Senior moments : looking back, looking ahead / by Willard Spiegelman.
Record details
- ISBN: 9781410496232 (hardcover)
- ISBN: 1410496236 (hardcover)
- Physical Description: 319 pages (large print) ; 23 cm.
- Edition: Large print edition.
- Publisher: Waterville, Maine : Thorndike Press, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning, 2017.
- Copyright: ©2016
Content descriptions
Summary, etc.: | "A moving collection of essays on aging and happiness Drawing on more than six decades' worth of lessons from his storied career as a writer and professor, Willard Spiegelman reflects with candid humor and sophistication on growing old. Senior Moments is a series of discrete essays that, when taken together, constitute the life of a man who, despite Western cultural notions of aging as something to be denied, overcome, and resisted, has continued to relish the simplest of pleasures: reading, looking at art, talking, and indulging in occasional fits of nostalgia while also welcoming what inevitably lies ahead. Spiegelman's expertly crafted book considers, with wisdom and elegance, how to be alert to the joys that brim from unexpected places even as death draws near. Senior Moments is a foray into the felicity and follies that age brings; a consideration of how and what one reads or rereads in late adulthood; the eagerness for, and disappointment in, long-awaited reunions, at which the past comes alive in the present. A clear-eyed book of memories, written in eight searching and courageously honest essays, Senior Moments is guaranteed to stimulate, stir, and restore "--provided by the publisher. |
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Available copies
- 1 of 1 copy available at GRPL.

BookList Review
Senior Moments : Looking Back, Looking Ahead
Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
With pasts filled with safe memories and futures unsure, seniors often seem fonder of looking backward than forward. Wall Street Journal contributor Spiegelman, however, is able to fondly recall his life while enthusiastically gazing ahead. In this collection of literary autobiographical essays, he remembers growing up in a lively household in Philadelphia, where he was surrounded by talkers. Language becomes a vital part of his life, and he compares his years as an English professor in Dallas with his later life in Manhattan. A worldwide traveler, Spiegelman shares his insights on cultures and his attempts at communicating in other languages. He also writes about the impact of art, his love affair with books, and his growing need for quiet. Finally, he confronts nostalgia as he recalls attending his fiftieth class reunion, which turns out to be surprisingly anticlimactic. Spiegelman easily weaves apt quotes from classical and modern literature and sprigs of popular culture into his essays. Readers of a similar age will savor his delight in language and life as he ponders the past and peers into the future.--Smith, Candace Copyright 2016 Booklist

Library Journal Review
Senior Moments : Looking Back, Looking Ahead
Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Eight wide-ranging essays bring together the prominent themes of a lifetime devoted to teaching, reading, and writing. While Spiegelman (Hughes Professor of English, Southern Methodist Univ.; former editor in chief, Southwest Review) might be considered an elder statesman on the literary scene, he takes himself lightly and brings fresh energy to an appreciation of many subjects. -Spiegelman invites readers on a tour of his life and times in essays titled "Dallas," "Japan," and "Manhattan," with conversational whimsy and genuine gratitude for the people, places, ideas, and memories they inspire. In this exploration of career and ancestral history, the cultural gems of food and neighborhoods, randomly illuminative poetic and prose passages from literature and lessons transmitted to generations of students, the author draws on an equal blend of critical rigor and love for his themes. He surveys his brash Jewish American upbringing; the epiphanies of aging and death; the spiritual dimensions of art; and the vital significance of reading, language, and interpersonal conversation with measured humor and insight. VERDICT These stand-alone essays may be enjoyed individually or as a whole, appealing to readers looking for a unique and honest biographical retrospective.-Bernadette McGrath, Vancouver P.L. © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review
Senior Moments : Looking Back, Looking Ahead
Publishers Weekly
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Explaining the title of this essay collection, 70-year-old Spiegelman (Seven Pleasures) refers to its eight sage and witty selections as "backward and forward glances by a senior citizen who has reached his biblical allotment of three score years and ten." In "Talk," he fondly recalls conversations at family get-togethers, and deems conversation "the essential human art." By contrast, when traveling in Japan, where he had virtually no grasp of the language, he notes that "what we do not understand, what we cannot read: this is what strikes us abroad." Several essays express his appreciation of different places where he has lived, notably "Dallas," about adjusting to the city's incongruities after he moved there to teach English at Southern Methodist University, and "Manhattan," which concludes with a magnificent chronicle of a daylong culinary trek from the borough's top to its bottom. And any dedicated reader will agree with his observation in "Books" that "a genuine reader will pick up anything in sight"-even a matchbook cover when nothing else is available. Spiegelman writes with a casual, engaging style and frequently punctuates his paragraphs with references to literature that crystallize his ideas. Readers will find this volume rich with relatable insights. Agent: Martha Kaplan, Martha Kaplan Agency. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.