Out of Nowhere Into Nothing
168 pages, 5 1/2 x 8 1/2
19 b&w figures
Paperback
Release Date:15 Sep 2020
ISBN:9781573661867
Out of Nowhere Into Nothing is a collection of sublime meditations on the supernatural, chances and coincidences, and the ghosts—literal and figurative—that drive our deepest impulses, dog our most precious memories, and haunt the passages, hour by hour, of our daily lives.
Often self-conscious reflections on the act of storytelling, Caryl Pagel’s essays blend memoir, research, and lyrical reflection, driven by a desire to observe and see connections, though always anchored in real places, people, and conflicts. In the essay, “A Pickle for the Knowing Ones” Pagel recounts the true tale of her high school’s football coach who faked his own death, which gradually becomes an intimate meditation on home, death, freedom, storytelling, family, and fatherhood.
The chapters probe each incident as a kind of intellectual detective ascending a labyrinthine tower of clues in patient pursuit of a solution to some unnamable problem, always curious, always somewhat bewildered, and always with a sense of profound wonder. Illustrated with documentary-style photographs throughout. Out of Nowhere Into Nothing is a charged, radiant, obsessive investigation of the mysterious at the center of our seemingly mundane and commonplace lives.
Often self-conscious reflections on the act of storytelling, Caryl Pagel’s essays blend memoir, research, and lyrical reflection, driven by a desire to observe and see connections, though always anchored in real places, people, and conflicts. In the essay, “A Pickle for the Knowing Ones” Pagel recounts the true tale of her high school’s football coach who faked his own death, which gradually becomes an intimate meditation on home, death, freedom, storytelling, family, and fatherhood.
The chapters probe each incident as a kind of intellectual detective ascending a labyrinthine tower of clues in patient pursuit of a solution to some unnamable problem, always curious, always somewhat bewildered, and always with a sense of profound wonder. Illustrated with documentary-style photographs throughout. Out of Nowhere Into Nothing is a charged, radiant, obsessive investigation of the mysterious at the center of our seemingly mundane and commonplace lives.
Caryl Pagel is associate professor at Cleveland State University, where she teaches poetry and nonfiction and is director of Cleveland State University Poetry Center.
