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
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Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
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
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Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
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
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Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
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
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Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
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
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Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
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
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Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
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)