On Beauty

The author of more than thirty books of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction, publisher and literary impresario rob mclennan’s most recent titles include World’s End and essays in the face of uncertainties. He lives in Ottawa.

“What is the responsibility of ‘building a person’? rob mclennan's On Beauty accumulates searing questions, and delves into the deep memory of consciousness 'held in amber.' How might we wake from loss and conduct internal excavations? He writes: ‘The tricky part of our travel was in attempting to speak solo to my younger self. . . I woke before the narrative completed.’ Woven with threads of ancestral memoir, this collage of stories collects the habits of those attempting to swerve from conventions of elegy—and what comes 'after.' We proceed through glowing fragments: ‘paper dolls and Red Rose figurines. . . placed on every surface. Set out to safeguard.’ A deeply moving portrait, from embryonic scrapbooks and quotidian diaries to the many births which compose a life. A deft encounter with what happens when—'We won’t allow our dead to disappear.’” Laynie Browne, Intaglio Daughters

• Contents On beauty Fourteen things you don’t know about Arturus BoothInterruptionsBicycle On beauty The Matrix ResolutionsThe Garden On beauty Swimming lessonsCharacter sketch On beauty Things to do in airportsBaby namesThe Last Man on Earth On beauty Art I have not madeA short film about my father On beauty Songs my mother taught me,Christmas music On beauty Less than zero: five imaginary stories,Translator’s noteOpening On beauty The Gospel According to Portia,Fearless On beauty SilenceThis is how it happens, On beauty The New HouseA dream about vegetable soup On beauty The names of things,InterferenceSeven impossible thingsThe city is uneven On beauty The telltale heart,Green, with a pleasant breeze On beauty The last words spoken on the surface of the moonThe Man from GlengarryThe secret origins of the everyday On beauty