A Certain Arc follows Hamilton through a university career where he encounters and participates in the culture of writers and writing. Beginning with "Hometown, " which portrays his origins, he continues with two essays, one set in Colombia where he plays host for a week to a still-unknown Hunter Thompson, the other in Gabon with his Peace Corps daughter. Next comes a tribute to a former colleague and to the beginnings of Iowa's Nonfiction Writing Program. The probable centerpiece of this collection is "At the Fair, " reflections and anecdotes from three decades of editing The Iowa Review. The collection ends with "Charlottesville, " on his friendship with James Alan McPherson, and the title essay, on experience and its representation in writing, the arc of its flight always caught between appearing and disappearing.