The Bee-Loud Glade
by Steve Himmer
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Pub Date Apr 04 2011 | Archive Date Sep 01 2012
Description
“I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.”
-W.B. Yeats, “The Lake Isle of Innisfree”
This darkly comic commentary on modern work and wealth thoughtfully probes deep-rooted questions about the nature of man, the workplace, and society (and what happens in their absence). Set in a postmodern pastoral landscape, it brings a playfulness more commonly found in urban fiction to an outdoor setting. With light and engaging prose, Himmer deftly unearths the ironies of life and the futility of escape.
Praise for The Bee-Loud Glade
"An allegorical novel that seems eerily contemporary. Thoreau meets Ballard, meets Huysmans and many more."
-Tom McCarthy, author of Remainder and C
"This is the kind of book that will change how you view the world."
-NewPages Book Reviews
"[A] wonderful novel that's hard to describe, but that's a good thing. Just go where this stunning book takes you and enjoy the story, the characters, and the language. "
-Michael Kindness, host of Books on the Nightstand
"The premise of The Bee-Loud Glade is a quirky one, to be sure, and Himmer handles it beautifully...It's a thoughtful book but it's hysterical, too...Himmer is a very cerebral writer but he's also very gentle, and his words move as effortlessly as the river in which Finch performs his daily swim."
-Mel Bosworth, Outside Writers Collective and Press
"Enter Himmer's humorous, carefully imagined world. Watch his skillful hand transform Finch into a postmodern Thoreau before your eyes. Sit still. Pay attention. Do all this, and you, too, will fall under this novel's wondrous spell. I promise."
-Peter Grandbois, author of The Gravedigger, The Arsenic Lobster, and Nahoonkara
"With The Bee-Loud Glade, Steve Himmer has written a hypnotic and heartfelt debut novel...unambiguously ingenious and very clearly announces a shining new talent."
-Frederick Reiken, author of Day For Night, The Lost Legends of New Jersey, and The Odd Sea
About the Author
Steve Himmer teaches at Emerson College in Boston, where he earned his Master of Fine Arts in creative writing and is on the faculty of the First-Year Writing Program. His stories have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies including Hobart, The Los Angeles Review,Night Train, Pindeldyboz, PANK, Emprise Review, and Everyday Genius. He also is a frequent blogger on writing and teaching, and edits Necessary Fiction, a webjournal from So New Publishing, a press based in Eugene, Oregon.
Advance Praise
Hot Summer Reads 2011 - NPR's On Point with Tom Ashbrook
PANK Magazine Review: The Bee-Loud Glade takes the twinned dissonance between culture and nature, company and solitude, and braids them into one cleverly postmodern allegory that is a testament to Steve Himmer’s ability to write a thoughtful, funny, tender novel full of memorable characters and heart-stilling moments. Himmer is particularly adept at narrative contrast: this novel is told in chapters trading between past and present, floating back and forth through several years of Finch’s life, weaving together his time before the garden, his early years in the garden, and his current life, years into his term, losing his sight and therefore his autonomy, and confronting the spontaneous arrival of a couple, two hikers, who have set up camp in the midst of his world, shattering his routine and colonizing his thoughts. Himmer is clearly a great lover of nature, and a master of mixing humor and awe to create a satisfying read. This is not a simple ode to flora and fauna. This is not a condemnation of solitude or society. This is an unraveling of allegory, a quirky dream world, and an engaging tale with an ending that left me with this one bone-touching word: Yes. -Dawn West
Redivider Review: Himmer walks the tightrope between didactic and entertaining with lighthearted yet intensely thought-provoking ease. This novel remains playful in its delivery — an effect which lends gravity and solidarity to its center, making it not preachy or condescending as it could have easily been, but open to a reader’s interpretation of nature, technology, human interaction, and the balance between them. The journey through The Bee-Loud Glade is genuine and invigorating: a refreshing continuation of the discourse between the natural and modern worlds.
NewPages Review: If you want to fall in love with nature (either for the first time or the hundredth), then this book will open your eyes to everything you have been missing. This book isn’t something that I have been able to get out of my mind. It makes me question ideas of necessity and want. This is the kind of book that will change how you view the world. - Aaron M. Smith
The Rumpus Review: In this book, the comparisons are too numerous to count, but they all work together to create an elastic effect, where we as readers are continually pulled to nature and then back towards technology, away from what we thought was important and in the direction of something newly significant. As a book that pulls allegory apart, The Bee- Loud Glade does a wonderful job… - JA Tyler
Available Editions
| EDITION | Paperback |
| ISBN | 9780984510580 |
| PRICE | 14.95 |
| PAGES | 224 |
