The essays in The Slap and the Salamander move from an execution in seventeenth century Japan to a meditation on the nature of long-tailed tits; from thoughts sparked by the building of a new school to an imaginative approach to commuting; from exploring a sense of home and belonging to the light thrown on the nature of the world by sparrowhawks; from remembering a face to the impact of reading on a life. Present in every essay is a concern to recognize the extraordinary dimensions of the ordinary, to look closely at what Alexander Smith calls “the infinite suggestiveness of common things.”

Author: Chris Arthur
Paperback : 214 pages
Literature: Essays
ISBN-13 : 9781972482216

Now living on the east coast of Scotland, Chris Arthur was born in Belfast and grew up in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. His critically acclaimed essays explore aspects of the natural world, family, memory, loss and meaning. He has held postdoctoral fellowships at the universities of Edinburgh and St Andrews, and taught for many years at the University of Wales. In 2014 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Literary Fund. Among his awards are the Akegarasu Haya Prize, the Monroe K. Spears Essay Prize, and the Michael Steinberg Nonfiction Prize.

“If anyone can lure out of hiding the mysterious secrets of the things of this world, and turn the familiar unfamiliar, the everyday magical, it’s Chris Arthur. One of our greatest living essayists, he brings a rare combination of tenderness, power, care and, at times, ghoulish humor to the page.”

—Phillip Lopate, editor of The Art of the Personal Essay

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“Arthur is proof that the art of the essay is flourishing.”

—Publishers Weekly 

“Every essay is engaging, and contains myriad twists, turns and treasures. Arthur’s prose is mesmeric and musical, his authorial voice quiet yet compelling, assured yet inquisitive … the language is constantly inventive in imagery and vocabulary.”

 —Times Literary Supplement

“Chris Arthur is among the very best essayists in the English language today. He is ever mindful of the genre’s long literary tradition and understands — as did his great predecessors — that the genuine essay is grounded in the imagination, in our quest for art and beauty, as deeply as is poetry or painting.”

—Robert Atwan, series editor of The Best American Essays