DeMott's writing delves into the rich tapestry of fly fishing, exploring its philosophical and practical dimensions with a seasoned hand. His prose captures the quiet contemplation and elemental connection found on the water, revealing a deep understanding of both the sport and its profound impact on the human spirit. Through his engaging narratives, he invites readers to experience the allure of the cast and the subtle beauty of the natural world he so vividly portrays.
Each of these hybrid "proems," inspired in part by Audubon's great book, attempts to combine the amplitude and spaciousness of prose with the compression and focus of poetry. In traveling into darkly intertwined spaces of personal geography, memory, emotion, and loss, as well as into wild nature, each piece surrounds its lyrical moment in a context of details, imaginings, and resonances with which to express its dramatic occasion.
In Monterey, on the California coast, Sweet Thursday is what they call the day after Lousy Wednesday, which is one of those days that are just naturally bad. Returning to the scene of Cannery Row--the weedy lots and junk heaps and flophouses of Monterey, John Steinbeck once more brings to life the denizens of a netherworld of laughter and tears--from Doc, based on Steinbeck's lifelong friend Ed Ricketts, to Fauna, new headmistress of the local brothel, to Hazel, a bum whose mother must have wanted a daughter. This Penguin Classics edition features an introduction and notes by Robert DeMott.