The Pilgrim Hawk (excerpt)

Michael Cunningham, Pulitzer Prize winning author of "The Hours," recommends an "invisible classic" that was nearly lost to time.In his introduction to this excerpt, Cunningham "'The Pilgrim Hawk' is a small miracle of a book. It’s profound, it’s beautifully written, and it keeps surprising the reader, right up to its last line. Just read it. Okay?"About Recommended authors inspire us. But what about the stories that inspire them? Recommended Reading, the latest project from Electric Literature, publishes one story every week, each chosen by a great author or editor. In this age of distraction, we uncover writing that's worth slowing down and spending some time with. And in doing so, we help give great writers, literary magazines, and independent presses the recognition (and readership) they deserve.About the Wescott (1901–1987) grew up in Wisconsin, but moved to France with his companion Monroe Wheeler in 1925. Wescott’s early fiction, notably the stories in "Goodbye, Wisconsin" and the novel "The Grandmothers" (in which Alwyn Tower, the narrator of "The Pilgrim Hawk," makes his first appearance), were set in his native Midwest. Later work included essays on political, literary, and spiritual subjects, as well as the novels "The Pilgrim Hawk" and "Apartment in Athens." Wescott’s journals, recording his many literary and artistic friendships and offering an intimate view of his life as a gay man, were published posthumously under the title "Continual Lessons."About the Guest Cunningham is the author of the novels "A Home at the End of the World," "Flesh and Blood," "The Hours" (winner of the Pen/Faulkner Award and the Pulitzer Prize), "Specimen Days," and "By Nightfall." He lives in New York.