A blazingly original, profoundly moving new work of fiction by a writer whose world–and imagination–knows no boundaries. “I don’t know what planet Judy Budnitz comes from,” saidNewsweekon the publication of her fiction debut,Flying Leap,“but I’m happy to have her. Tremendous . . . funny, dark, adventurous, slanted, and enchanted.” These twelve astonishingly inventive stories–which take us into the heart of America and around the globe, from suburban backyards and swimming pools to war-torn streets and fallout shelters–are riveting, seductive, and impossible to forget. In “Flush,” a mammogram prompts a dark comedy of blurred identities between a mother and her two adult daughters. In “Elephant and Boy,” a surrogate mother-and-son bond, tinged with the erotic, is formed when a philanthropist attempts to “civilize” a young elephant handler. “Nadia” sounds the depths of a young woman’s complex feelings toward a friend’s mail-order bride from Eastern Europe. “Preparedness”–an Orwellian tale in Technicolor–imagines rapture in the wake of imminent apocalypse. And in “Where We Come From,” a pregnant woman’s many failed attempts to cross the border do not lessen her resolve to give birth on U.S. soil to a “nice big American baby.” Magical, poignant, often transcendent, these are virtuoso modern fables that mine our stores of hidden urges, misunderstandings, and blind passions, inviting us on a voyage through places and times at once deeply familiar and wondrously strange.
(美)罗伯特·富兰克林·杨著, 赖逸娟译 ... 它最喜欢的是清晨,太阳照耀着邻家屋顶的那种清晨,完全明亮而金黄色的清晨。 ... 都一定带有至少一个能挑起反应的关联词,而它引用的句子从尤维纳利斯到乔伊斯,从卢梭到罗素,或从欧里庇德斯到艾略特都有。
病人穿着宽松长袍坐在床上,沉默地看着表姐,身周塞满靠枕。“唉,我的朋友,”她突然打断对方话头说,“别给我做工作了,别把我当孩子,我是基督徒。我全明白,我明白,我不能活多久了,我明白要是我丈夫早听了我的话,我就到意大利去了,那,说不定,很可能,我已重新健康 ...
其他人進來,他聽見他們和圖書館員講話。她的聲音現在比較正常了。亞瑟一直認為他應該離開,卻坐著沒動。他喜歡毫無裝飾的高大窗戶讓春季暮光透進來的樣子,也喜歡圖書館房間的莊嚴與秩序。他想到成人們來來去去,終其一生周復一周讀書、從這本讀到下一本, ...
全书精选三十多篇爱伦·坡的代表作,涵盖其在惊悚小说、推理侦探小说、科幻小说和幽默讽刺小说领域的佳作,包括读者耳熟能详的《莫格街凶杀案》《黑猫》《金甲虫》《泄密的 ...
森林王子:毛哥力的叢林故事集: The Jungle Book
In this volume, Wharton's humor is abundantly evident in sly and subtle stories like "Xingu" (in which a ladies' reading group is led to express its enthusiasm for an occult philosophy) and "Charm Incorporated" (about a mild-mannered Wall ...
Mackinac and Lake Stories
For Maurice: Five Unlikely Stories
He held a match close to the bowl of Rubin's pipe , cupping the flame . “ Then why do you do it ? " “ It works best for me that way , Allan . I have arthritis . ” He slanted his eyes left at his pupil . “ Do you ?
Small Daddy had three great cronies , Mickey Devane , Paddy the Watch and Mike Burke down the Lane . Mike lived alone and they all met in his house every second night where they could talk the black hats off each other without any ...