Bloomington Gaze: Yet More Town and Gown in Middle America is the third book in a series by SLIS Dean Blaise Cronin. The books, available through AuthorHouse, are well described below.
Praise for Bloomington Gaze [books back cover]
"Packed with the wit and humor of Bloomington Days and Bloomington Daze, Bloomington Gaze also flays some of the academy's most sacred cows."
-Kenneth R. R. Gros Louis, University Chancellor and Trustee Professor, Indiana University
"Blaise Cronin's witty, irreverent and amusing third book on the life of a university town in Middle America is not just another volume about town and gown in the USA. It is a book that guides the reader to the heart of the matter. Like the scalpel of a gifted surgeon, Cronin's eloquent prose cuts open the surface to reveal the incongruous contradictions of academic life. Eventually, the reader cannot help but smile and ponder at the same time in the face of the ironic observations of an elegant writer who possesses the rare ability of a great story teller: that of depicting details while painting an entire fresco. At the end, we realize that the tragic-comic aspects that comprise the intricate texture of the town and gown are not so different, after all, than life itself. Bloomington Gaze is that uncommon book that speaks to any intelligent reader, regardless of one's own cultural background: it invites rereading for both pure pleasure as well as for its intellectual rigor."
-Andrea Ciccarelli, Professor of Italian, Indiana University, and co-editor of The Cambridge Companion to the Italian Novel.
See Related SLIS News Stories:
- Bloomington Days: Town and Gown in Middle America
- Bloomington Daze: More Town and Gown in Middle America
Note on the book's cover:
The cover image for Bloomington Gaze is a portion of the Thomas Hart Benton Murals in Woodburn Hall 100. The Benton Murals (also in the IU Auditorium) celebrate 75 years at Indiana University this year. The Indiana Daily Student (IDS) had two stories about the murals on April 24, 2008.
Posted April 28, 2008