Half of What I Say Is Meaningless

Joseph Bathanti, poet laureate of North Carolina (2012-2014) and professor of Creative Writing at Appalachian State University, presents 13 prodigious essays about culture, religion, the Vietnam War, prison, Americorps, the South, and major life events, including the move from his hometown in Pittsburgh to Atlanta, marriage, and the birth of his children. In his introduction, Bathanti attempts to get a firm grasp on the elusive writer’s memory in creative fiction. While he seeks to write “the emotional truth,” he grapples with its authenticity, as well as its inherent narcissism. Bathanti states that “Creative Nonfiction--memoir specifically--remains the nitroglycerine of the three genres: rocking precariously in a rickety wagon driven by drunken mule skinners, pulled by drunken mules, along a mud-scarred, rocky, potholed road.” Annotation ©2014 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)