Voices in a Mask: Stories - Softcover

Green, Geoffrey

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0810152096 ISBN 13: 9780810152090

Publisher: TriQuarterly, 2008

Synopsis

Turning on images of disguise in literature, theatre, and opera, this short-story collection explores themes of identity and subterfuge in a series of fictional fugues that range from comic to poignant.

About this title

About the Author:

Geoffrey Green is a professor of English at San Francisco State University as well as the executive editor of Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction. He has written numerous articles for publications including Fiction International and Review of Contemporary Fiction. His books include Freud and Nabokov, Novel vs. Fiction, and The Vineland Papers: Literary Takes on Pynchon's Novel. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

From Publishers Weekly:

Green's knowledge of and passion for all things operatic shines through this debut short story collection, based in part on inspiring conversations with a long list of artists (Placido Domingo and the late Luciano Pavarotti among them). The first narrator provides an Overture, addressing an audience as though onstage; though the point of view changes, the stiff language and frequent use of exclamation points are signs of things to come. The funny, lively title story follows opera buff Emilia Marty, who professes to be 395 years old. Based on a real onstage death at the Metropolitan Opera House, the somber This Very Vivid Morn uncovers the dark side of an otherwise typical rehearsal. In Such Dear Ecstasy, however, the plot follows Italian composer Vincenzo Bellini's work so closely that it gives the effect of deeply researched nonfiction. Average readers may find it hard to relate to Green's intricate stories, but if you are already steeped in the nuances of Giuseppe Verdi, Victor Hugo or Giacomo Puccini—to name a few—you will likely find yourself among eccentric, old-fashioned friends. (Sept.)
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About this edition

• Publisher: TriQuarterly
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0810152096
• ISBN 13: 9780810152090
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 244