Krupp's Lulu (Lish, Gordon) [Hardcover]

Gordon Lish (Author)

Book Description

Series: Lish, Gordon | Publication Date: April 1, 2000

In his fifth collection of stories, Gordon Lish once again demonstrates his intelligence, passion, and gift for language. Through these pieces and the spaces within them, the reader learns what occupies the fictional Lish, and, in essence, everyone.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Lish has gone through many literary incarnations. Fiction editor at Esquire in the '70s, he famously mentored Raymond Carver; then he flourished as a Knopf editor and writing teacher who himself writes experimental and on-the-edge fiction (Dear Mr. Capote, etc.). In his latest collection, he definitely falls off that edge. His guiding principle is revealed at the beginning of "Louche with You," one of the 16 pieces here: 'You got some time? Because there's some stuff I'm getting off my chest. That's how come I'm doing this. It's this stuff." Indeed, this is sheer stuff, maddeningly vague, meandering from pointless beginnings to pointless endings. The first piece proper, "Ground," concerns a habit from "Gordon's" childhood: making a walking man figure out of his thumb, index and middle fingers. Lish explores whether he used to make this figure fly or not. Throughout the collection, the reader's attention is drawn to similarly trivial matters. In "The Positions," the narrator tells us that the best thing in his life is removing lint from the clothes dryer. In "Man on the Go," we move to the washing machine, which is broken. In this piece there are flashes of real writing--the narrator's wife has just died (an event Lish has described in previous work), and the washing machine has also died. Since most of the stories involve descriptions of almost ineffable acts (for instance, a man seeing his fianc?e lean her head a certain way), we expect that the occasion, as in poetry, will be used to construct impressive verbal artifacts. Instead, Lish offers repetitive passages dependent upon vague pronouns and cliches, failing to infuse his prose with any urgency. This isn't Beckett, this is just one thing after another--and that is the difference between skipping a rock across a pool and throwing pebbles into it.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

He's got his funny moments, and some stories are unexpectedly moving. -- The New York Times Book Review, Brigitte Frase

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Four Walls Eight Windows; First Edition edition (April 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568581548
• ISBN-13: 978-1568581545
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,238,297 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Double Genius, April 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Krupp's Lulu (Lish, Gordon) (Hardcover)

Gordon Lish's clear voice rings through the sea of mediocrity in today's fiction.He has no equals or imitators. He will tie your emotions in a knot and set you free.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the noodling narrative, January 7, 2005

By 

Jeeves "Civil War Fan" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Krupp's Lulu (Lish, Gordon) (Hardcover)

Beautiful rambling comic narrative, revelatory in incremental layers, a kind of purity of speech I have rarely read. Lish is in love with language and the narrative itself, the act of telling, rather than with what is told. I ordered this book and read it straightaway and have re-read it once again. Deeply rewarding.

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Purity, October 16, 2000

By 

Eustace (NYC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Krupp's Lulu (Lish, Gordon) (Hardcover)

Gordon Lish may well be our last pure writer. He's not for everybody, thank goodness; but if you are a real reader, you will need this book.