The Ghosts of Birds: Nonfiction by Eliot Weinberger
"A master of the infinite commentary on the astonishing variety of the world ... I envy those who have not yet discovered him."
—Enrique Vila-Matas
"A new collection from "one of the world's great essayists" (The New York Times)
The Ghosts of Birds offers thirty-five essays by Eliot Weinberger: the first section of the book continues his linked serial-essay, An Elemental Thing, which pulls the reader into "a vortex for the entire universe" (Boston Review). Here, Weinberger chronicles a nineteenth-century journey down the Colorado River, records the dreams of people named Chang, and shares other factually verifiable discoveries that seem too fabulous to possibly be true. The second section collects Weinberger's essays on a wide range of subjects―some of which have been published in Harper's, New York Review of Books, and London Review of Books―including his notorious review of George W. Bush's memoir Decision Points and writings about Mongolian art and poetry, different versions of the Buddha, American Indophilia ("There is a line, however jagged, from pseudo-Hinduism to Malcolm X"), Béla Balázs, Herbert Read, and Charles Reznikoff. This collection proves once again that Weinberger is "one of the bravest and sharpest minds in the United States" (Javier Marías).
Editorial Reviews
Review
"Eliot Weinberger ― in his original essays no less than in his work as a translator, editor, and critic ― is a masterful curator. He is a restorer, an arranger, a presenter" (Justin Taylor - Barnes and Noble.com)
"A new book of essays proves to be as erudite, compelling, and delightfully strange as we have come to expect from Eliot Weinberger." (Brendan Driscoll - Booklist)
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"These exhaustively researched pieces are richly detailed and unfailingly interesting."
"This book dazzles as a repository of knowledge and interpretation."
" (Kirkus Review)
"In The Ghost of Birds, part of which is a continuation of the serial essay begun in An Elemental Thing, Eliot Weinberger further establishes himself as one of our singular and singularly great essayists. A modernist with the horror and absurdity of the 20th century behind him, Weinberger's collection―which moves from medieval Irish legends to contemporary politics and poetry―is tinged humor and grace, fully alive to the weirdness of the world." (Stephen Spark - Lit Hub)
"A master of the infinite commentary on the astonishing variety of the world … I envy those who have not yet discovered him." (Enrique Vila-Matas)
"One remains in silent amazement: How does he find these stories? How does he know everything?" (Die Zeit)
"As is often the case with brilliant writers, an Eliot Weinberger sentence cannot be mistaken for that of anyone else." (Will Heyward - Australian Book Review)
"The brilliant net of details that Weinberger casts and recasts in his various inventive approaches to form is precisely what constitutes a superlative poetic imagination. And it's what holds the essays―and us―trembling and raging and hallucinating together." (Forrest Gander)
"Our personal favorite for the Nobel Prize." (Rolling Stone (Germany)) About the Author
Eliot Weinberger is an essayist and translator, the editor of The New Directions Anthology of Classical Chinese Poetry, and the series editor of Calligrams: Writings from and on China (New York Review Books and Chinese University of Hong Kong Press). He lives in New York City.
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