This is a lyrical explosion of a book, a challenge to literature, and particularly to narrative non-fiction, as we know it.
Our books no longer reflect the way we understand our lives, Shields argues. They are not fractured enough, not various and stolen, too hemmed in. We are all of us increasingly hungry for the "real", and have created monuments of commodified irreality in a desperate attempt to find it.
This book is indeed a manifesto in the best sense, a call to action for readers and writers. Shields is demanding reader interaction, greater risk, more serendipity and - as difficult, possibly, to acheive as it is easy to say - more reality in our use of the written word. It's a stirring book full of more questions than answers, and one I'm very excited to have as the topic of a conversation here at the store..
News of Note
The Complete Fiction of Francis Wyndham
Written by David
Friday, 10 July 2009
by Francis Wyndham (NYRB Classics, $16.95)
I'm sort of surprised to be recommending a collection of short stories--I'm not usually a fan of the form. This excellent collection, though, has made me rethink. Long out of print, Francis Wyndham is a writer of surprising subtlety. His work is movingly crafted and very memorable. My favorite is the short Whitbread Prize-winning novel The Other Garden. I literally haven't been able to stop thinking about it.
I'm sort of surprised to be recommending a collection of short stories--I'm not usually a fan of the form. This excellent collection, though, has made me rethink. Long out of print, Francis Wyndham is a writer of surprising subtlety. His work is movingly crafted and very memorable. My favorite is the short Whitbread Prize-winning novel The Other Garden. I literally haven't been able to stop thinking about it.