And Yet

An innovative work of fiction, Jeff Alessandrelli's And Yet interrogates contemporary shyness, selfhood and sexual mores, drawing out the particulars of each through historical references, cultural commentary, and the author's own restless imagination. And Yet builds off the work of authors as disparate as Michel Leiris, Marguerite Duras, and Kobo Abe, while alluding to the work of Susan Sontag, Young Thug, Young Jean Lee, Cesare Pavese, Sylvia Plath, and Louise Glück, among others. With its nameless protagonist simultaneously proud and afraid of his daunting interiority, And Yet's form morphs, cracks, and continuously tries to repair itself while becoming a nuanced story of our times. "Love is a thing full of anxious fear. Especially when what you ultimately love and fear is your self," writes Alessandrelli, and And Yet draws such a notion down, out and around again, arriving at its own idiosyncratic answers by the end of the book.

Jeff Alessandrelli is the author of six books, most recently the poetry collection, Fur Not Light. His poetry and prose have been published in The American Poetry Review, Gulf Coast, Prairie Schooner, and elsewhere. His reviews and interviews in The Rumpus, Kenyon Review, Rain Taxi, and more. He directs the nonprofit book press/record label Fonograf Editions.