Hiding in plain sight / Wendy Lesser -- Storytelling / Stephen Greenblatt -- The idea of courage / Louise Glück -- The importance of plot / Diane Johnson -- Poetry and pleasure / Robert Pinsky -- Christopher Isherwood : getting things right / Thom Gunn -- Wallace Stevens / Robert Hass -- Gertrude Stein / Elizabeth Hardwick -- Jane Austen vs. Henry James / Harold Brodkey -- In defense of Daniel Deronda / Christopher Hitchens -- Elevated shtick : S.J. Perelman / August Kleinzahler -- Unbridled restraint : J.R. Ackerley / Arthur Lobow -- The dead father : a remembrance of Donald Barthelme / Phillip Lopate -- Bob Dylan / Christopher Ricks -- As news spreads : Danny Lyon's photographs / Daniel Wolff -- On modern art & artists / W.S. Di Piero -- The artist's model / Harriet Shapiro -- Rilke dancing / Mindy Aloff -- A note on Bunraku / Susan Sontag -- Home and the world : reflections on Satyajit Ray / Steve Vinebert -- The zipper / Leonard Michaels -- The last American dream : The Manchurian candidate / Greil Marcus -- Do he have your number, Mr. Jeffrey? / Gayle Pemberton -- On waitressing / Irene Oppenheim -- On dumpster diving / Lars Eighner -- Glorius reflections upon the five of hearts and other wild cards in the national deck / Gore Vidal -- Clio among the old folks / Thomas Laqueur -- Mother tongue / Amy Tan -- Chang / Sigrid Nunez -- Her secrets / John Berger -- Vital signs / Natalie Kusz.