In this Book
The University of Alabama Press
- As If a Bird Flew By Me: A Novel
- Book
- 2011
- Published by: The University of Alabama Press
summary
Two women, separated by time and place, yoked by heritage and history
“The world is full of continuous conversations: Now is surrounded by Past, and both are encircled by Forever.” So states an unnamed narrator in As if a Bird Flew by Me.
Celia lives in the contemporary Midwest. Ann is an accused witch, executed during the Salem witch trials. Two women separated by time and place yet yoked by heritage and history. Set in three time periods, stories within stories unfold, and Greenslit’s language seamlessly weaves Celia’s modern life with the historical record of Ann’s demise alongside dazzling renderings of animal life. Greenslit’s hybrid of fiction and nonfiction occupies that rarest of airs: it is a book that illuminates, line by line and page by page, how it should be read.
“The world is full of continuous conversations: Now is surrounded by Past, and both are encircled by Forever.” So states an unnamed narrator in As if a Bird Flew by Me.
Celia lives in the contemporary Midwest. Ann is an accused witch, executed during the Salem witch trials. Two women separated by time and place yet yoked by heritage and history. Set in three time periods, stories within stories unfold, and Greenslit’s language seamlessly weaves Celia’s modern life with the historical record of Ann’s demise alongside dazzling renderings of animal life. Greenslit’s hybrid of fiction and nonfiction occupies that rarest of airs: it is a book that illuminates, line by line and page by page, how it should be read.
Table of Contents
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- Cover Page
- p. 1
- Title Page
- pp. 2-9
- The Cellist
- pp. 3-6
- Celia Cracks Open a Door
- pp. 7-10
- Migrations: Close Range
- pp. 11-12
- Our Histories (Are Blurring)
- pp. 13-18
- What Is Known, As It Is Written
- pp. 19-22
- Something to Fill in Our Hours
- pp. 25-26
- Give Me a Broom
- pp. 27-28
- Migrations: Of Locks and Dams
- pp. 29-30
- Animal and Verb: Celia’s Other Lists
- pp. 31-34
- Of Radios and People
- pp. 35-36
- Later Generations
- pp. 37-40
- A Sound You Want to Fall Into
- pp. 41-44
- An Old Story
- pp. 45-46
- Celia Dreams of Ann
- pp. 47-48
- Crow Out the Cellist’s Window
- pp. 53-54
- It’s in the Vowels
- pp. 57-58
- Celia Listens for a Blackbird
- pp. 59-60
- Reversal, No Fortune
- pp. 61-62
- Ergot or Not
- pp. 67-68
- Ancestor, Stranger, Here = Then
- pp. 69-72
- Notes Towards A
- pp. 73-76
- Celia Considers Her Options
- pp. 77-78
- Ann Speaks
- pp. 99-100
- What’s Lost, What’s Found
- pp. 101-102
- At the Precipice of the Held Note
- pp. 103-104
- Migrations: #7804
- pp. 105-106
- It’s Not Clear If It’s a Rift or a Rising
- pp. 107-114
- The World Within
- pp. 115-116
- That Blue in the Periphery
- pp. 117-118
- Blackbird Sky
- pp. 121-124
Additional Information
ISBN
9781573668286
Related ISBN(s)
9781573661645
MARC Record
OCLC
772845447
Pages
142
Launched on MUSE
2014-01-01
Language
English
Open Access
No
Copyright
2011