Dear Reader:
In these pages, you will find an extended meditation on the reciprocal practices of writing and reading. Also, an ongoing exploration of what literature does to and for us. In this instance, literature will be treated as something which is a culturally grounded, individually embodied mode of seeking to understand self and world, and a mediation of these poles.
Thanks are due to Jessamyn Smyth, founding Editor-in-Chief of Tupelo Quarterly, www.tupeloquarterly.com. In mid-2013 she asked me to contribute critical writing to the review, and it was out of this generous invitation that Book of the World Courant was born.
Since the pace of its creation swiftly exceeded the capacity of any quarterly to publish it, I have rolled it over into the present form.
If you wish to respond in writing to anything herein, I would be happy to hear from you at edarton@earthlink.net.
Other of my work may be found at www.ericdarton.net.
—Eric Darton, New York City, February 2014.