New writing by Dr. Ed Pavlić, Distinguished Research Professor of English, African American Studies, and Creative Writing, has appeared recently in The Best American series for 2024. An excerpt from a memoir-in-progress titled “At the Mercy of the Light: A Memoir in Colors and Shades,” Pavlić’s essay, “Anita Baker Introduced Us and Patrice Rushen Did the Rest” recounts the abrupt occurrence of best friendship. How is it really, that deep connections between us happen, and at times so quickly, in the midst of life’s fast-paced swirls and twirls? Pavlić’s essay depicts the textures and rhythms of one such instance from his experience while its images meditate upon how it is that Black history and culture impel particular kinds of friendships. These deep meetings, we find, carry with them echoes of historical connections from which diasporic webs of friendship, family and community are woven. Setting the scene mostly on an apartment balcony during a midwestern night in late summer 1986, Pavlić draws on the score of soul music and its Southern routings including, most importantly, Anita Baker’s classic album from that year, Rapture, and Patrice Rushen’s 1978 dusty track, “When I Found You,” as readers witness the dawn of a life-changing friendship. In his introduction to The Best American Essays 2024, Wesley Morris, guest editor and Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times culture writer, describes Pavlić’s piece as a “smoky, humid, dreamily disorientating reminiscence.” Oxford American magazine first published the essay in their 2023 music issue themed upon the power of ballads. In acknowledging that Pavlić's work is the first piece from Oxford American magazine to appear in the Best American series, editors note another outstanding milestone for Pavlić and the magazine alike. Published by Mariner Books, an imprint of HarperCollins, Best American is an annual, literary anthology series that curates outstanding poems, short stories and essays from the previous year. For each edition of Best American Essays, series editor Kim Dana Kupperman works with a distinguished guest editor to source contents from a vast array of work published in magazines across the nation. From these thousands of possibilities, editors create and publish a list, “Notable Essays and Literary Nonfiction,” comprising approximately 150 works by a who’s who of contemporary authors. From that list the anthology publishes about 20 essays annually. Oxford American published an earlier piece by Pavlić, “Our Us (three syllables),” in its 2021 music issue. The title essay from Pavlić’s memoir-in-progress, “At the Mercy of the Light,” won the 2023 Staige D. Blackford Prize for Nonfiction from Virginia Quarterly Review. And another piece, “Heaven Knows,” is due out this month in The Evergreen Review. Pavlić hopes to finish the book in 2025. Oxford American “specializes in exploring the complexity and vitality of the American South through exceptional writing, music, and visual art.” If you are interested in checking out Dr. Pavlić's contribution to The Best American Essays 2024, you can find the essay linked below. Tags: Faculty and Staff News Type of News/Audience: Director's Spotlight Read More: Dr. Ed Pavlić’s Essay: Anita Baker Introduced Us and Patrice Rushen Did the Res…
