by Dave Eggers
First published 2006
Dave Eggers breaks the traditional anthology mold in this 2006 collection. He expands beyond typical short stories to gather screenplay excerpts, television scripts, transcripts, and story fragments that publishers usually ignore. The book opens with a roundup of notable words and sentences from 2005, pieces that resist easy categorization but demand attention. Eggers admits the collection is incomplete by design. He and his publisher agreed to embrace this eclectic approach, creating space for writing that exists in the margins of literary categories. The result captures the messy vitality of contemporary American writing, celebrating forms that blur the lines between fiction, journalism, and entertainment. This anthology argues that the best writing often refuses to fit neat boundaries.
Genres: literary-fiction, anthologies, contemporary, 21st-century
Vibes: eclectic, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: anthology, unconventional-structure
Period: 2006
374 pages · Paperback · Mariner Books