Sue Parman - The Dream in Western Culture

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Selected Works

Nonfiction

The Dream in Western Culture

Scottish Crofters

"Lucky is the community that has someone with the skill and sensitivity of a Sue Parman to record its passing voices."

–George Spindler

Memoir

Eggs a la Goldenrod

Essay in "Hunger and Thirst: Food Literature," edited by Nancy Cary.
Food as memory. "Simplification and denial of food was...my mother's own version of courage... Eggs-a-la-Goldenrod were much more than a social hypocrisy. They were a refined person's article of faith that civilization was better than barbarism, that courteous discretion trumped rage."

A Song for J.R.R. Tolkien

Nine years before Tolkien's death, an 18-year-old college student writes to him and offers to sing him the poetry from his books that she has set to music. The letters he sends haunt her for the next 40 years. Published in The Antioch Review (Winter 2015), this memoir piece is a meditation on journeys and longing.

Hebridean Love Song with Lobster

Graduate student, mentor, Hebridean lobster: an unusual meeting.

Essay

“A Harrowing True Mysterious Pilgrimage Travel Adventure on the Road Less Traveled (by Bike/Camel/Motorcycle/Ultralight) into the Heart of a Dark Lost Island as Told by the Sole Survivor of a Zen Odyssey among Jaguars, Serpents, and Savages: Travel as Western Cultural Practice Revealed by the Titles of Travel Books,” Journeys: The International Journal of Travel and Travel Writing 3 (2):50-59.

What happens when you wander into a bookstore with a good travel section

Poetry

The Thin Monster House

A chapbook that explores monsters of self and society, some beautiful, all dangerous.

The Carnivorous Gaze

A collection of poetry and art that reflects "a rapacious affection for life" (David Biespiel)