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[Davis] is our Vermeer, patiently observing and chronicling daily life but from angles odd and askew. . . These pieces exalt clear language and the complicated work of looking and seeing. . . Davis takes pure pleasure in the muscular act of looking, and invites us to look alongside her. --Parul Sehgal, The New York Times She's so deeply cerebral it's perhaps counterintuitive that Davis is a companionable presence. She's erudite, with catholic interests, and earnest but not humorless. This is the kind of book you could read alone in a restaurant and feel you're lost in a stimulating conversation. --Rumaan Alam, The New Republic The first in a planned two-volume collection of the nonfiction of short story author Davis (Samuel Johnson Is Indignant) proves a cornucopia of illuminating and timeless observations on literature, art, and the craft of writing . . . Fans of Davis's unfailingly clever work should add this volume to their collection, and creative writers of every genre should take the opportunity to learn from a legend. --Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) One gets the impression that even the most fleeting of pieces in Essays One, such as a few paragraphs about her favorite short stories, written for a British tabloid, has been given the precise and playful Lydia Davis treatment: 'Subtly, or less subtly, you always want to surprise a reader.'-- Brian Dillon, The New York Times Book Review Lively essays bound to stimulate debate among readers of global literature. --Kirkus Reviews Davis, an innovative fiction writer, is also an erudite essayist, critic and translator, with an ever-questing mind evident in these 33 essays . . . An essential literary companion. --Jane Ciabattari, BBC Lydia Davis is one of those rare cases: an ambidextrous author who is just as capable of bowling a reader over with a short story as she is with an essay. --Malcolm Forbes, Star Tribune Lydia Davis is immensely learned; that is clear not only from her translation work but also from her distinguished discussions of the works she has translated. But in much of her nonfiction, she is also a master of the energies that drive her fiction, with its plain style, irony, sensitivity, and elegantly subdued power. --Sandra M. Gilbert, The American Scholar Davis is putting her more than 30 years of experience into a selection of essays on the craft of reading and writing; the first of the two-volume set comes out this fall. Don't expect run-of-the-mill advice like show don't tell here, though; Davis has made a career out of breaking the established rules . . . --The Week

[Davis] is our Vermeer, patiently observing and chronicling daily life but from angles odd and askew. . . These pieces exalt clear language and the complicated work of looking and seeing. . . Davis takes pure pleasure in the muscular act of looking, and invites us to look alongside her. --Parul Sehgal, The New York Times She's so deeply cerebral it's perhaps counterintuitive that Davis is a companionable presence. She's erudite, with catholic interests, and earnest but not humorless. This is the kind of book you could read alone in a restaurant and feel you're lost in a stimulating conversation. --Rumaan Alam, The New Republic The first in a planned two-volume collection of the nonfiction of short story author Davis (Samuel Johnson Is Indignant) proves a cornucopia of illuminating and timeless observations on literature, art, and the craft of writing . . . Fans of Davis's unfailingly clever work should add this volume to their collection, and creative writers of every genre should take the opportunity to learn from a legend. --Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) One gets the impression that even the most fleeting of pieces in Essays One, such as a few paragraphs about her favorite short stories, written for a British tabloid, has been given the precise and playful Lydia Davis treatment: 'Subtly, or less subtly, you always want to surprise a reader.' -- Brian Dillon, The New York Times Book Review Lively essays bound to stimulate debate among readers of global literature. --Kirkus Reviews Davis, an innovative fiction writer, is also an erudite essayist, critic and translator, with an ever-questing mind evident in these 33 essays . . . An essential literary companion. --Jane Ciabattari, BBC Lydia Davis is one of those rare cases: an ambidextrous author who is just as capable of bowling a reader over with a short story as she is with an essay. --Malcolm Forbes, Star Tribune Lydia Davis is immensely learned; that is clear not only from her translation work but also from her distinguished discussions of the works she has translated. But in much of her nonfiction, she is also a master of the energies that drive her fiction, with its plain style, irony, sensitivity, and elegantly subdued power. --Sandra M. Gilbert, The American Scholar Davis is putting her more than 30 years of experience into a selection of essays on the craft of reading and writing; the first of the two-volume set comes out this fall. Don't expect run-of-the-mill advice like show don't tell here, though; Davis has made a career out of breaking the established rules . . . --The Week

"""[Davis] is our Vermeer, patiently observing and chronicling daily life but from angles odd and askew. . . These pieces exalt clear language and the complicated work of looking and seeing. . . Davis takes pure pleasure in the muscular act of looking, and invites us to look alongside her."" --Parul Sehgal, The New York Times ""She's so deeply cerebral it's perhaps counterintuitive that Davis is a companionable presence. She's erudite, with catholic interests, and earnest but not humorless. This is the kind of book you could read alone in a restaurant and feel you're lost in a stimulating conversation."" --Rumaan Alam, The New Republic ""The first in a planned two-volume collection of the nonfiction of short story author Davis (Samuel Johnson Is Indignant) proves a cornucopia of illuminating and timeless observations on literature, art, and the craft of writing . . . Fans of Davis's unfailingly clever work should add this volume to their collection, and creative writers of every genre should take the opportunity to learn from a legend."" --Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) ""One gets the impression that even the most fleeting of pieces in ""Essays One,"" such as a few paragraphs about her favorite short stories, written for a British tabloid, has been given the precise and playful Lydia Davis treatment: 'Subtly, or less subtly, you always want to surprise a reader.'""-- Brian Dillon, The New York Times Book Review ""Lively essays bound to stimulate debate among readers of global literature."" --Kirkus Reviews ""Davis, an innovative fiction writer, is also an erudite essayist, critic and translator, with an ever-questing mind evident in these 33 essays . . . An essential literary companion."" --Jane Ciabattari, BBC ""Lydia Davis is one of those rare cases: an ambidextrous author who is just as capable of bowling a reader over with a short story as she is with an essay."" --Malcolm Forbes, Star Tribune ""Lydia Davis is immensely learned; that is clear not only from her translation work but also from her distinguished discussions of the works she has translated. But in much of her nonfiction, she is also a master of the energies that drive her fiction, with its plain style, irony, sensitivity, and elegantly subdued power."" --Sandra M. Gilbert, The American Scholar ""Davis is putting her more than 30 years of experience into a selection of essays on the craft of reading and writing; the first of the two-volume set comes out this fall. Don't expect run-of-the-mill advice like ""show don't tell"" here, though; Davis has made a career out of breaking the established rules . . ."" --The Week"

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"Lydia Davis is the author of The End of the Story: A Novel and several story collections, including Varieties of Disturbance, a finalist for the 2007 National Book Award, and Can't and Won't. She is also the acclaimed translator of Swann's Way and Madame Bovary, both of which were awarded the French-American Foundation Translation Prize. The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis was described by James Wood in The New Yorker as a ""grand cumulative achievement."" She is the winner of the 2013 Man Booker International Prize."

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