title: Making an Elephant: Writing from Within (Vintage International)
author:  Graham Swift 
description: A sincere and affable appreciation of a life in letters. . . . An illuminating companion to Swifts career. . . . Shin[es] soft lights on his background, his influences, his travels, his friends and his aesthetic concerns.<br /><i>Los Angeles Times</i><br /><br />Pure indulgencelike hearing a favorite uncle tell tales of his marvelous youth.<br /><i>O, The Oprah Magazine</i><br /><br />A rewarding collection, with the same humanity and flair for detail that distinguishes Swifts fiction.<br /><i>Times Literary Supplement</i> (London)<br /><br />Achingly beautiful. . . . When Swift is on, hes really on, intelligent, evocative and thought-provoking.<br /><i>Minneapolis Star-Tribune</i><br /><br />Swifts essays display the same quiet intensity as his fiction, a capacity for subtle storytelling with dark emotional undercurrents.<br /><i>Financial Times</i><br /><br />Engrossing. . . . Evocative. . . . Affecting. . . . One of his most finely rendered essays is a tribute to the publisher Alan Ross.<br /><i>New York Times Book Review</i><br /><br />Graham Swift distills emotion and incident into a hypnotic elixir. He is simply one of the most sure-handed, savvy and remarkable writers now at work.<br /><i>The Washington Post Book World</i><br /><br />Swift is surely one of Englands finest living novelists.<br />John Banville, <i>The New York Review of Books</i><br /><br />Beautifully crafted. . . . Marvellously evocative. . . . Touching. . . . In <i>Making an Elephant,</i> Swift rewardingly places himself at the centre of a book.<br /><i>The</i> <i>Sunday Times</i> (London)<br /><br />Valuable. . . . You come away from these pieces feeling that [Swift] is a very good person to have as a friend: fond, understanding, fun, but above all discreet, a man you can trust.<br /><i>The Washington Times</i><br /><br />Swift is at his most movingly revelatory when discussing his work.<br /><i>Sunday Telegraph</i> (London)<br /><br />A pleasure to read, from first word to last, <i>Making an Elephant </i>is sure to move writers and readers alike to join the legions of Graham Swift fans. . . . This veritable curio cabinet of detailed reminiscences makes for an extraordinary autobiographical look into the literary and otherwise ordinary life of an accomplished, though wryly self-deprecating novelist.<br /><i>BookPage</i><br /><br />Revealing, self-deprecating, full of fascinating details.<br /><i>The Observer</i> (London)<br /><br />Swift brings his sharp eye, impeccable prose, and insouciance to his first nonfiction book. . . . Out from behind the scrim of fiction, Swift is highly entertaining, at once welcoming and teasing, clever and probing.<br /><i>Booklist</i><br /><br />Inspired and refreshing. . . . A polished, sophisticated collection of essays highlighting the relationship between writing, identity, and history. . . . It<i> </i>provides a window into the life, times, and friendships of one of Englands premier contemporary writers. To read this collection is to uncover a multi-dimensional, at times mesmerizing, man of letters. . . . Cause for celebration.<br /><i>Rain Taxi</i>
zlib_text:   
  The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rudy and Babette, by Hans Christian Andersen  
    
  This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with  
  almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or  
  re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included  
  with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org  
    
    
  Title: Rudy and Babette  
  Or, Capture of The Eagle's Nest  
    
  Author: Hans Christian Andersen  
    
  Illustrator: Helen Stratton  
    
  Release Date: July 20, 2012 [EBook #40283]  
    
  Language: English  
    
    
  *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RUDY AND BABETTE ***  
    
    
    
    
  Produced by Bruce Albrecht, Matthew Wheaton and the Online  
  Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net  
    
    
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  
  
  Rudy and Babette  
  
  
  By Hans C. Andersen
  
  
  * * *
  
  
  ![](@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@40283@40283-h@images@i001.jpg)
  
  
  # RUDY AND BABETTE
  
  
  _Or, The Capture of the Eagle's Nest_  
  
  
  By HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
  
  
  
  
  
  WITH TWENTY