A Wanderer in the Perfect City: Selected Passion Pieces... 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 excerptA 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, inthese sometimes very odd, but intensely human, and beautifully told tales. -Oliver Sack |
Contents
Arts Father Vladeks Son | 63 |
Millers Gambit | 83 |
Jensens ShangriLa | 167 |
Copyright | |
3 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Abstract Expressionism Abstract Expressionist actually afternoon Akumal Akumal's anyway Art Spiegelman artists asked Baker's Bangalore became become began Ben Katchor bughouse chess called chess City Clown College comics composer contemporary continued Danish entire everything fact father feel film Françoise Mouly Gallery Giacometti going happened Harold Shapinsky idea Isaacs Jensen Katchor kids knew Knipl Knud Kooning later Lawrence Weschler Lennie living look Louisiana managed Maus Mayor months morning mortgage-backed securities mother moved museum never Nicolas Nicolas Slonimsky once opening orchestra paintings piano pieces Pierre Alechinsky play pulled recalls Rushdie Russian Salman Rushdie satellite scene seemed Shapinsky Shapinsky's slides Slonimsky Slonimsky's Spiegelman story Street strip suddenly talking Tariq Ali tell there's tion told took trying turned Varèse Vladek walked weeks whole wonderful York