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Loyola Press
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN ALMOST 50 YEARS--AN ANTHOLOGY THAT CELEBRATES CHICAGO'S LITERARY HERITAGE
This spring, Loyola Press fills a major literary gap by releasing the first comprehensive collection of Chicago writing to be published in almost fifty years. Smokestacks & Skyscrapers presents selections from the works of seventy-one authors, revealing how many American literary icons-Willa Cather, Carl Sandburg, H.L. Mencken, and Gwendolyn Brooks, to name a few-have lived in or written about Chicago. In poetry, memoirs, plays, and novels, the authors included here capture images of Chicago past and present in a soaring monument to the city.
The selections span Chicago's history, beginning with the 17th century journals of the explorer Jacques Marquette, who records his icy winter on the shores of the Chicago river. Chicago's first poet, Benjamin Franklin Taylor, captures the city's industrial vigor in the mid-19th century; author Eugene Field satirizes Chicagoans' perceived lack of cultural refinement in his Chicago Daily News column from the 1880s. Novelist Henry Blake Fuller depicts the urban growth and cultural aspirations of Chicagoans of the early 20th century, and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Mike Royko profiles Mayor Richard J. Daley, revealing the complexities of the man who gave Chicago politics national prominence from the 1950s through the 1970s.
The anthology explores the diverse cultures that have inhabited different parts of the city. Saul Bellow gives a nervously humerous account of small-time gangster life; playwright Lorraine Hansberry describes the racist realities of black life 1950s Chicago; author Ana Castillo's irreverent style gives a unique perspective on the Chicana experience. The collection ends with the works of some of the city's most recent acclaimed authors, including poets Li-Young Lee and Mark Turcotte, and the playwright David Mamet.
The wide range of authors, genres, cultures, and eras covered in this volume-plus helpful introductions preceding each selection-make Smokestacks & Skyscrapers the definitive anthology of Chicago writing. Editors Starkey and Guzman bring long-overdue recognition to the city's literary heritage, and in the process highlight the gritty, determined energy of a city that exemplifies much of what is unique about the American experience.
Richard Guzman is Professor of English at North Central College and is the director of the college's cultural events program. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville.
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