TABULA RASA

A collection of articles published, in slightly different form, in the New Yorker over the past few years.

“I decided to describe many…saved-up, bypassed, intended pieces of writing as an old-man project,” writes McPhee, longtime New Yorker contributor and author of more than 30 books. "Doing such a project as this one,” he continues, “begets a desire to publish what you write, and publication defeats the ongoing project, the purpose of which is to keep the old writer alive by never coming to an end.” Among the many subjects the author covers in this first volume are the impression left on him by an exchange with Thornton Wilder almost 60 years ago, which served as the impetus for this project; assorted experiences as both student and professor at Princeton, including his plan to write “about workouts with varied coaches in various sports over the years, but I never got around to it”; the life and times of Woodrow Wilson, who briefly coached football at Wesleyan and “appointed the first Jew to the faculty” at Princeton and “literally turned [it] into a university”; and his thoughts on titles. “I can wax polemical on titles,” he writes. “Editors...seem to think titles are like chicken heads. They can cut them off without additional effect on the C.V. of the chicken. They can replace each one with their own idea of the head of an improved chicken.” Throughout, McPhee reflects on his writing career, explaining why he did or did not follow through on projects about a wide variety of concepts. Now in his early 90s, he occasionally quotes himself. The cogency, potency, and temperance of his voice never waver, no matter where he meanders. One of the strengths of this collection is that McPhee maintains both momentum and interest—including, not least of all, his own.

A gem from an exemplar of narrative nonfiction.