Kant's little Prussian head and other reasons why I write an autobiography in essays Messud, Claire 1966- creator author. text bibliography biography Essays. Autobiographies. Biographies. nyu 2020 First edition. monographic eng print xxi, 306 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm "A glimpse into a beloved novelist's inner world, shaped by family, art, and literature. In her fiction, Claire Messud "has specialized in creating unusual female characters with ferocious, imaginative inner lives" (Ruth Franklin, New York Times Magazine). Kant's Little Prussian Head and Other Reasons Why I Write opens a window on Messud's own life: a peripatetic upbringing; a warm, complicated family; and, throughout it all, her devotion to art and literature. In twenty-nine intimate, brilliant, funny, and sharp essays, Messud reflects on a childhood move from her Connecticut home to Australia; the complex relationship between her modern Canadian mother and a fiercely single French Catholic aunt; and a trip to Beirut, where her pied-noir father had once lived, while he was dying. She meditates on Albert Camus, Teju Cole, and Valeria Luiselli, and tours her favorite paintings at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. Crafting a vivid portrait of a life in celebration of the power of literature, Messud proves once again "an absolute master storyteller" (Rebecca Carroll, Los Angeles Times)"-- Claire Messud. Includes bibliographical references. Messud, Claire 1966- Messud, Claire 1966- Novelists, American 20th century Biography Novelists, American 21st century Biography Novelists, American 1900-2099 fast PS3563.E8134 Z46 2020 813/.54 B 9781324006756 1324006757 9781324006763 2020018802 pda,print DLC 200423 20250318222135.2 in00004357299 eng