Here & Elsewhere: The Collected Fiction Of Kenneth Burke [Paperback]

Kenneth Burke (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 30, 2005

The stories of Kenneth Burke (1897–1993) were unlike any other fiction of the 1920s. Not for him the stripped-down language of Hemingway or the topical satire of Fitzgerald; instead he constructed rhetorically gorgeous essay-stories that anticipated (by 40 years) the narrative techniques of Calvino, Gass, and Nicholson Baker. Here & Elsewhere gathers, for the first time, all of Burke's fiction: 23 short stories and Towards a Better Life (1932), which Denis Donoghue calls "one of my favorite novels, full of sentences so luminous that I could be easily persuaded that style is everything."

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This collection brings together the major fictional works of poet, critic and literary theorist Burke (1897–1993), one of the most unusual and adventurous American writers to explore mid-century modernist concepts and prose styles. The book presents Burke's dreamy, ethereal novel, Toward a Better Life (1932 and later revisions), as well as 20 stories that showcase his wild imagination, which can be as frustratingly inaccessible as it is brilliantly luminous, often within the span of a few paragraphs. The novel presents the epistles of John Neal, a worldly yet romantic ascetic who waxes philosophical about his love for paramour Florence, offering potent but often elliptical meditations on the nature of character, love, happiness and a wide array of other universal themes—before delivering her into the arms of another man. The short stories are poetic but oblique: "Parabolic Tale, with Invocation" summarizes the essence of the conflict between old and young in a few brief paragraphs; "The Anesthetic Revelation of Herone Liddell" presents the wild fantasies of a man who has had hernia surgery; "The Book of Yul," a dream narrative, presents a powerful crucifixion ceremony. Burke's sentences offer surprises that make this minor period work a worthwhile read, but don't expect it all to hang together. (Dec.)
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Review

Burke's fiction . . . harnesses the period's experimental exuberance, its sense that something genuinely new was possible in literature. -- New York Sun, November 23, 2005

[Burke composes] pieces that succeed as philosophy, domestic drama, myth, hallucination, or pure music, usually succeeding at several at once. -- The Believer, April 2006

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 415 pages
• Publisher: Black Sparrow Pr (October 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1574232010
• ISBN-13: 978-1574232011
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #256,286 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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