The Art of Dying: Writings, 2019-2022 [Paperback]

Named one of the Best Books of the Year by theNew Yorker.
The complete last essays of acclaimed writer Peter Schjeldahl, the greatNew Yorkerart critic and Pulitzer Prize finalist.
"Sensitive and moving. Schjeldahl wrote until the end. We can be grateful for that because we have this book." (Dwight Garner,New York Times)
Foreword by Steve Martin *Introduction by Jarrett Earnest

When theNew Yorkerart critic Peter Schjeldahl published his widely read autobiographical essay “The Art of Dying” in December 2019, he reported that he had lung cancer and his oncologist had given him six months to live, but his experimental treatment was showing some improvement.

“These extra months,” he wrote, “are a luxury that I hope to have put to good use.” And he did.The Art of Dying: Writings, 2019-2022begins with that essay and collects all 46 pieces that he wrote for the magazine before his death in October 2022.

These last works express Schjeldahl’s hard-won reflections on art and life, against the backdrop of an intensely anxious period in America, spanning the pandemic, the George Floyd protests, the 2020 presidential election, and the war in Ukraine. Schjeldahl, who was the leading art writer of his generation, wrote with generosity and openness about the art world during these tempestuous three years.Peter Schjeldahlwas the art critic forThe New Yorkerfor 24 years until his death in 2022. He was a finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Criticism. Prior to that, he wrote art criticism forSeven Daysand theVillage Voice. In 2019, Abrams published hisHot, Cold, Heavy, Light: 100 Art Writings, 1988-2018,which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Steve Martin’s books includeAn Object of Beauty: A Novel(2011),Shopgirl: A Novella(2l&