| Abstract |
When Reynolds Price died in January 2011, he left behind one final work--200 candid, heartrending manuscript pages about a critical period in his young adulthood. Picking up where his previous memoir, Ardent Spirits, left off, the work documents a brief time from 1961 to 1965, perhaps the most leisurely of Price's life, but also one of enormous challenge and growth. Approaching thirty, Price writes, is to face the notion that "This is it. I'm now the person I'm likely to be ... from here to the end." Midstream, which begins when Price is twenty-eight, details the final youthful adventures of a man on the cusp of artistic acclaim. He chases a love to England, only to meet heartbreak. After other travels, he returns to the United States, where his first novel finds success. Concluding with his mother's death and Price's new endeavors--a second novel and a foray into Hollywood screenwriting--Midstream offers a poignant portrait of a man at the threshold of true adulthood, navigating new responsibilities and pleasures alike.--From publisher description. |
