Böcker av Roger Hecht

The Erie Canal Reader-poems, essays, travelogues, and fiction by major American and British writers-captures the colorful landscape and life along the Erie Canal from its birth in the New York frontier, through its heyday as a passage of culture and commerce, to its present decline into disuse. Part celebration of the men and women who worked its waters and part social observation, these writings by such figures as Basil Hall, Frances Trollope, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Mark Twain, and others provide first-hand observations of the canal country and its role in the evolution of American social and economic culture from frontier to industrial prominence. In addition to depictions of canal life, the pieces offer glimpses of early tourist resorts, like Trenton Falls, and observations of religious experiments that made New York's "e;burned over district"e; a hotbed of social and political reform. Also included are works by the most prominent Erie Canal writers, Walter D. Edmonds and Samuel Hopkins Adams, whose stories and novels bring a modern sensibility and insight to their reflections on the canal.

This fine collection of short fiction tells of the turning points, unsettling recollections, and ambiguous boundaries of winning and losing. The novelette "Audition" takes a trombonist through the intense preparation and audition for a major symphony orchestra. In "Dream Date," a middle-aged man seeks out a high school girlfriend, with unexpected results. "Meet not Cute," another story with a musical background, describes a relationship through a series of odd and highly memorable encounters. "Alicia" is a lonely girl in a mountain village who yearns for escape and is given the opportunity from a most unwelcome source. "The Errant Knight" portrays a chess match involving a player who is haunted by missed opportunities. These and other stories provide an outstanding new collection by an author whose excellent storytelling will please anyone who likes credible fiction, skillfully told. "Roger Hecht has given us an insightful, accurate and compelling look into the demanding, exhilarating and life-changing entry portal into a symphony orchestra: 'Audition.' Hecht's story has the sound and feel of the real thing, and readers will never again attend a concert without bringing to mind his cast of characters and their musical, emotional, and interpersonal journey that led them to a coveted position on stage-or not." -Douglas Yeo, Professor of Trombone, Arizona State University; Bass Trombonist, Boston Symphony Orchestra (retired)