The Anthologist

A Novel

By: Nicholson Baker

Narrated by: Nicholson Baker

The Anthologist follows Paul Chowder - a once-in-a-while-published kind of poet who is writing the introduction to a new anthology of poetry. He's having a hard time getting started, because his career is floundering; his girlfriend, Roz, has recently left him; and he is thinking about the great poets throughout history who have suffered far worse and deserve to feel sorry for themselves. He has also promised to reveal many wonderful secrets and tips and tricks about poetry, and it looks like the introduction will be a little longer than he'd thought.

What unfolds is a wholly entertaining and beguiling love story about poetry: from Tennyson, Swinburne, and Yeats to the moderns (Roethke, Bogan, Merwin) to the staff of the New Yorker, what Paul reveals is astonishing and makes one realize how incredible important poetry is to our lives. At the same time, Paul barely manages to realize all of this himself, and the result is a tenderly romantic, hilarious, and inspired novel.

©2009 Nicholson Baker (P)2010 Tantor

Critic reviews

“Baker pulls off an original and touching story, demonstrating his remarkable writing ability while putting it under a microscope.” ( Publishers Weekly)

Wonderful Insights into Poetry and Poetic Form

An unemployed poet explains why he can't write the introduction to an anthology of rhyming verse, much to the dismay of his now ex-girlfriend who believes this is a symptom of his much bigger problems with avoidance and denial. Wonderful insights into poetic form and context.

Because I Read Traveling Sprinkler First...

this felt like a prequel, but it is still wonderful stuff. I pity the people who gave this negative reviews: to be so tragically far from the ordinary and everyday and the minuscule that they cannot see the aching beauty in every atom of thought and breath and table cloth.

Take an interest in why someone seeks to be poetic

A good deal of wordplay and some humour as guy with free time plays at using words to say something in a way that will catch attention.

Wonderful

This is a beautiful book, beautifully read by the author. There’s little plot. We follow the narrator’s thoughts about poetry and his own life for seven hours, and the book is riveting throughout.

quirky but wonderful

I can imagine that this wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea, but it was mine. Really delightful. Slow pace, but involving and thoughtful.