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Wavering Knife

by Brian Evenson
Wavering Knife

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ISBN13: 9781573661133
ISBN10: 1573661139
Condition: Standard


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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments

Brian Evenson's fifth story collection constructs a human landscape as unearthly as it is mundane. Replete with the brutality, primordial waste, and savage blankness familiar to readers of his earlier works, Evenson's Kafkaesque allegories entice the mind while stubbornly disordering it. In the title story an obsessive consciousness folds back on itself, creating a vertiginous mélange of Poe and Borges, both horrific and metaphysical. Here, as in "Moran's Mexico," and "Greenhouse," the solitary nature of reading and writing leads characters beyond human limits, making the act of putting words to paper a monstrous violation opening onto madness. In "White Square" the representation of humans by dimly colored shapes confirms our feeling that something lies behind these words, while seeming to mock us with the futility of seeking it. Evenson's enigmatic names-Thurm, Bein, Hatcher, Burlun-placeable landscapes, and barren rooms all combine to create a semblance of conceptual abstraction, as though the material universe had come to exist inside someone's head.

Small wonder that Evenson's work has attracted so much attention among philosophers, literary critics, and other speculative intelligences, for it continuously projects a tantalizing absence, as though there were some key or code that, if only we knew it, would illuminate everything. However, the blade of discernment wavers, and we are left to our own groping interpretations.

Review

"These tales by a modern Poe occur under an immense pressure of language, insight, and observation. Harrowing (Evenson makes us want to check the word's literal meaning) as they are, they take place just beyond the numbed moment where cruelty and craziness grow banal." -Samuel R. Delany, author of The Mad Man

Review

Praise for Evenson's Altmann's Tongue:

"Despite the horror present in each story, Evenson's blend of wit and shock, which plunges readers into the minds of his often demented protagonists, serves to create acceptance even as it generates repulsion." -Publishers Weekly

"I admire Evenson's writing and respect his courage." -Andrew Vachss

Synopsis

Brian Evenson's fifth story collection constructs a human landscape as unearthly as it is mundane.

About the Author

Brian Evenson is the author of six books of fiction: Altmann's Tongue (Bison Books, 2002), The Din of Celestial Birds (Wordcraft, 1997), Prophets and Brothers (Rodent 1997), Father of Lies (Four Walls Eight Windows, 1998), Contagion (Wordcraft, 2000), and Dark Property (Black Square/Hammer Books/Four Walls Eight Windows, 2002). He received an O. Henry Award for his story "Two Brothers" and has twice received O. Henry honorable mentions. He now teaches in the creative writing program at Brown University.


Table of Contents

White Square, The Ex-Father, The Intricacies of Post-Shooting Etiquette, Promisekeepers, Muller, Moran's Mexico, The Wavering Knife, Calling the Hour, Version, Stockwell, Barcode Jesus, One Over Twelve, House Rules, The Prophets, The Progenitor, The Gravediggers, Body, The Installation.


5 1

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating 5 (1 comments)

`
chromatic30 , January 01, 2010
The best short story collection of the past decade. Steadily grim, determined, and intellectually sharp. Evenson's voice is unique and startling, cutting through the malaise that infects so much of mainstream fiction.

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Product Details

ISBN:
9781573661133
Binding:
Trade Paperback
Publication date:
03/15/2004
Publisher:
FC2 - FICTION COLLECTIVE 2
Pages:
210
Height:
.55IN
Width:
5.48IN
Number of Units:
1
Copyright Year:
2004
Series Volume:
no. 10-28-02
UPC Code:
2801573661135
Author:
Brian Evenson
Subject:
Literature-A to Z
Subject:
Stories (single author)
Subject:
Short stories

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