Call number
FIC HAR
Collection
Genres
Publication
Grove Press (2016), Edition: 1St Edition, 256 pages
Description
New York Times bestselling author Jim Harrison is one of our most beloved and acclaimed writers, adored by both readers and critics. In The Ancient Minstrel, Harrison delivers three novellas that highlight his phenomenal range as a writer, shot through with his trademark wit and keen insight into the human condition. Harrison has tremendous fun with his own reputation in the title novella, about an aging writer in Montana who spars with his estranged wife, with whom he still shares a home; weathers the slings and arrows of literary success; and tries to cope with the sow he buys on a whim and the unplanned litter of piglets that follow soon after. In "Eggs," a Montana woman reminisces about staying in London with her grandparents and collecting eggs at their country house. Years later, having never had a child, she attempts to do so. And in "The Case of the Howling Buddhas," retired Detective Sunderson-a recurring character from Harrison's New York Times bestsellers The Great Leader and The Big Seven-is hired as a private investigator to look into a bizarre cult that achieves satori by howling along with howler monkeys at the zoo. Fresh, incisive, and endlessly entertaining, with moments of both profound wisdom and sublime humor, The Ancient Minstrel is an exceptional reminder of why Jim Harrison is one of the most cherished and important writers at work today.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Dokfintong
"The Ancient Minstrel" is three novellas in one volume. The novellas are of a nice length and are different enough from each other to offer different experiences. I particularly liked the first, "The Ancient Minstrel", an autobiography as fiction.
The second, "Eggs", is about a woman who wants to
The third, "The Case of the Howling Buddhas", is about philandering Detective Sunderson, a character from other Harrison writings, who, in his sexual adventures, wanders below the legal age limit. Howling Buddhas revisits some themes found in "The Ancient Minstrel" is the least interesting, reminding me too much of the mindless rooting about for sex we see in 60s literature written by men. At least there is nothing about aging teeth that Kingsley Amis goes on and on about.
There is no evidence in the colophon that these novellas were previously published and so there is no preexisting reason for repeating phrases and expressions across the three. I noticed everyone lunching on brisket and horseradish sandwiches. Some quick research comes up with links to other mentions of brisket and horseradish sandwiches in Mr. Harrison's work. Maybe something mystic here, but I don't get it and it grated a bit.
I received a review copy of "The Ancient Minstrel" by Jim Harrison (Grove Atlantic) through NetGalley.com.
The second, "Eggs", is about a woman who wants to
Show More
raise chickens and children on her farm. For some reason I picture Meryl Streep. The third, "The Case of the Howling Buddhas", is about philandering Detective Sunderson, a character from other Harrison writings, who, in his sexual adventures, wanders below the legal age limit. Howling Buddhas revisits some themes found in "The Ancient Minstrel" is the least interesting, reminding me too much of the mindless rooting about for sex we see in 60s literature written by men. At least there is nothing about aging teeth that Kingsley Amis goes on and on about.
There is no evidence in the colophon that these novellas were previously published and so there is no preexisting reason for repeating phrases and expressions across the three. I noticed everyone lunching on brisket and horseradish sandwiches. Some quick research comes up with links to other mentions of brisket and horseradish sandwiches in Mr. Harrison's work. Maybe something mystic here, but I don't get it and it grated a bit.
I received a review copy of "The Ancient Minstrel" by Jim Harrison (Grove Atlantic) through NetGalley.com.
Show Less
LibraryThing member JBreedlove
His final book. Eggs was classic JH. A thoughfut and sympathetic character moving through life's travails and personal adventures looking for that place where they belong. His autobiographical first story started wandering but it seems like he was in serious pain at the end. I didn't realize he was
Show More
such a nutty guy. And th elast story w Sanderson had a reat ending but in the story he seemed out of character. Show Less
LibraryThing member SamSattler
Novellas are that relatively uncommon literary form that always seem a little bit awkward to me because they are obviously too short to be called novels and are too long to be called short stories. When reading a novella, I can never keep myself from wondering if the author started out intending to
The Ancient Minstrel includes three Harrison novellas, “The Ancient Minstrel,” “Eggs,” and the shorter “The Case of the Howling Buddhas.” There is an author's preface to “The Ancient Minstrel” that calls the novella a fictional addition to Harrison's 2002 memoir Off to the Side. Just how much tongue-in-cheek the preface might be is up to the reader to decide for himself because Harrison takes its main character to rather dark places and strange obsessions. The poet/novelist of the story has just turned 70 and his lusty womanizing past seems to be behind him for good. He is married but he and his wife have separated, and although they are still living on the same property, they are living very separate lives. Our writer knows that he should be working on the novel that his publisher is anxious to get its hands on, but he has fallen in love with the idea of raising pigs on his farm – an obsession that has now pushed the novel he was writing right out of his head. Harrison offers here one version of a writer approaching the end of a long, productive career – how closely it might resemble his story is hard to tell.
Catherine, the main character of “Eggs,” is the daughter of an unhappy British woman who was conned into marrying the World War II soldier who promised her a new life on his family farm even though he never had any intention of adopting that lifestyle after the war. As a child, Catherine did spend time on her grandparent's farm, along with her mother, during which she developed a lifelong fascination of chickens. She is a strong, self-reliant woman who has no desire or intention of every marrying but she badly wants to have a child, and she knows exactly how she will get that done.
“The Case of the Howling Buddha's” is the shortest of the three novellas in the collection but there is a lot packed into it, including an undercover assignment to kidnap a wealthy man's daughter from a cult and the ugly sexual seduction of a teenage girl by a decades-older man. The main character of this one is a 66-year-old divorced detective who, even at his age, cannot control himself around teenage girls. And when the fifteen-year-old neighbor girl who weeds his garden not only responds to his attention but demands that their sexual affair continue, the man finds that he is too weak to end it despite the fact that it will almost certainly end badly for both him and the girl.
The Ancient Minstrel proves two things for Jim Harrison: the novella works beautifully when it is in the hands of a good writer like him, and he was still very much at the top of his game when he died in March 2016.
Show More
write a novel and ran out of story, or if he started out to write a short story and things got out of hand. With Jim Harrison, though, you don't have to wonder. The Ancient Minstrel is his eighth novella collection and he is perhaps still best known for his first such collection, 1979's Legends of the Fall. Harrison obviously loved the novella form almost as much as he loved writing poetry.The Ancient Minstrel includes three Harrison novellas, “The Ancient Minstrel,” “Eggs,” and the shorter “The Case of the Howling Buddhas.” There is an author's preface to “The Ancient Minstrel” that calls the novella a fictional addition to Harrison's 2002 memoir Off to the Side. Just how much tongue-in-cheek the preface might be is up to the reader to decide for himself because Harrison takes its main character to rather dark places and strange obsessions. The poet/novelist of the story has just turned 70 and his lusty womanizing past seems to be behind him for good. He is married but he and his wife have separated, and although they are still living on the same property, they are living very separate lives. Our writer knows that he should be working on the novel that his publisher is anxious to get its hands on, but he has fallen in love with the idea of raising pigs on his farm – an obsession that has now pushed the novel he was writing right out of his head. Harrison offers here one version of a writer approaching the end of a long, productive career – how closely it might resemble his story is hard to tell.
Catherine, the main character of “Eggs,” is the daughter of an unhappy British woman who was conned into marrying the World War II soldier who promised her a new life on his family farm even though he never had any intention of adopting that lifestyle after the war. As a child, Catherine did spend time on her grandparent's farm, along with her mother, during which she developed a lifelong fascination of chickens. She is a strong, self-reliant woman who has no desire or intention of every marrying but she badly wants to have a child, and she knows exactly how she will get that done.
“The Case of the Howling Buddha's” is the shortest of the three novellas in the collection but there is a lot packed into it, including an undercover assignment to kidnap a wealthy man's daughter from a cult and the ugly sexual seduction of a teenage girl by a decades-older man. The main character of this one is a 66-year-old divorced detective who, even at his age, cannot control himself around teenage girls. And when the fifteen-year-old neighbor girl who weeds his garden not only responds to his attention but demands that their sexual affair continue, the man finds that he is too weak to end it despite the fact that it will almost certainly end badly for both him and the girl.
The Ancient Minstrel proves two things for Jim Harrison: the novella works beautifully when it is in the hands of a good writer like him, and he was still very much at the top of his game when he died in March 2016.
Show Less
LibraryThing member nivramkoorb
Jim Harrison has been among my favorite writers. He passed away in March at the age of 78. This was his last work. It contains 3 novellas which was a vehicle that he used very well over his long career. The book's style is typical Harrison, long narratives that start with one subject and get off
Show More
into many tangents and philosophies. The books that Harrison wrote over the last part of his career seemed to deal mostly with an aging character like himself and how he dealt with his drinking, lusting over young women, and generally bad behavior. If you have never read Harrison, then you might want to try this book but a better place would be Dalva, The Road Home, and True North. These are my favorites among the many books I have read by Harrison. Got to meet him at a book reading in San Francisco. True to his character, he had an open bottle of wine that he drank from throughout the evening. He was an original. Show Less
LibraryThing member kcshankd
The Ancient Minstrel - aging writer eats and drinks, obsesses on women. Well trod ground.
Eggs - Excellent, worth the volume. A woman's life, and chickens.
Howling Buddha - similar to Minstrel, but closes with an unexpected punch.
Eggs - Excellent, worth the volume. A woman's life, and chickens.
Howling Buddha - similar to Minstrel, but closes with an unexpected punch.
Pages
256
ISBN
0802124569 / 9780802124562