Human Country: New and Collected Stories (American Literature) - Softcover

Mathews, Harry

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1564783219 ISBN 13: 9781564783219

Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press, 2002

Synopsis

Available For The First Time In One Volume, The Very Best Of Mathews's Short Fiction; This expertly designed original paperback presents a comprehensive collection of internationally renowned poet and novelist Harry Mathews' short prose. From the hilarious 'The Broadcast, ' in which the narrator learns from a radio program that everything he needs in life should fit into one sock, to 'Calibration of Latitude, ' which follows Sir Joseph Pernican on a meandering and seemingly aimless but deeply moving journey, this is a long-awaited addition to Mathew's beloved and masterful canon.

About this title

About the Author:

Born in New York in 1930, Harry Mathews settled in Europe in 1952 and has since then lived in Spain, Germany, Italy, and (chiefly) France. When Mathews published his first poems in 1956, he was associated with the so-called New York School of poets, with three of whom (John Ashbery, Kenneth Koch, and James Schuyler) he founded the review Locus Solus in 1961. Through his friendship with Georges Perec, he became a member of the Oulipo in 1972. The author of six novels and several collections of poetry, recent publications are THE NEW TOURISM (Sand Paper Press, 2010), Sainte Catherine, a novella written in French (Editions P.O.L, 2000), The Human Country: the Collected Short Stories (Dalkey Archive Press, 2002), The Case of the Persevering Maltese: Collected Essays (Dalkey Archive Press, 2003), OULIPO COMPENDIUM (co-edited with Alastair Brotchie; Atlas Press and Make Now Press, 2005), and My Life in CIA: A Chronicle of 1973 (Dalkey Archive Press, 2005).

From Publishers Weekly:

Acclaimed poet, novelist and essayist Mathews's idiosyncratic short fictions make up a literary labyrinth that takes readers off the beaten path. Mathews, the only American member of Oulipo, a French avant-garde literary movement that included Italo Calvino, Raymond Queneau, Georges Perec and Jacques Roubaud, takes advantage of the freedom of the short form to completely abandon such conventions as plot and linear narrative. When he does pick a theme or a concept, he often produces works of startling beauty, particularly in "Their Words, for You," an extended series revolving around a man's interlude with his lover. A wicked sense of humor informs "Broadcast," about a man who hears a radio program that reveals how everything in life can be contained in a single sock, only to have his ruminations about finding and preserving the broadcast reveal his status as a mental patient. The collection is divided into three sections, starting with Mathews's early works (which should be of special interest to fans), then moving on to a series of "stories to be read aloud." The book concludes with "Calibrations of Latitude," which features a strange, historically based story of the murky journey of Sir Joseph Pernican. Despite a few instances of reach exceeding grasp, Mathews's narrative voice remains intriguingly personal and audacious throughout, and readers who love innovative short fiction will find themselves challenged by the author's conceits and his offbeat conceptual approach.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 1564783219
• ISBN 13: 9781564783219
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 186