Adam Haslett's debut, a collection of short stories, You Are Not a Stranger Here, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and won the 2002 L.L. Winship/PEN New England Award. The New York Times Book Review called the book "spectacular," and "the herald of a phenomenal career." "Haslett is an eloquent, precise miniaturist, and his characters' struggles with their own assumptions collectively provide a fascinating snapshot of life during the era of Prozac, when new ways of thinking about emotion have forced us to adjust our notion of identity and even, perhaps, of grace." The title of this lecture is, "The Persistence of Romanitcism: Library Fiction in Contemporary Life."