Best Selling Books by David James Duncan

The classic novel of fly fishing and spirituality republished with a new Afterword by the author. Since its publication in 1983, The River Why has become a classic. David James Duncan''s sweeping novel is a coming-of-age comedy about love, nature, and the quest for self-discovery, written in a voice as distinct and powerful as any in American letters. Gus Orviston is a young fly fisherman who leaves behind his comically schizoid family to find his own path. Taking refuge in a remote cabin, he sets out in pursuit of the Pacific Northwest''s elusive steelhead. But what begins as a physical quarry becomes a spiritual one as his quest for self-knowledge batters him with unforeseeable experiences. Profoundly reflective about our connection to nature and to one another, The River Why is also a comedic rollercoaster. Like Gus, the reader emerges utterly changed, stripped bare by the journey Duncan so expertly navigates.

In his passionate, luminous novels, David James Duncan has won the devotion of countless critics and readers, earning comparisons to Harper Lee, Tom Robbins, and J.D. Salinger, to name just a few. Now Duncan distills his remarkable powers of observation into this unique collection of short stories and essays. At the heart of Duncan''s tales are characters undergoing the complex and violent process of transformation, with results both painful and wondrous. Equally affecting are his nonfiction reminiscences, the "river teeth" of the title. He likens his memories to the remains of old-growth trees that fall into Northwestern rivers and are sculpted by time and water. These experiences—shaped by his own river of time—are related with the art and grace of a master storyteller. In River Teeth, a uniquely gifted American writer blends two forms, taking us into the rivers of truth and make-believe, and all that lies in between.

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK Once in a great while a writer comes along who can truly capture the drama and passion of the life of a family. David James Duncan, author of the novel The River Why and the collection River Teeth, is just such a writer. And in The Brothers K he tells a story both striking and in its originality and poignant in its universality. This touching, uplifting novel spans decades of loyalty, anger, regret, and love in the lives of the Chance family. A father whose dreams of glory on a baseball field are shattered by a mill accident. A mother who clings obsessively to religion as a ward against the darkest hour of her past. Four brothers who come of age during the seismic upheavals of the sixties and who each choose their own way to deal with what the world has become. By turns uproariously funny and deeply moving, and beautifully written throughout, The Brothers K is one of the finest chronicles of our lives in many years. Praise for The Brothers K “The pages of The Brothers K sparkle.”—The New York Times Book Review “Duncan is a wonderfully engaging writer.”—Los Angeles Times “This ambitious book succeeds on almost every level and every page.”—USA Today “Duncan’s prose is a blend of lyrical rhapsody, sassy hyperbole and all-American vernacular.”—San Francisco Chronicle “The Brothers K affords the . . . deep pleasures of novels that exhaustively create, and alter, complex worlds. . . . One always senses an enthusiastic and abundantly talented and versatile writer at work.”—The Washington Post Book World “Duncan . . . tells the larger story of an entire popular culture struggling to redefine itself—something he does with the comic excitement and depth of feeling one expects from Tom Robbins.”—Chicago Tribune

Offers a loving tribute to the landscape, plants, and animals of his native Montana.

An epic comedy about the quest for transcendence in an anything-but-transcendent America, set amid the gorgeous landscapes of the American west: A “spiritual journey” full of “fun, joy, love, courage and compassion” (Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Powers) from the author of the perennial cult bestsellers The River Why and The Brothers K. A random bolt from a DC-8 falls from the sky, killing a child and throwing the faith of a young Jesuit into crisis. A boy’s mother dies on his fifth birthday, sparking a lifetime of repressed anger that he unleashes once a year in reckless duels with the Fate, God, or Power who let the coincidence happen. A young woman on a run in Seattle experiences a shooting star moment that pierces her with a love that will eventually help heal the Jesuit, the angry young man, and innumerable others. The journeys of this unintentional menagerie carry them to the healing lands of Montana and a newly founded community—where nothing tastes better than Maker''s Mark mixed with glacier ice, and nothing seems less likely than the soul-filling delight a troupe of spiritual refugees, urban sophisticates, road-weary musicians, and local cowboys begin to find in each other''s company. With Sun House, David James Duncan continues exploring the American search for meaning and love that he began in his acclaimed novels The River Why and The Brothers K.

Wendell Berry and David James Duncan present a haunting call to the collective conscience of the citizenry, and an urgent challenge to the meaning and workings of a true democracy. Their patriotic dissents expand the context for questions of terror and security, and present an enlightened understanding of the threats to -- and responsibilities of -- freedom.

Duncan offers a collection of "churchless sermons," stories, memoir, and conversations with the affirmation that the way of life preached and embodied by Jesus is apolitical.

Inspired by slow-burning anger at the seemingly incurable inhumanity of man, and of his countrymen in particular, Frank Boyden set out to portray, in a series of drypoints, ''man-unkind'' at his most hideous. . . . Moved by anger, yet led by the exigencies of an exacting and unforgiving medium, Frank soon forgot the ax he''d set out to grind, lost himself in the making of each image, and was gradually moved, by his own admission, from anger into feelings of empathy toward the monstrous characters he was depicting. . . . Via the magic of concentration and self-effacement, art itself created ninety-six paradoxically beautiful images of ugliness, against the artist''s initial will.--David James Duncan This volume reproduces the complete suite of 96 drypoints in actual size (2 by 3 inches), together with an essay and notes by the artist, companion prose by Kim Stafford and David James Duncan, and a discussion between the artist, Julia D''Amario, Tom Prochaska, and Prudence Roberts.

Lumineuse peinture des relations humaines au cœur des années 1960, Les Frères K nous emporte avec tendresse dans la famille Chance. Entre un père aux rêves brisés et une mère obsédée par la religion, entre sirènes de la liberté et fanatisme, chaque enfant doit choisir sa propre manière d''appréhender un monde plein de contradictions. Drôle, émouvante et superbement écrite, l’histoire de ces deux décennies d''amour, de colère et de regrets contée par David James Duncan est aussi frappante d’originalité que poignante d’universalité. Œuvre solaire qui nous accueille à bras ouverts et dans laquelle on se réfugie pour retrouver délicatesse et humanité, Les Frères K est une ode à la bonté capable d’adoucir les instants du quotidien et d’en révèler ses éclats éblouissants. En 1965, David James Duncan a 13 ans, son frère John qui en a 17 décède des complications d’une intervention à cœur ouvert. Ce drame existentiel va traumatiser David et c’est en hommage à ce frère, fan de baseball, qu’il se lance dans l’écriture de son deuxième roman, avec l’envie de savoir comment John aurait abordé la Guerre du Vietnam. Il imagine alors trois grands frères imaginaires avec lesquels il va vivre les six années que prendront l’écriture de ce livre.

Des côtes de l’Oregon à Portland, en passant par des torrents bouillonnants ou des cascades à-pic, qu’il y croise une sirène, un cadavre ou un chien philosophe, Gus Orviston est un prodige de la pêche. Oscillant entre désespoir et euphorie, une prise après l’autre, il nous entraîne avec drôlerie, sagesse et poésie dans sa quête du cours d’eau parfait, celui qui répondra à toutes ses questions. La Rivière pourquoi est un hymne à une existence réconciliée avec nos passions et nos obsessions. C’est libre, c’est foisonnant, c’est profondément tendre. David James Duncan est un conteur hors pair qui nous offre une odyssée spirituelle en forme de roman un peu fou, lyrique et surtout très drôle. C’est du Ken Kesey, c’est du Jim Harrison, c’est du Richard Brautigan. Les rivières ont toujours fasciné David James Duncan, né à Portland dans l’Oregon en 1952. Alors qu’il enchaîne les petits boulots, il écrit son premier roman, La Rivière Pourquoi, sur les rives de la Johnson Creek. Après une vingtaine de refus, son manuscrit est enfin publié en 1983. Ce roman d’apprentissage, qui apporte dès sa publication une immense renommée à son auteur, est une véritable quête philosophique durant laquelle Gus Orviston part à la pêche de son destin.

THE HEART OF THE MONSTER consists of a 130-page essay by David James Duncan and a 130-page novella by Rick Bass. Duncan''s essay, entitled "The Heart of the Monster," is a protest of the plan by oil corporations and politicians to turn the Northwest''s and Northern Rockies'' rivers, roads and wilderness into a tentacle of the largest and most destructive petroleum project in history: the Alberta Tar Sands. Bass''s novella, "A Short History of Montana, is a portrait of the backward evolution of a fictitious political figure as Big Oil and Big Energy''s concepts of power begin to stew in his head and eat away his heart.

Lorsque Gus Orviston, jeune prodige de la pêche à la mouche, claque la porte de la demeure familiale, il sait qu''il n''y remettra plus les pieds. Finies les ridicules querelles de ses parents, à lui la liberté et les eaux sauvages de l''Oregon. Sur son chemin, l''attendent de drôles d''oiseaux : un vieil Indien, un philosophe et son chien savant Descartes, une souris qui chante, un cadavre et une énigmatique " pêcheuse " qui l''enverra au cœur de la nuit remonter la rivière en compagnie d''une femelle saumon. Invitation à la philosophie de la vie, célébration de la nature et de la liberté, l''autobiographie de Gus Orviston, assurément l''un des personnages les plus attachants de la littérature américaine contemporaine, est unique d''irrévérence, d''humour et d''intelligence. Ce premier roman, devenu un livre-culte aux Etats-Unis, a imposé d''emblée David James Duncan aux côtés de Richard Brautigan et de John Irving.