connecticut. During his travels he
meets many improbable people, most of whom exist. However, he
follows the advice of Oscar Wilde and does not degrade truth into
facts. Amid the bony ruins of Olympia, a man says, ""All in all, I
prefer the Alamo."" The sweet bird of youth left the author's
shoulder long ago, and the author writes about the pleasures of
aging. He refuses to sink into an armchair and wait for himself or
others to die. Time, of course, brings changes. Every day the
author runs six miles. Recently as he was ""whizzing along,"" a man
standing beside the road said, ""I can't run any more either.""
""You will die jogging,"" his wife Vicki said last month, ""in full
stride or in the middle of one of the tip-toeing steps you call
running. The battery in your pace-maker will spring a leak, and you
will be short-circuited."" Vicki then laughed and laughed. For a
moment the author frowned, but then he laughed, for Parade's End is
a remarkably bright book. At times the band saunters out of tune,
but that is the way things are--some moments blare and others are
melodious. No matter the air, though, this book is a rich concert
of high-stepping fun and thought.
One Grand, Sweet Song is a collection of familiar essays in which
Sam Pickering explores libraries and woods and fields. He wanders
over hills and far away-to the Caribbean and Canada-but he always
returns to the local, to Connecticut and his memories of a Southern
childhood. He ponders writing and aging, joy and lunacy. He
celebrates family and Christmas. He laughs and tells terrible lies,
and jokes. He runs half-marathons, and on a farm in Nova Scotia, he
tries to write his Walden. In these pages Pickering embraces his
world with great love, wrapping it in words and pulling it and the
reader unforgettably close. Pickering has written 28 books and
hundreds of articles. Three are scholarly studies, two of which
focus on 18th century children's literature. Four are travel books,
three of these describing his family's meanderings in Australia.
One book mulls teaching, and another is a memoir. The rest of
Pickering's books are collections of familiar essays, providing his
take or perhaps ""untake"" on things.
The essays in Sam Pickering's new collection sing with thoughtful
observations on life, death, love, and literature. Whether
attending a reunion at Sewanee, cruising the Caribbean, wander ing
the streets of Storrs, Connecticut, or rambling through Nova
Scotia, Pickering is able to work a quotation, insight, or
reminiscence into almost every page. His collection sparks with
copious observations from other writers and books that he's
devoured through the years. One of the many joys in Happy Vagrancy
is finding a new author or essay hiding in the deep foliage of
Pickering's prose. He delivers his insights with humor, wit, and a
keen eye for the ordinary wonders that surround us. Many of the
essays touch on death and the dying, and nothing escapes
description and fascination whether profound or seemingly less so:
the death of a dear friend or two fledgling cardinals blown from a
nest in the backyard and now covered with "periwinkle at the corner
of the yard." During a walk down a country lane, the names of
flowers, birds, and bugs fill the page. Even in a meadow buzzing
with life, there are reminders of our mortality and brief light too
soon gone-and they remind us to read, think, and live with gusto
and love.
A "New York Times "article once stated that "the art of the essay
as delivered by Sam] Pickering is the art of the front porch
ramble." As Pickering himself puts it, "Well, I have gotten
considerably older, and humor has come to mean more and more to me.
And if I'm on the front porch, I am in a rocking chair." "All My
Days Are Saturdays "offers fifteen new pieces in which he ponders a
world that has changed and, in new ways, still delights him. This
collection features Pickering writing about teaching and his recent
retirement, visits to various locales, and, as he tell us, "the
many people I meet...who tell me their stories, small tales that
make one laugh and sigh."
Distinctive and unmistakable, Pickering's style deftly mixes the
colloquial language of everyday life with references to a lifetime
of extensive reading. The seamless blend of these two worlds in his
writing is indicative of how they fuse together in his daily life.
As Pickering puts it, "All my life I have roamed libraries, almost
as much as I have roamed the natural world. I try to get at many
truths, but when I tell the truth, I 'tell it slant.' I do so to
describe life as it is and indeed celebrate that 'as it is.'"
"Pickering is a master of his craft, one of the finest of
personal essayists around, and these essays bear many of the
characteristics of his other volumes--reflections on his everyday
activities and on individuals around him, humorous exchanges with
his wife, and so forth. But this volume seems to have something
else as well. We find here a thoughtful meditation on time and self
and relative old age demonstrating a close attention to the natural
world--a tone not unlike Thoreau's at times." -- Fred C. Hobson,
Professor of English, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill,
and author or editor of fourteen books, most recently "A Southern
Enigma: Essays on the U.S. South"
Alexander Smith stated that a good essayist needed "an ability to
discern the infinite suggestiveness of common things." Arthur
Benson seconded the idea, saying an essayist needed a "far-ranging
curiosity." For three decades Sam Pickering has written essays, his
words rolling in a fine frenzy over ordinary life discovering the
marvellous and the absurd. His curiosity ranges, but it also
rumpuses and rollicks. He wanders the Cumberland Plateau in
Tennessee, rural Connecticut, farmland in Nova Scotia, and islands
in the sun. Strangers tell him their life stories-tales that are
almost as odd as the fictional characters he meets. He runs
half-marathons and wins prizes, but finishes so late in the day
that he misses award ceremonies. His good friend David tells him,
"Sam, if you weren't so damn smart, you would have been a great
success." Pickering writes a lot about teaching, and classroom
doings quicken his pages. "In my dormitory I keep a stuffed cat on
the table by my bed," Kirsten told him last year. "I've attached a
fishing line to its tail. Just outside the window of my room is a
tall tree with lots of branches. I live in a quadrangle through
which campus guides lead prospective students and their parents.
Sometimes when I see a group approaching, I toss the cat into the
tree then duck below my window sill and meow. Often the groups
stop, and I hear people saying things like "look at that poor cat"
and "oh, dear, what can we do?" The aim of an essayist, Benson
wrote, was "to make people interested in life and in themselves."
Add smiles and laughter, a smidgen of melancholy, and a pinch or
two of happy lies, and you have Pickering the essayist.
In A Tramp's Wallet, Sam Pickering spends six months roaming
Australia and New Zealand, tramping landscapes pocked by sheep
stations, mountains rip-rapped by scree, art galleries and
bakeries, and always libraries. Pickering lectures on a cruise
ship, travels the Murray River on a paddle wheeler, and rides the
train from Sydney to Perth.
The saunterings of one of America's best and most popular
essayists stretch the seams of A Tramp's Wallet, the coins of the
page being six months spent alone in Australia and New Zealand. Far
from the hoes and saws that prune days into convention, life
flourishes, and this book is weedy and rankly rich with thought and
description. "Lord," St. Odo of Cluny said on his deathbed, "I have
loved the beauty of thy house." In A Tramp's Wallet, Sam Pickering
records his love of that house, and, if truth must out, his love
for a few neglected out buildings barns and backhouses, even the
ramshakled huts of thought.
"No one creates so many memorable, saucy aphorisms-piquant,
bitter-sweet, arousing." -Pat C. Hoy II, New York University Sam
Pickering's essays are funny and wise-and always intoxicating,
eggnog to warm glazed winter nights and juleps to cool sweltering
summer days. He wanders Connecticut, Canada, and the South, seeding
his old farm in Nova Scotia with words and scattering paragraphs in
and about classrooms at the University of Connecticut. He describes
the great flowerings of summers and falls. He mulls over vanishing
friendships, then hunts for buried treasure in a library. He
endures a massage, ponders the genteel, and explores shadowy
alcoves and books. For him home is where heart and heartache thrive
together. Students make him laugh and weep, and in part his book is
a teaching manual crammed with anecdotal good sense. He buries his
old dog George and picks up Bert, a rescue dachshund addicted to
unmentionable munchies and cloddish doggy behavior, an animal who
obstinately refuses to cross the Rainbow Bridge. Pickering runs
road races, although he says anyone in a motorized walker could
leave him far behind. In "Premortem" he anatomizes his vanishing
muscles and then decides to have a knee operation in hopes of
shuffling fast enough to keep a heeltap ahead of the pale rider on
the white horse. This is a book about love and happiness-a
restorative collection that shows readers how to enjoy life's small
glories even among its indignities. When the going gets sour,
Pickering tells a joke and transforms the sour into sweet delight.
Sam Pickering teaches English at the University of Connecticut. The
inspiration for the teacher in the movie Dead Poets Society,
Pickering is a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers and a
master of the essay form. Among his dozen collections of essays are
A Little Fling and The Last Book, both published by the University
of Tennessee Press.
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