The Renegade: Writings on Poetry and a Few Other Things

In this new collection of essays, United States Poet Laureate Charles Simic delves into the lives and work of poets, novelists, artists and playwrights, beginning with his own experiences before turning to those of Christopher Marlowe, Odilon Redon, W. S. Sebald, Louise Gluck and many more. Throughout, he celebrates the renegade spirit - whether it inspires a rogue ant to depart from his prescribed path or a poet to write unfashionably honest verse - communicating the joys and difficulties of life on the outside.
Simic brings the personal worlds of each writer and artist vividly to life, discussing their friends, homes, influences, and the rooms that shaped their outlooks. These intimate portraits - which afford views through Emily Dickinson's attic window, or glimpses into the room where Donald Hall sat down to reinvent himself - urge the reader to regard writers and artists as protean, fallible human beings, rather than immutable icons.
But Simic also explores the key turning points in creative lives of his subjects, noting their creative failures as often as he does their successes. He is unflinching in his analysis of even the most beloved cultural figure, following his enthralling praises with piercing critiques that are impossible to forget.