Some pieces rebel better than others, but there’s ample inspiration for comic and serious fiction authors alike.
A compendium of fictional satires, parodies and other attempts to transform commonplace forms into literary art.
In his Reality Hunger (2010), co-editor Shields agitated for new forms of fiction that eschew standard-issue realism and integrate more of life as it’s truly lived. The 40 pieces collected here, most published in the past two decades, represent one subgenre of experimentation, showcasing tweaks of everyday documents like interviews, how-to guides, academic papers and more. Many are comic pieces that shed light on the restrictiveness of the form being mocked. Jack Pendarvis’ “Our Spring Catalog,” for instance, pokes fun at the hollow enthusiasm of book publishers’ promotional blurbs, while George Saunders’ “I CAN SPEAK!” ventriloquizes the soothing tone of customer-service letters—the story becomes more brilliantly absurd as the corporate functionary defends a contraption that purports to translate toddler-speak into English. This isn’t strictly an assortment of send-ups, however. Daniel Orozco’s “Officers Weep” uses the format of the police blotter to shift from just-the-facts crime listings to a glimpse into the force’s existential musings. Charles Yu’s “Problems for Self-Study” cleverly employs the language of story problems to illuminate a couple’s connection and separation, while Charles McLeod’s heartbreaking “National Treasures” encapsulates the narrator’s hard-knock life in the form of an auction catalog. There are some ringers here—Lorrie Moore’s “How to Become a Writer” doesn't truly tweak how-to language—while social-media riffs like Kari Anne Roy’s “Chaucer Tweets the South by Southwest Festival” show that the form is still evolving as fodder for effective fiction. But in the aggregate, these stories suggest a few future directions for storytelling, and Shields and Vollmer (English/Virginia Tech; Future Missionaries of America, 2009) convincingly press the necessity of the task—these pieces represent “our oft-repressed language staging a rebellion.” Other noteworthy contributors include Amy Hempel, Lydia Davis, Jonathan Safran Foer, Paul Theroux and Rick Moody.
Some pieces rebel better than others, but there’s ample inspiration for comic and serious fiction authors alike.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-393-34195-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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