Jay Parini

Jay Parini is an American writer, poet, and academic renowned for his novels, biographies, and literary criticism. His published fiction includes acclaimed works such as "Benjamin's Crossing" and "The Apprentice Lover," while his poetry collections feature "The Art of Subtraction: New and Selected Poems." Parini has also gained recognition for his biographical studies of literary figures, including John Steinbeck, Robert Frost, and William Faulkner.

As the Axinn Professor of English at Middlebury College, Parini combines his scholarly expertise with a distinguished writing career. His works often explore themes of creativity, intellectual pursuit, and the intersections between literature and politics, as evidenced in his essay collection on these subjects. Beyond his books, he has contributed to major publications like The Guardian and served as editor for the "Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature." Parini's multifaceted career reflects his enduring engagement with both the craft of writing and the academic study of literature.
Standalone Novels
# Title Year
1 Love Run 1980
2 The Patch Boys 1986
3 The Last Station 1990
4 Bay of Arrows 1992
5 Benjamin's Crossing 1998
6 The Apprentice Lover 2002
7 The Passages of H. M. of Herman Melville 2010
8 The Damascus Road 2019
Poetry Collections
# Title Year
1 Anthracite Country 1982
2 Town Life 1988
3 House of Days: Poems 1998
4 The Art Of Subtraction: New And Selected Poems 2005
5 New and Collected Poems: 1975-2015 2016
6 Robert Frost: Sixteen Poems to Learn by Heart (With: Robert Frost) 2024
Non-Fiction Books
# Title Year
1 Theodore Roethke, an American Romantic 1979
2 A Vermont Christmas 1988
3 Gore Vidal - Writer Against The Grain 1992
4 John Steinbeck: A Biography 1994
5 Some Necessary Angels 1997
6 Robert Frost: A Life 1998
7 The Norton Book of American Autobiography 1999
8 One Matchless Time: A Life of William Faulkner 2004
9 Anthony Quinn's Eye: A Lifetime Of Creating And Collecting Art 2004
10 The Art of Teaching 2004
11 Promised Land: Thirteen Books That Changed America 2008
12 Empire of Self 2015
13 Every Time a Friend Succeeds Something Inside Me Dies 2015
14 Borges and Me 2020
Icons Books
# Title Year
1 Jesus 2013
2 Edgar Allan Poe (By: Paul Collins) 2014
3 Van Gogh (By: Julian Bell) 2014
4 Alfred Hitchcock: The Man Who Knew Too Much (By: Michael Wood) 2015
5 St Paul ( By: Karen Armstrong) 2015
Why X Matters Books
# Title Year
1 Why Poetry Matters 2008
2 Why the Dreyfus Affair Matters (By: Louis Begley) 2009
3 Why Architecture Matters (By: Paul Goldberger) 2009
4 Why Translation Matters (By: Edith Grossman) 2010
5 Why the Romantics Matter (By: Peter Gay) 2015
6 Why Acting Matters (By: David Thomson) 2015
7 Why Baseball Matters (By: Susan Jacoby) 2018
8 Why Food Matters (By: Paul Freedman) 2021
Bread Loaf Anthology Books
# Title Year
1 The Bread Loaf Anthology Of Contemporary American Poetry (By: Robert Pack) 1985
2 The Bread Loaf Anthology of Contemporary American Short Stories (By: Robert Pack) 1987
3 The Bread Loaf Anthology of Contemporary American Essays (By: Robert Pack) 1989
4 Poems for a Small Planet 1993
5 American Identities Contemporary Multicultural Voices (By: Robert Pack) 2001
Jay Parini Anthologies
# Title Year
1 Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania 2005