The Candles of Your Eyes [Paperback]

James Purdy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1991

first paperback edition of Purdy's recent stories

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"Short Papa," the tale of a child instructed to guard an heirloom watch, and the title story, which takes on sexual and societal taboos in a black man's obsessive love for a white teenager, are among the 14 stories here. "This collection . . . has a delightful freshness and vitality," said PW . "Purdy's language is sparse and his stories compressed, focusing on the intensity of the moment."
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

A mysterious young man who disintegrates under the spell of an avaricious old lady's heirlooms; a romance between a "retired cannibal" and a Liberace-esque "songster"; and a violent orgy of pie-eating and fornication are among the topics of this remarkable collection. In Purdy's world a violent blood-letting is "like a gentle summer shower" and a domineering servant proclaims that "help like I can give is at a high bid today and scarcer than true love." Read alongside In the Hollow of His Hand ( LJ 9/1/86), these stories confirm Purdy's true gift for fiction; he uses the short story form to work out the themes of sexual obsession, ecstatic love, and fathomless disillusionment familiar from his novels, but with a brusque, at times cartoonlike execution. A hearty antidote to the Yuppie boredom of most contemporary short fiction. Rob Schmieder, Boston
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 143 pages
• Publisher: City Lights Publishers (May 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0872862569
• ISBN-13: 978-0872862562
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 6.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,110,799 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic Tales From a Master Storyteller, May 24, 2005

By 

Donald Gavron (Woodbridge, NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Candles of Your Eyes And Thirteen Other Stories (Hardcover)

These stories will haunt you. James Purdy's stories are tight, compact and exacting in bringing his vision to light. Not a word is wasted. This is a slim but rich collection. From the opening tale "Some of These Days" to the bizarre narrative of "Lily's Party" to the heartbreaking "Summer Tidings," Purdy proves why his is a singular voice of the post WWII generation of writers. Gore Vidal has called him a genius. Dorothy Parker, Paul Bowles, Marianne Moore and Tennessee Williams have sung his praises. He is a high priest of the vernacular, a sorcerer of words, a weaver of tapestries comparable to the best writers in literature. That more people have not read him is a loss they will never know.