Amorous Discourse In the Suburbs of Hell - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 009935831X ISBN 13: 9780099358312

Publisher: Trafalgar Square

Synopsis

What happens when ana ccoutnant declares his love for an angel who has 'come to run her skin againt the regularity of his habits'? She has flown from Paradise to save him from the suburbs of Hell. He wrestles with the desire for romantic love while she attempts, with scornful wit, to shock him out of his commuter's habits and into an experience of ecstasy. Their amorous discourse explores the impossible love struggling to emerge between the small passion sof a suburban man and a shimmering, tattooed and acerbic angel who rejoices in the drama of uncertainty. Illustrated by the Polish artist Andrzej Borkowski, An Amorous Discourse in the Suburbs of Hell is a painful, melancholic and darkly funny exploration of incompatible ideas of love and happiness revealed through the counterpoint dialogue of angel and man.

About this title

About the Author

Deborah Levy was born in 1969, studied theatre at Dartington College of Arts, and now lives in London. Her plays include Pax, which City Limits considered 'remarkable for its combination of intellectual rigour, poetic fantasy and visual imagination' and Heresies for the Royal Shakespeare Company, 'An ambitious, imaginative, sometimes funny, sometimes touching, passage across a terrain where moral parables and folk fancies meet' (Marina Warner, Independent). She has also published a collection of short stories, Ophelia and the Great Idea, and a novel, Beautiful Mutants, and, most recently, Swallowing Geography, all of which are published by Vintage.

Review

"Lively, sharp, remarkably evocative with very few words, Levy is the best kind of 'modern' writer." Booklist

Levy’s sense of dramatic form ... is unerring” The New Yorker

Levy winds her characters up and watches them go, and they do as most humans do, which is to mess up in the face of desire. ... utterly beautiful and lyrical throughout." Booklist

She is one of the few contemporary British writers comfortable on a world stage.” New Statesman

Accomplished and uncanny. The strange, unpredictable journey is worth it.” Alex Clark, Guardian

A major contemporary writer who never pulls her punches.” Julia Pascal, Independent

Levy’s strength is her originality of thought and expression.’ Jeanette Winterson

She writes like a hyper-kinetic angel.’ Sunday Times

Angry and uninhibited, Levy's prose throbs its way into the imagination.’ Observer

"Levy makes something singular of this typical love-stuff....like an indelible pop song, Levy's text chooses all the right, simple words with an uncanny melody .Discourse wastes no time doing anything but shaking you up.” Bookslut

"I loved this effervescent dialogue between she and he, angel and accountant, wild desire and the (ever more desirable) quotidian. It’s Deborah Levy at her wise, witty and playful best. Read it and be seduced away from (or back into) the suburbs of hell." Lisa Appignanesi, author of All About Love

"Levy just gets it entirely the whole business of drab and yet compelling routine, and the fear of the inestimable, the longing nonetheless, the surrender each day to the ordinary, dispersing the dream, only to dream it again. An Amorous Discourse in the Suburbs of Hell encapsulates all of this, redeems the crumpled weary mortal, sends him into a wild realm of uncertainty, satirises him, lavishes him with affection. A crazily beautiful, astonishing, original work of art." Joanna Kavenna, author of Come to the Edge

"Whether writing with barely suppressed rage or achieving a brisk comic pace, the writing of Deborah Levy rarely lets the reader grow complacent....Levy deals with grand themes in unexpected ways, and her latest book (in a manner of speaking) addresses this head-on....Levy’s characters find their comfort in the small moments though for a man and an angel, what counts as a small moment differs wildly. This poem is able to find moments of light comedy and ponder everyday moments of bliss and satisfaction; that it’s able to balance the two so nimbly is no small achievement. And ultimately, the tension between these two modes gives the work as a whole an abundant energy, echoing and reinforcing its central conflict, and balancing the sacred and the mundane." The Jewish Daily Forward

"Choppy and sparky, this sharply drawn dialogue plays out like an otherworldly soap opera. Levy’s having fun and so will the reader." We Love This Book

"Landing back in the UK, this autumn I’m looking forward to Deborah Levy’s An Amorous Discourse in the Suburbs of Hell." Joanna Walsh, 3am Magazine

"It will delight readers." Library Journal

Praise for Swimming Home

"Readers will have to resist the temptation to hurry up in order to find out what happens . . . Our reward is the enjoyable, if unsettling, experience of being pitched into the deep waters of Levy's wry, accomplished novel." Francine Prose, The New York Times Book Review

"Elegant . . . subtle . . . uncanny. . . The seductive pleasure of Levy's prose stems from its layered brilliance." Ron Charles, The Washington Post

"Here is an excellent story, told with the subtlety and menacing tension of a veteran playwright." Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal

"Exquisite . . . Levy's sense of dramatic form, as she hastens us toward the grim finale, is unerring, and her precise, dispassionate prose effortlessly
summons people and landscapes." The New Yorker

"Wholly new, fresh and yes, profound . . . [Swimming Home] floats like a wasp, and stings like one too." Tucker Shaw, The Denver Post

"Ms. Levy is a stealthy storyteller, lulling us while busy scattering clues." The New York Times

"Levy winds her characters up and watches them go, and they do as most humans do, which is to mess up in the face of desire. Her novel is utterly beautiful and lyrical throughout, even at the most tragic turns....A shortlisted nominee for the Man Booker Prize, deserving of the widest readership.” Booklist (starred review)

"Short, simple and haunting." Editor's Picks: Best Books 2012, Huffington Post

"This perfectly written, expertly crafted short book...[is] so well done and
so clever." Chicago Tribune, Printers Row

Edition details

• Publisher: Trafalgar Square
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 009935831X
• ISBN 13: 9780099358312
• Binding: Paperback