Anecdotage: Everyday Epiphanies

Literary Nonfiction. Memoir. In ANECDOTAGE: EVERYDAY EPIPHANIES, author Jonathan Greene confesses, "I am always attracted to reading about the lives of eccentrics and interesting characters." That is a perfect enticement to the charm of reading this book, in which Greene himself is the most interesting among the host of characters who appear in the "memories and stories of a lifetime" assembled here. The epiphanies in the subtitle refer to the curious coincidences—one might say synchronicities—that form the often unexpected connective tissue in our relationships, the not-so-many "degrees of separation" that weave us into communities, visible and invisible. Readers who know Greene as a poet will delight in learning about his background and education (formal and otherwise), along with accounts from his wide acquaintance with other authors and artists; while those who have enjoyed his commonplace books will recognize his eye for the wry or obscure exquisite detail applied here to life rather than literature.