Gatherings
Selected and Uncollected Writings

Gatherings is one of Kherdian’s most important books, and may come as a surprise for those who know him for only one or at most a few of his books. This is a collection that covers the great sweep of Kherdian’s writing career, the many experiences in living and experiments in writing that have resulted in the extraordinary output of this unusual, singular talent. Gatherings: Selected and Uncollected Writings is a compendium of virtually all the genres and categories that have characterized Kherdian’s wide ranging oeuvre, consisting of over sixty books: poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, biographies, memoirs, anthologies, translations, retellings, and more. Each of the sections or chapters in the book consists of several entries, that include, variously, talks, prefaces, introductions, essays, interviews, as well as the three manifestoes for the journals Kherdian edited, with the inclusion of new poems and two original stories. In the Preface to Gatherings, Kherdian tells us not only of the how and why he became a writer, but the moment when that decision (or outcome) was planted in him, as the result of a surprise gift by a friend. For the chapter on William Saroyan, there is a lengthy obituary that covers their long association and friendship, Kherdian being Saroyan’s protege. Also, an evening they spent with friends, a poem of their long walk through the streets of Fresno, and Kherdian’s Introduction to Saroyan’s first posthumous book, Births, as well as a very personal review of one of Saroyan’s books, and finally Kherdian’s talk at Stanford University for their Saroyan Memorial. The section titled the road The Road From Home consists of an unpublished paper on the writing of the non-fiction novel, being a detailed explanation and treatise on the how,why, and when of the writing of that book. For another entry a long interviews that answers many of the questions asked by students at the many schools where this book has been taught for over thirty years. The 60s and the San Francisco Poetry renaissance, and the emergence of Beat poetry and the little press are also covered in detail in essays, introductions and talks. Kherdian was a friend of many of these poets, and his book on the subject was very early on, and in his one and only teaching experience, he was the first to offer a course on the Beats in an American university. The Gurdjieff chapter will be indispensable reading for those in The Work, with the only appearance of his Introduction to Gurdjieff ’s play, The Struggle of the Magicians, that Kherdian edited for publication by The Globe Press, but was suppressed due to a threatening lawsuit. There are additional explorations into the teaching’s techniques not covered in Kherdian’s book, On a Spaceship with Beelzebub: By a Grandson of Gurdjieff.