The Writer as Illusionist: Uncollected and Unpublished Work

New Yorker writer Wilkinson (A Divine Language) brings together a rich blend of published and unpublished work on writing and family by the late New Yorker fiction editor William Maxwell (1908–2000). The opening section combines excerpts from Maxwell’s journals and articles to present a portrait of his youth; an unpublished autobiographical sketch reflects on the culture shock Maxwell felt after moving from Lincoln, Ill., to Chicago when he was 15, and a preface to his collected stories describes how when Maxwell was 25, he unsuccessfully attempted to get a job on J.P. Morgan’s schooner so he would have something to write about. “The writer has everything in common with the vaudeville magician except this: The writer must be taken in by his own tricks,” Maxwell contends in the standout title piece, which examines how the opening lines of such classics as Moby-Dick and Pride and Prejudice draw readers in. The selections offer an enlightening peek into the tight-lipped author’s personal life, and the lucid prose elevates his astute literary insights. (“Don’t hold back on the first or in fact on any novel. The material, the themes, will many of them be used again, but not in the same way, because you will not be the same person.”) The result is a fitting testament to Maxwell’s considerable talents. Agent: Jin Auh, Wylie Agency. (Jan.)