A Year at the Races (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Jane Smiley
- First Published: 2004
- Type of Work: Essays and memoir
- Time of Work: 1993-2003
- Setting: California
- Principal Characters: Jane Smiley, Alexis, Hali, Hornblower, Persey, Mr. T, Waterwheel
- Genres: Nonfiction, Essays
- Subjects: United States or Americans, Psychology or psychologists, Friendship, California, Women, Ethics, Personality, 1990’s, Horses, Animals, Horsemanship, 2000’s
- Locales: California
This collection of quirky but informative essays is something of a companion piece to Jane Smiley's novel Horse Heaven, published in 2000. In each book, horses are depicted not as insentient beasts but as characters with human, and sometimes superhuman, attributes. Both the novel and the essays affirm a deep current of affection between human and horse and build to a philosophy of life in which chance seems to shape itself into destiny—or what Smiley suggests is the always mysteriously appropriate denouement of any project or plan.
Only incidentally about horse racing,...
[The entire page is 1818 words long]
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