Hell and Back

A brilliant new collection of essays of writers and their craft by the man Joseph Brodsky has called ""the best British author working today"". In Hell and Back,Tim Parks, a celebrated novelist and master of the essay form, offers a wide range of wonderfully challenging, always provocative reflections on literature and the art of writing. In this new collection, Parks turns his attention to classic authors such as Dante, Leopardi, Borges, Beckett, and Christina Stead, as well as contemporary writers including Vikram Seth, W. G. Sebald, José Saramago, and Salman Rushdie, along with a dozen others. The lead essay on Dante sets the tone for the entire collection: erudite, contemplative, witty, and meticulous, it constantly offers new insights into The Inferno, that most celebrated of all poems. In Hell and Back, Tim Parks reminds us just how exciting the essay form can be.