Bright with Invisible History gathers a selection of poetry, short stories, journal entries, book reviews, and other prose by a remarkable man. William Bauer’s writings are full of affection for the puzzling and often humorous behaviour of human beings. He catches both the strangeness and the pathos of our lives.

Memorable voices and characters, along with lyrical reflections and autobiographical musings, flow from Bauer’s imagination. His language ranges from the playfulness and rich diction of 18th-century British prose-writers (his teaching specialty) to the vernacular spark of 20th-century Maritime and New England speech. He had a special skill for using humour to explore life’s questions and quandaries. Suspicious of high seriousness, Bauer wrote some of the zestiest poetry and fiction of his time.

With the publication of Bright with Invisible History we now have the full range of William Bauer’s storytelling, inventiveness, and original mind brought together in the pages of one book.