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More copies of this ISBN:Girl Imagined by Chanceby Lance Olsen
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:Girl Imagined by Chance is a critifictional novel about a couple, who, in an unguarded moment, find themselves having created a make-believe daughter (and soon a make-believe life to accompany her) in order to appease their friends, family, and ultimately, the culture of reproduction. Structured around twelve photographs, a single roll of film, Girl explores the nature of photography and the questions that nature raises about the notions of the simulated and the real, the media-ization of consciouness, originality, self construction, and the way we all continually fashion our faces into masks for the next shot. At its heart, Girl Imagined by Chance investigates the mystery of self-knowledge. Its prevailing metaphor and structural device, the photograpy, examines the way images, in their magical ability to mimic memory, ultimately mock and eradicate it. The individual past, seemigly stable and fixed, turns out to be as protean and unknowable as the future, and the body becomes strangely dispensable, perpetually adrift in a cybernetic world of hyperlinks and interfaces. Review:"Each 'chapter' of the novel begins with a photograph, followed immediately by a meditation on the nature of representation and reproduction....While the novel uses familial relationships as a major thematic device, Girl isn?t another bourgeois moral tale about equally bourgeois concerns. Here family is a construct to be reconstructed, and lies are the highest form of flattery." The Portland Mercury Review:"Somehow, neither the untruth, the visual element, the unusual point of view, nor any of Olsen's other lyrical and narratives idiosyncrasies come off as a gimmick. Olsen's wry, sensitive story feels overwhelmingly true...."Seattle Weekly Review:"[A]n absorbing and meditative work that explores modern identity and media-driven social customs?.For all its philosophical musings, the book is truly driven by the couple's daily interactions, the small moments and epiphanic outbursts that expose delicate layers of love. The rhythmic beauty of Olsen's voice brings Girl to life with tenderness and humanity." Tiffany Lee Brown, Willamette Weekly
Review:"Olsen is among the finest writers of social critique and speculative fiction today." American Book Review Synopsis:Girl Imagined by Chance is a critifictional novel about a couple, who, in an unguarded moment, find themselves having created a make-believe daughter (and soon a make-believe life to accompany her) in order to appease their friends, family, and ultimately, the culture of reproduction. Structured around twelve photographs, a single roll of film, Girl explores the nature of photography and the questions that nature raises about the notions of the simulated and the real, the media-ization of consciouness, originality, self construction, and the way we all continually fashion our faces into masks for the next shot. At its heart, Girl Imagined by Chance investigates the mystery of self-knowledge. Its prevailing metaphor and structural device, the photograpy, examines the way images, in their magical ability to mimic memory, ultimately mock and eradicate it. The individual past, seemigly stable and fixed, turns out to be as protean and unknowable as the future, and the body becomes strangely dispensable, perpetually adrift in a cybernetic world of hyperlinks and interfaces. Synopsis:A critifictional novel about a couple who create a make-believe daughter<BR> About the AuthorLance Olsen is author of more than a dozen works of and about innovative fiction, including the speculative fiction, Tonguing the Zeitgeist(Permeable Press, 1994), finalist for the Philip K. Dick award, the short story collection Sewing Shut My Eyes (FC2, 2000) and, most recently, the novel Freaknest (Wordcraft, 2000). A Pushcart Prize recipient, he has published over 150 short stories, essays, and reviews in various journals and anthologies including Fiction International, The Iowa Review, Mississippi Review, Hudson Review, and Village Voice. He lives corporeally in central Idaho and digitally at www.cafezeitgeist.com What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
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