Various Antidotes: Stories

The miraculous, transformative stories of Various Antidotes range across the world of history and science, alighting on figures both real and imaginary. The stories within are those of obsession and brilliance, of the ultimately human recognition that the world is larger than we believe it to be and that we, as figures within it, have through understanding the power to change that world. Whether through learning or madness or accident, the scientists and students within Various Antidotes expose us to the glorious blossom of the natural world.

"Scott writes with the crispest and most telling of sentences. Her grasp of the mysteries within us is profound."--Newsday

"What most amazes me about Joanna Scott's extraordinary narratives is the vastness of the world her imagination ranges through and the rich, Dickensian variety of voices and characters one encounters here...A brilliant and unique achievement."--Robert Coover

"Joanna Scott writes in the tradition of the great American storytellers - Hawthorne, Melville, Poe, Welty - a tradition in which romance is informed by moral consciousness."--Maureen Howard

"Joanna Scott's imagination is purest magic."--Guy Davenport

"One of the most original and enchanting voices in modern fiction...These stories are filled with utterly unanticipatable delights."--Robert Olen Butler

Joanna Scott is the author of seven books of fiction, including the novels Tourmaline and Arrogance. She is a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and a Lannan Award, and lives with her family in Rochester, New York.

The miraculous, transformative stories of Various Antidotes range across the world of history and science, alighting on figures both real and imaginary. The stories within are those of obsession and brilliance, of the ultimately human recognition that the world is larger than we believe it to be and that we, as figures within it, have through understanding the power to change that world. Whether through learning or madness or accident, the scientists and students within Various Antidotes expose us to the glorious blossom of the natural world.