Peter Selgin was cursed/blessed with an unusual childhood. The son of Italian immigrants--his father an electronics inventor and a mother so good looking UPS drivers swerved off their routes to see her--Selgin spent his formative years scrambling among the hat factory ruins of a small Connecticut town, visiting doting--and dotty--relatives in the "old world," watching mental giants clash at Mensa gatherings, enduring Pavlovian training sessions with a grandmother bent on "curing" his left-handedness, and competing savagely with his right-handed twin. It's no surprise, then, that Selgin went on from these peculiar beginnings to do . . . well, nearly everything. "Confessions of a Left-Handed Man" is a bold, unblushing journey down roads less traveled. Whether recounting his work driving a furniture delivery truck, his years as a caricaturist, his obsession with the "Titanic" that compelled him to complete seventy-five paintings of the ship(in sinking and nonsinking poses), or his daily life as a writer, from start to finish readers are treated to a vividly detailed, sometimes hilarious, often moving, but always memorable life. In this modern-day picaresque, Selgin narrates an artist's journey from unconventional roots through gritty experience to artistic achievement. With an elegant narrative voice that is, by turns, frank, witty, and acid-tongued, Selgin confronts his past while coming to terms with approaching middle age, reaching self-understanding tempered by reflection, regret, and a sharply self-deprecating sense of humor.
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Peter Selgin was cursed/blessed with an unusual childhood. The son of Italian immigrants--his father an electronics inventor and a mother so good looking UPS drivers swerved off their routes to see her--Selgin spent his formative years scrambling among the hat factory ruins of a small Connecticut town, visiting doting--and dotty--relatives in the "old world," watching mental giants clash at Mensa gatherings, enduring Pavlovian training sessions with a grandmother bent on "curing" his left-handedness, and competing savagely with his right-handed twin. It's no surprise, then, that Selgin went on from these peculiar beginnings to do . . . well, nearly everything. "Confessions of a Left-Handed Man" is a bold, unblushing journey down roads less traveled. Whether recounting his work driving a furniture delivery truck, his years as a caricaturist, his obsession with the "Titanic" that compelled him to complete seventy-five paintings of the ship(in sinking and nonsinking poses), or his daily life as a writer, from start to finish readers are treated to a vividly detailed, sometimes hilarious, often moving, but always memorable life. In this modern-day picaresque, Selgin narrates an artist's journey from unconventional roots through gritty experience to artistic achievement. With an elegant narrative voice that is, by turns, frank, witty, and acid-tongued, Selgin confronts his past while coming to terms with approaching middle age, reaching self-understanding tempered by reflection, regret, and a sharply self-deprecating sense of humor.
Imprint | University of Iowa Press |
Country of origin | United States |
Release date | October 2011 |
Availability | Expected to ship within 12 - 17 working days |
First published | October 2011 |
Authors | Peter Selgin |
Dimensions | 235 x 146 x 18mm (L x W x T) |
Format | Paperback |
Pages | 244 |
ISBN-13 | 978-1-60938-056-4 |
Barcode | 9781609380564 |
Categories | |
LSN | 1-60938-056-8 |