The Language of Men: A Memoir - Softcover

D'Aries, Anthony

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0976881330 ISBN 13: 9780976881339

Publisher: Hudson Whitman/ Excelsior College Press, 2012

Synopsis

Growing up in a working class town on Long Island, Anthony D'Aries watched his father rebuild muscle cars, groove to rock 'n' roll, slice meat at the local deli, and bring roadkill back to life in his taxidermy workshop. Anthony, the impressionable younger son, loved his father. Emulated him. Acted out visceral scenes from Taxi Driver and Raging Bull with his dad and older brother. Soaked up his father's lurid wartime tales-the hooch and the hos in 'Nam. The Language of Men begins with Anthony's search to learn who his father was. When he travels to Vietnam with his wife, Vanessa, who has a job leading health and anatomy classes for sex workers in Ho Chi Minh City, Anthony isn't sure what he will find. Visiting Long Binh where his father was stationed, then seeing his relationship with Vanessa begin to deteriorate, Anthony arrives at realizations that begin to explain his father's life, as well as his own troubling behaviors. Reluctant to deny or admit complicity, Anthony returns home to look for answers in his past. What does it cost to speak the language of men? In prose that sings-sometimes defiantly, sometimes sadly, but always eloquently-Anthony D'Aries transports us to the crossroads of gender and history, then leads us through the unsettling terrain that creates fathers, sons, brothers, and husbands 2012 ForeWord Book of the Year, 1st Place (Autobiography & Memoir) Silver IPPY (Memoir)

About this title

About the Author

Anthony D'Aries directs the writing program at Regis College and is a graduate of the University of Southern Maine's Stonecoast MFA program. He has also taught literacy and creative writing in correctional facilities in Massachusetts. "The Language of Men" (Hudson Whitman Press, 2012), is his first book, and has received the following awards: the PEN/New England Discovery Prize in nonfiction, ForeWord Magazine's Book of the Year Award (Gold/ Autobiography), a silver IPPY, Honorable Mention for the New England Book Award. Anthony's work has appeared in "The Literary Review," S"olstice: a Magazine of Diverse Voices," "The Good Men Project," "Shelf Awareness," and elsewhere. In 2011, Anthony served as Randolph College's Emerging Writer-in-Residence.

From the Inside Flap

"This book is an impressive debut from a young writer. Mr. D'Aries has many admirable traits, including a distinctive style. It is a pleasure to keep company with him in these moving and insightful pages." --Tracy Kidder "The Language of Men isn't just a beautifully written memoir about a Vietnam vet father and the complicated legacy he leaves to his son; it's also a disturbing, brutally honest, darkly funny meditation on masculinity, violence, and sexuality. Anthony D'Aries is a writer to watch." --Tom Perrotta, "The Leftovers" "Hold the phone, kick down the door, and yell from the rooftops of all those American blue-collar towns that give birth to so many of our artists: a new one is among us, and his name is Anthony D'Aries. This man writes like Charlie Parker played the alto sax, with grit and verve and a willing free-fall into hard-won, illuminated truths. The Language of Men is a profoundly important book by a major new talent!" -- Andre Dubus III, "Townie: A Memoir"

Edition details

• Publisher: Hudson Whitman/ Excelsior College Press
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0976881330
• ISBN 13: 9780976881339
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272