Arkansas: Three Novellas [Hardcover]

David Leavitt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 3, 1997

Here are three novellas of escape and exile, touching and funny and at times calculatedly outrageous. In "Saturn Street," a disaffected L.A. screenwriter delivers lunches to homebound AIDS patients, only to find himself falling in love with one of them. In "The Wooden Anniversary," Nathan and Celia - familiar characters from Leavitt's story collections - reunite after a five-year separation. And in "The Term-Paper Artist," a writer named David Leavitt, hiding out at his father's house in the aftermath of a publishing scandal, experiences literary rejuvenation when he agrees to write term papers for UCLA undergraduates in exchange for sex.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

David Leavitt's reputation has rested upon stories and novels that explicate a sedate, upper-middle class world of reserved emotions and sexuality. In his new collection of three novellas Arkansas, he explores new territory. Droll, surprising, and very sexy, these works often shock and startle the reader. In "The Term Paper Artist," a writer named David Leavitt writes school papers for cute undergraduates in exchange for sexual favors, and in "Saturn Street." a gay man who delivers lunches to homebound people with AIDS falls in love with one of his clients. Beautifully written and alarmingly funny, Arkansas is one of the best works of gay fiction in years.

From Library Journal

Escape is the theme unifying these three novellas, one of which features an author named David Leavitt who writes term papers in exchange for sex while fleeing literary scandal (remember While England Sleeps?).
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 198 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin; 1ST edition (April 3, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395837049
• ISBN-13: 978-0395837047
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,779,469 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One great novella and 2 more, September 9, 2000

By 

"ericl265" (New York, NY, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Arkansas: Three Novellas (Paperback)

Read this book for the first novella in it: "The term paper artist" which is perfect, no less. In this novella, Leavitt combines autobiographical details with what seem to be pure fiction. However, no one can know for sure. The novella is fascinating, daring, in my opinion even revolutinary. The other 2 novellas are nice, but nothing like the first one.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good writing and some great game-playing, October 21, 1998

By 

Stephen O. Murray "Stephen O. Murray" (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Arkansas: Three Novellas (Hardcover)

The first novella, "The term paper ARTIST," is a daring work--literally daring the reader to take the exchanges as memory rather than fiction, and asking him/her to think about how they may differ from the fiction built on Stephen Spender's memoir. There is no graphic sex. There is a lot of desperate desire (not all of it the characters named or based on David Leavitt, either) in all three novellas.

The uncomprehending female narrator (Lizzie) of "The wooden anniversary" is not always plausible, but is a good vehicle for exculpating the heedlessness or sadism of Nathan, a recurrent stand-in for David Leavitt in my reading.Good local (Tuscan) color and haunting portrait of English speakers' adjustment to living in Italy and the havoc old ties can introduce (yes, very Forsterian, not least in longing for an attractive and very self-confident Italian stud).

I'm not sure what the point of the last novella is. It seems good reportage of the AIDS service industry, but can't compare to Mars-Jones's _Waters of Thirst_.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One Very Good and Two Good Novellas, August 13, 2006

By 

F. Chloupek (Cleveland, OH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Arkansas: Three Novellas (Paperback)

I haven't read Leavitt in awhile and had Arkansas sitting on my shelf. Arkansas is a collection of 3 stories -- each about 60-70 pages in length. Like much of Leavitt's work, while it is fiction, it gives at least to sense of being autobiographical. The main protagonist is often a stand-in for Leavitt himself.

The strongest story of the 3 is the first one, "The Term Paper Artist" which deals with a 'David Leavitt' who, in a slow spot in his own writing, winds up writing term papers in exchange for sex for several undergraduates. In contrast to the one review below this is far from erotica or pornography -- sex is part of the story as it is in many works, but this tale is far from erotica.

In "The Wooden Anniversary" Nathan and Celia -- two characters from Leavitt's earlier works -- reunite in Tuscany after a 5 year absence. This story was in my opinion the weakest of the 3. It was enoyable and a good read, but as times seemed a bit lurching, especially near the ending.

Finally in "Saturn Street" a writer in LA winds up delivering meals on wheels for an AIDS service (this is set in the mid-to-late 90's so one must take into account the shorter life span of HIV+ people even 10 years ago) Through the delivery service, the writer Jerry becomes close to one of the patients Phil, and that relationship (though it doesn't really proceed to that level) enables Jerry to see what's been missing in his life.

I would give the Term Paper Artist an A, Saturn Street an A-/B+, and The Wooden Anniversary a B-. An overall 4 star rating. If you are a fan of Leavitt, or gay short fiction in general, you won't be disappointed.