A German Picturesque: Selected and Introduced by Ben Marcus - Softcover

Schwartz, Assistant Professor Jason

3.83

63 ratings by Goodreads

9781940436173: A German Picturesque: Selected and Introduced by Ben Marcus

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1940436176 ISBN 13: 9781940436173

Publisher: Counterpoint LLC, 2015

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Haunting in their tone, brilliant in their images--very like fantastic presences moving across glass--the twenty-one fictions in this startling debut collection seem both inexplicably familiar and like no writing we have seen before.

The opening story leads us through a kaleidoscopic series of thoughts and memories around the act of writing a letter. Another, an intricately structured document of documents--household inventories, daily calendars, property deeds, an announcement--suggests the reality overflowing these mundane markers of our lives. Yet another traces the histories of five artifacts, while at the same time slyly assembling five miniature biographical portraits.

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Review:

"Reading the 21 runelike stories that comprise Schwartz's debut collection is a bit like eavesdropping: you may not follow the conversation, but you'll certainly overhear something interesting. In these fragmentary, oblique vignettes, unnamed narrators mention mostly unnamed characters, and the relationships among the various theys, shes and hes are often unspecified. Replacing the structure of narrative are some of the pleasures of poetry ... The title story opens: 'The goblet, to begin with.' It continues with descriptions of a flag, a confession, a will, a map. The heart of the tale lies in oblique references to a murder in an earlier century, and the possible massacre of a family. In the mysteriously titled 'Killies,' maiden sisters holiday too peacefully in Spain ... Clearly this collection is not for those who want a take-charge narrator, but it may intrigue those who prefer their fiction through a glass darkly."
-- Publishers Weekly

"Schwartz's first book lies somewhere between short stories and poetry. His stories, sometimes only a page in length, investigate such events as a train ride, a visit to a garrison, or a wedding through an impressionistic stream of consciousness. Often, an object will evoke a flow of ideas; for example, the image of a postage stamp leads to an image of slaughter. Words are spare but significant, and they echo long after being read. Collections of experimental fiction will want this volume."
--Library Journal

About the Author:

Author bio: Jason Schwartz is the author of two books of fiction, A German Picturesque (Alfred A. Knopf, 1998) and John the Posthumous (OR, 2013). His work has appeared in American Letters & Commentary, Antioch Review, Conjunctions, New York Tyrant, The Quarterly, Story Quarterly, Unsaid, and other publications. He is an Associate Professor in the English Department at Florida Atlantic University where he teaches creative writing

Contributor Bio: Ben Marcus is the author of four books of fiction. His latest book, Leaving the Sea: Stories, was published by Alfred A. Knopf in January 2014. His stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in publications including Harper's, The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Granta, The New York Times, GQ, Salon, McSweeney's, Time, and Conjunctions.

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