Wonderlands: Essays on the Life of Literature

Novelist Baxter (The Sun Collective) combines memoir with writing tips in this eclectic collection. In “The Request Moment, or ‘There’s Something I Want You to Do’,” he makes a case that inserting a request into a story can save ones that “sit there” and do nothing, while “Inventories and Undoings” offers a reading of William Maxwell’s So Long, See You Tomorrow and a reflection on his experience sorting through his dead brother’s belongings. This autobiographical bent extends to “What Happens in Hell,” about a terrifying car crash that happened after his limo driver fell asleep at the wheel. In the title essay, Baxter recounts a course he taught at the University of Minnesota on “seemingly haunted narratives,” with Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon and Jean Rhys’s Good Morning, Midnight as examples: “you know you’ve entered a Wonderland when someone says, ‘There’s something bad and weird in the air,’” he writes. Baxter’s voice is erudite, witty, and humble, and he brings his observations together with smart quips on the writing life: “I think writers should make their own mistakes.... Why should anyone try to avoid failure, mistakes, heartbreak, sorrow, drunkenness, sexual confusion, and apathy?” Budding novelists, take note. Agent: Liz Darhansoff, Darhansoff & Verrill Literary. (July)