A Slight Momentary Affliction - Hardcover

Dorr, Lawrence

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0807113468 ISBN 13: 9780807113462

Publisher: Louisiana State Univ Pr, 1987

Synopsis

A collection of stories with World War II as the background emphasize the aloneness of exiles

About this title

Reviews

These 12 stories, most of them achingly bleak, take place in pre-World War II Hungary, postwar industrial England and contemporary Florida. Dorr's background is closely connected to the stories' content, for he is a Hungarian who saw his homeland invaded by Nazi Germany and then Russia; he now lives in the U.S. In the world Dorr portrays, happiness must be furtively snatched, and even prosaic objects assume a menacing aspect. Bacon fat dripping into a fire "explodes with the sound of miniature hand grenades"; "staccato explosions of slammed-open carriage doors" resonate through a train. In "The Wedding Anniversary," a Hungarian teenager is enjoying his parents' celebration when the Prime Minister, a family friend and Nazi sympathizer, has the father served with a summons. The title tale concerns the love affair of a female Soviet army captain and a Hungarian newspaper editor who must conceal their ardor because, as she forlornly says, it "brings out hate" in people. In "Old Men Shall Dream Dreams," a disillusioned English teacher living in Florida thinks of his sister, who died in a German bombing raid.; When he buries his horse, the act seems an eerie portent of his own interment. Though these are disturbingly real, well-crafted narratives, their relentless grim tone sometimes becomes overwhelming, rather than haunting.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Louisiana State Univ Pr
• Publication date: 1987
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0807113468
• ISBN 13: 9780807113462
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 160