Synopses & Reviews
Do the Blind Dream? shows Gifford at the height of his powers, navigating with ease the new, more fragmented imaginative landscape of morning-after America. Gifford seems to have anticipated themes that suddenly are recognizable everywhere: the fragility of identity; the power of coincidence; the illusion of a secure tomorrow.
In contrast to his often nightmarish, satirical, groundbreaking novels of the 1990s—Wild at Heart, Perdita Durango, and Night People among them—Do the Blind Dream? continues in the tender and deeply introspective vein revealed in two recent works: Giffords memoir The Phantom Father (named a New York Times Notable Book), and the award-winning novella Wyoming. From the intimate, stylistically daring examination of the darkest secrets in the history of an Italian family, to the terrible but often beautiful fears and discoveries of childhood, to the sardonic, desperate confusion of adult life, Do the Blind Dream? reveals an exceptionally versatile, highly tuned sensibility. Here is further evidence of what Alan Ryan wrote in the Atlantic Journal Constitution: "Gifford is one of those brave writers who go their own way, and challenge readers to follow."
Almost a quarter of a century ago, Armistead Maupin wrote that "Barry Gifford is all the proof the world will ever need that a writer who listens with his heart is capable of telling anyones story." Yet only now does Giffords sense of the American psyche converge with our own.
Synopsis
“Barry Gifford was, is and always shall be an American original. His work evokes so many sensibilities, from the Beats to noir to social realism to postmodernism to cinematic, both stirring up ghosts and invoking the future. For those who haven’t had the pleasure, or for old friends catching up: Read this book.”—Richard Price, author of Clockers
The author of Wild at Heart and Night People reaches the height of his powers in Do the Blind Dream?, navigating with ease the new, more fragmented, imaginative landscape of morning-after America. Barry Gifford seems to have anticipated themes that suddenly are recognizable everywhere: the fragility of identity, the power of coincidence, the illusion of a secure tomorrow.
Synopsis
"Barry Gifford was, is and always shall be an American original. His work evokes so many sensibilities, from the Beats to noir to social realism to postmodernism to cinematic, both stirring up ghosts and invoking the future. For those who haven't had the pleasure, or for old friends catching up: Read this book."-Richard Price, author of
ClockersThe author of Wild at Heartand Night Peoplereaches the height of his powers in Do the Blind Dream?, navigating with ease the new, more fragmented, imaginative landscape of morning-after America. Barry Giffordseems to have anticipated themes that suddenly are recognizable everywhere: the fragility of identity, the power of coincidence, the illusion of a secure tomorrow.
Synopsis
Gifford's newest fiction, "tasting of Bunuel and Cocteau."-Pedro Almodovar
About the Author
The author of more than forty published works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, which have been translated into more than twenty-five languages, Barry Gifford is an American writer in the European tradition, an hommes des lettres. His novel Wild at Heart was made into a film by David Lynch.
Table of Contents
Do the Blind Dream?
Ball Lightning
The Ciné
The Lost Tribe
Johnny Across
Forever After
Rosa Blanca
African Adventure Story
Havana Moon
Holiday From Women
Life Is Life This Sometimes
A Day's Worth of Beauty
The Petersen Fire
Books by Barry Gifford
About the Author
From the Hardcover edition.