Three glimpses into the world of authors

Authors write. Their characters and scenes flit across pages in bold black text, in gripping tales of adventure and intrigue. There is more to the authors, however, than the tales they script. They have private selves, and the mosaic of their personal feelings and events breathe life into their writing. Listed below are three autobiographical collections that show noted authors in their personal walks: The first is about, of all things, depression; the second is about the public and murky world of authoring books; the third is about life-changing travels. By their very nature, authors are articulate, and these three books are remarkably open glimpses into their world.

• In Unholy Ghost: Writers on Depression, edited by Nell Casey, authors present their personal tales of the ailment of melancholy. The lives of William Styron (author of Sophie’s Choice and The Confessions of Nat Turner), Larry McMurtry (author of Lonesome Dove and Cadillac Jack), and Ann Beattie (who penned What Was Mine), to name a few, have been touched by this affliction. They write with candor about the unseen companion at their sides. Although illuminating, these rare self-portraits are best read in short sittings, as there is a sense of despair in each work—not surprising, given the topic of the book.
• In a lighter vein, perhaps best considered tragicomedy, is Mortification: Writers’ Stories of Their Public Shame, edited by Robin Robertson, in which authors recount tales of humiliation during book tours and readings. My personal favorite—and you will discover your own—is Carl Hiaasen’s hair-raising tale of a book signing somewhere in a small, unnamed town. In fierce competition with a state-college football game and a local chili cookoff, the event garnered no devotees or readers. At the close of the afternoon, pouring rain not withstanding, the guest of honor declined a cup of homemade chili from his hostess—bitter irony indeed—and left. There are many other tales, equally gruesome, in this book. Being an author, even a noted one, is no guarantee of success in smaller matters.
• As the title implies, Open Your Eyes: Extraordinary Experiences in Faraway Places, edited by Jill Davis, is about interesting and life-changing travels. Lois Lowry (author of the controversial book, The Giver), Katherine Paterson (who wrote the Newbery Medal–winner Jacob Have I Loved), and other writers of children’s books describe journeys that shaped their lives. Harry Mazer writes of his stint in the service just before the close of World War II. “Over the next months, February, March, and April 1945, our crew flew twenty-five bombing missions, mostly over Germany, often through heavy enemy fire. On every mission there were losses, planes hit, engines knocked out, men wounded.” Fifty years later, he returned to where he had been captured. Reflecting on this as he finished his memoir, he wrote, “I didn’t know then, I couldn’t have known what I know now—the cold, dumb skin-of-the-teeth luck that life is.”

Such essays—so divergent, so similar, and so interesting—present an astonishing range of writing by the authors. Their skill gives depth and movement—a dance, as it were—to their words and reveals facets of their personal worlds.