Fever (Contemporary American Fiction) [Paperback]

John Edgar Wideman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1990 | Series: Contemporary American Fiction

By turns subtle and intense, disturbing and elusive, the stories in this collection are ultimately connected by themes of memory and loss, reality and fabrication, and by a richless of language that rests lightly on its carefully foundation.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"Of the 12 stories in Wideman's wide-ranging new collection, six have never been previously published, and most are standouts. Wideman excels in a variety of prose styles, adopting the points of view of both black and white characters, telling some stories entirely in dialogue, others in unrelieved exposition," stated PW .
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In this collection Wideman shows he knows how to give a story place in both physical and psychic terms. In "Rock River" he lays out a mangy dog of a town tucked somewhere in the foothills of the Southwest. Here suicide seems as much a part of the terrain as the "thickets of boulders," dry riverbeds, and dusty roads that define the hopelessness of the landscape. In "Concert," place is primarily the self, as the narrator (who remains unidentified) unravels an interior monologue that becomes the warp upon which the strains of a musical performance are woven. Wideman also shows he has a wide range of voices: several of the stories are told from a child's point of view and one from that of a hip literary critic. There are echoes of Faulkner in the post-Joycean narrative methods and revelations of consciousness. This is the kind of adventuresome writing that keeps one awake.
- Francis Poole, Kentucky Wesleyan Coll., Owensboro
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (October 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140143475
• ISBN-13: 978-0140143478
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #940,488 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

JOHN EDGAR WIDEMAN is the author of more than twenty works of fiction and nonfiction, including the award-winning Brothers and Keepers, Philadelphia Fire, and most recently the story collection God's Gym. He is the recipient of two PEN/ Faulkner Awards and has been nominated for the National Book Award. He teaches at Brown University.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Criminally-neglected author, fine book., November 15, 2001

By 

Robert P. Beveridge "xterminal" (Lakewood, OH) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fever (Hardcover)

Wideman may be the finest American writer no one's ever heard of. Much of his early work has been allowed to run out of print and fade into obscurity; he remains a critical darling, popping up in _The Best American Short Stories_ and editing black-literature anthologies, yet he's never found a popular audience. Which is too bad, because Wideman's got a lot to say.

Wideman covers much the same ground as Graham Swift-- the relationships between two human beings, whoever those two human beings may be. Wideman tends a little more towards the family side of things than does Swift, leading to a bit more variation on the theme, but the theme usually stays the same, how relationships end. They do not all end badly, by any means, as they do in Swift and so many other authors. They do not all end within the scope of the stories presented. But hanging over Wideman's work is always the feeling that relationships between people _will_ end, somewhere along the line.

As in Swift, though, the similarity of tone and mood to be found in the various stories in this collection don't make it monotonous. Wideman gives us an interesting array of characters to examine, puts them into everyday situations, then throws something into the mix to jazz it up a little-- a blind man who never misses a shot from the free-throw line, a pianist who won't stop describing a dream long enough for his brother to tell him of the death of their mother (because, we can tell, he is already aware), etc. Wideman has a keen ear for the natural flow of language, and it both heightens his dialogue and keeps the descriptive parts of the stories flowing.

The one place Wideman does falter is in letting the message override the storytelling in places. The title story in this collection works when Wideman is painting a scene, just as all his other stories work, but every once in a while the agenda gets in the way and the story flattens into polemic. Wideman never, though, allows the polemic to take over completely, and he's always able to successfully pull himself back from the brink. (In his defense, the ending of "Fever" is fantastic, a truly strong piece of writing, that more than makes up for the story's faults.)

As with most of the books Wideman published before 1991, this is out of print at present. However, it's worth hunting down. A wonderful introduction to a wonderful author. *** 1/2