Bright Pages

College years—when ideas collide, literature intrigues and inspires,
lasting passions are first fired—can stamp a young writer for life. This extraordinary
book contains the work of dozens of writers whose experiences at Yale over the past
three centuries exerted a powerful force on their writing lives. Formed and nurtured by
the unique intellectual community of the university, writers as diverse as Noah Webster
and Gloria Naylor emerged from Yale to make their own fresh contributions to our
nation's remarkable literary heritage.

From the galaxy of authors Yale has produced,
J. D. McClatchy selects a rich and varied sample. He includes sermons, essays, poems,
short stories, and excerpts from novels. The book opens with a section devoted to the
work of four great teachers of writing at Yale in recent decades: John Hersey, Robert
Penn Warren, John Hollander, and Robert Stone. The middle and most generous section
of the volume focuses on writers who have been working since the end of the Second
World War. Each of these selections casts a strong light on its author and his or her work.
In the final section, McClatchy draws on the work of earlier literary figures from James
Fenimore Cooper to Thornton Wilder, in many cases retrieving little-known material.

A stroll through the pages of this bountiful anthology, dazzling in the diversity of its
offerings, will appeal to any reader. Each of the authors was challenged and inspired by
Yale. In this volume, each in turn challenges and inspires us.

Among the authors and poets in this volume:
Jonathan Edwards, Sinclair Lewis, Cole Porter, Robert Penn Warren, Brendan Gill,
Robert K. Massie, William F. Buckley, Jr., Calvin Trillin, Paul Monette, Garry B.
Trudeau, Claire Messud, Chang-rae Lee