Prolific author, longtime Princeton resident and professor, and legend in the genre of creative nonfiction John McPhee, now 94 years old, is back in the news. But this time it is not because he has written a new book; it’s because someone else has written a book about his books.
Journalist and communications consultant Noel Rubinton is the author of “Looking for a Story: A Complete Guide to the Writings of John McPhee,” due out from Princeton University Press on May 13.
A book launch event on Thursday, May 15, at 7 p.m. in the Community Room at Princeton Public Library features Rubinton as well as Peter Hessler, who wrote the foreword for the book. Hessler, a staff writer for The New Yorker, is a 1992 Princeton University alumnus and former student of McPhee.
Writer and journalist John Timpane moderates the event, which also features remarks from artist Diana Weymar, who created a pop-up exhibit of stitched writings by McPhee that will also be on display.
“Looking for a Story” is not a biography but rather an annotated bibliography. It is divided into three main sections: “Works by John McPhee,” subdivided into books, periodicals, and other publications; “Works About John McPhee,” including articles, interviews, book reviews, books, and theses; and “Miscellany,” including McPhee’s readings and speeches, book dedications, film adaptations, and books by his children.
In the preface, Rubinton notes that McPhee has been so prolific — 35 books, 160 New Yorker articles, and more — across such an enormous and eclectic range of topics — “nuclear energy, college basketball, Alaska, a silk parachute, oranges, and, of course, geology,” he rattles off — that a comprehensive list of McPhee’s many and varied contributions to literature was impossible to find.
“Thus,” Rubinton writes, “comes the central aim of this book: to provide a complete guide to McPhee’s writings, to help his current readers navigate their way to finding and appreciating more of his work and learning more about him, and also to offer guidance to generations of new readers curious about McPhee’s work.”
For more information about the author event, visit princetonlibrary.libnet.info/event/13480776.
“Looking for a Story: A Complete Guide to the Writings of John McPhee,” by Noel Rubinton, published by Princeton University Press. 264 pages. $29.95. More information: press.princeton.edu.
