A Richard Selzer Reader

A Richard Selzer Reader
Author: Richard Selzer
Publisher:
Total Pages: 376
Release: 2017
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9781611496420

In the 1960s, while practicing as a general surgeon and teaching surgery at the Yale School of Medicine, Richard Selzer began publishing unique creative work in magazines such as Harper's and Esquire. This volume is a definitive collection of essays, stories, public lectures, and final diary entries by the renowned surgeon and imaginative writer. Each of the book's nine topical sections is prefaced by an overview of themes and patterns in Selzer's work.

A Richard Selzer Reader

A Richard Selzer Reader
Author: Kevin Kerrane
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 377
Release: 2017-07-31
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1611496438

A Richard Selzer Reader: Blood and Ink is a career-spanning collection, including major short stories and essays by the renowned doctor-author. In the 1960s, while practicing as a general surgeon and teaching surgery at the Yale School of Medicine, Richard Selzer began publishing unique creative work in magazines such as Harper’s and Esquire. By 1985, when he retired as a physician to devote himself completely to writing, Selzer was already recognized as a pioneer in the field of medical humanities. When he died in 2016, as the author of 13 books, his influence was acknowledged by a younger generation of doctor-writers like Abraham Verghese and Atul Gawande. Selzer’s unusual style fuses scientific and poetic language. Drawing on favorite readings, from the King James Bible to the tales of Edgar Allen Poe, he used this style to convey a sense of awe at the beauty and complexity of the human body, even in the midst of suffering. While describing himself as an atheist, Selzer always searched for “sacramental” moments of courtesy, courage, and grace in medical encounters. Because he often looked critically at the failure of doctors to regard the full humanity of their patients, Selzer’s work has become required reading in many medical training programs. A Richard Selzer Reader includesseveral of the author’s most famous essays and stories, as well as two dozen selections that have not been collected in his previous books. Chronologically, the material ranges from apprenticeship stories (as far back as a high-school composition) to two odd self-portraits that remained unpublished at the time of Selzer’s death.Topically, the material ranges from meditations on the body, and on human mortality, to reflections on both medicine and writing as serious vocations. Along the way, Selzer celebrates the work of other doctor-writers, like Thomas Browne and Anton Chekhov, and in a series of previously unpublished diary entries he discusses the joys of nature, art, and family as bulwarks against the difficulties of growing old.

The Exact Location of the Soul

The Exact Location of the Soul
Author: Richard Selzer
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 356
Release: 2002-03-06
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 9780312263133

Richard Selzer selects from his own classic essays, culled from three decades of writing. Published along with his favorites are five new essays, including "Phantom Vision" and "Braindeath," and an introduction detailing the making of this virtuoso doctor/writer. Compassionate, moving and perversely funny, Richard Selzer's essays intimately connect us with profound questions of life and death.

The Doctor Stories

The Doctor Stories
Author: Richard Selzer
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 404
Release: 1998
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780312204037

Selzer's selection of his own short stories, culled from three decades of writing, includes two new stories and an Introduction detailing his literary beginnings.

Letters to a Young Doctor

Letters to a Young Doctor
Author: Richard Selzer
Publisher: HMH
Total Pages: 205
Release: 1996-04-15
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0547541384

A timeless collection of advice, operating-room wisdom, and reflections on the practice of medicine, from the “best of the writing surgeons” (Chicago Tribune). “Richard Selzer does for medicine what Jacques Cousteau does for the sea,” raved The New York Times of this extraordinary collection. “He transports the reader to a world that most of us never see, a world that is vivid and powerful, often overwhelming, occasionally fantastic.” In this collection of highly candid, insightful, and unexpectedly humorous essays, the erstwhile surgeon turned Yale School of Medicine professor addresses both the brutality and the beauty of a profession in which saving and losing lives is all in a day’s work. A number of these pieces take the form of letters offering counsel to aspiring physicians. Featuring wry and witty observations on matters of life and death, medical ethics, and the awesome responsibilities of being a surgeon, Letters to a Young Doctor should be required reading for all medical students—and anyone interested in the endless miracle that is the human body. "No one writes about the practice of medicine with Selzer's unique combination of mystery and wonder,” observed the Los Angeles Times, while The New York Times praised Selzer’s “marvelous insight and potent imagery” for making “his tales of surgery and medicine both works of art and splendid tools of instruction.”

Mortal Lessons

Mortal Lessons
Author: Richard Selzer
Publisher: HMH
Total Pages: 227
Release: 1996-04-15
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 054754233X

A surgeon shares true stories of life, death, and the human body in an essay collection that “will nail you to your chair” (Saturday Review). With settings ranging from the operating theater to a Korean ambulance, and topics as varied as the disposition of a corpse and the author’s own childhood, these nineteen captivating, wry, and intimate vignettes offer a poignant examination of health, humanity, and, of course, mortality. Sometimes tragic, sometimes humorous, the essays offer a physician’s viewpoint that goes beyond the medical to also consider the most meaningful issues and questions we face, whether as doctors or patients, cared for or caregiver. Praised by Kirkus Reviews as “an impressive display of knowledge and art, magic and mystery,” Mortal Lessons is a classic reflection on the human body and the human experience, and will resonate with readers for generations to come.

Confessions of a Knife

Confessions of a Knife
Author: Richard Selzer
Publisher:
Total Pages: 223
Release: 2001
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780870136054

Merging art and religion with science, these largely autobiographical essays delve deeply into the emotional territory of medicine commonly avoided by other writers. This collection, first published in 1979, utilizes the physical body as a means to explore the human mind and soul. Never hesitant to admit his own frailties, Selzer draws on his experiences as a surgeon with integrity and wit, allowing readers a first-hand glimpse into the medical world.

Raising the Dead

Raising the Dead
Author: Richard Selzer
Publisher:
Total Pages: 132
Release: 2001
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

The fragility of health and robustness of imagination merge when a seemingly healthy man's legs collapse suddenly beneath him. Here, Richard Selzer relives his experiences of Legionnaire's Disease, allowing the reader a glimpse into his delirium as he skates the line between life and death.

Taking the World in for Repairs

Taking the World in for Repairs
Author: Richard Selzer
Publisher: Penguin Group
Total Pages: 244
Release: 1987
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780140103052

A collection of a dozen short stories, essays, and memoirs originally published in 1986, and now available in trade paperback. Richard Selzer retired as a surgeon in 1984 to write about his profession. His books include Letters to a Young Doctor, Confessions of a Knife, Mortal Lessons, Rituals of Surgery, and most recent, Raising the Dead.

Down from Troy

Down from Troy
Author: Richard Selzer
Publisher: Excelsior Editions
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2010-08-01
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781438434445

A beautifully crafted memoir by one of America's finest storytellers.