About this ebook
The Canals of Mars is a memoir that explores and ponders "weakness," which in Gary Fincke's family was the catch-all term for every possible human flaw-physical, psychological, or spiritual. Fincke grew up near Pittsburgh during the 1950s and 1960s, raised by blue-collar parents for whom the problems that beset people-from alcoholism to nearsightedness to asthma to fear of heights-were nothing but weaknesses.
In a highly engaging style, Fincke meditates on the disappointments he suffered-in his body, his mind, his work-because he was convinced that he had to be "perfect." Anything less than perfection was weakness and no one, he understood from an early age, wants to be weak.
Six of the chapters in the book have been cited in Best American Essays. The chapter that provides the book's title, The Canals of Mars, won a Pushcart Prize and was included in The Pushcart Book of Essays: The Best Essays from a Quarter Century of the Pushcart Prize.
In a highly engaging style, Fincke meditates on the disappointments he suffered-in his body, his mind, his work-because he was convinced that he had to be "perfect." Anything less than perfection was weakness and no one, he understood from an early age, wants to be weak.
Six of the chapters in the book have been cited in Best American Essays. The chapter that provides the book's title, The Canals of Mars, won a Pushcart Prize and was included in The Pushcart Book of Essays: The Best Essays from a Quarter Century of the Pushcart Prize.
The Canals of Mars is a memoir that explores and ponders "weakness," which in Gary Fincke's family was the catch-all term for every possible human flaw-physical, psychological, or spiritual. Fincke grew up near Pittsburgh during the 1950s and 1960s, raised by blue-collar parents for whom the prob...
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About the author
Gary Fincke is the Charles B. Degenstein Professor of English and Creative Writing at Susquehanna University, Director of the Writers' Institute at Susquehanna University, and won a 2003 Flannery O'Connor Prize. Fincke has also won the 2003 Ohio State University Press/The Journal Poetry Prize, and the George Garrett Fiction Prize in 2003. Fincke has also won two Pushcart Prizes.
Gary Fincke is the Charles B. Degenstein Professor of English and Creative Writing at Susquehanna University, Director of the Writers' Institute at Susquehanna University, and won a 2003 Flannery O'Connor Prize. Fincke has also won the 2003 Ohio State University Press/The Journal Poetry Prize, an...
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