A Table of Green Fields: Ten Stories [Hardcover]

Guy Davenport (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Connoisseurs of art, history, religion, and literature will revel in this fine collection of ten stories by one of America's most erudite writers. Although the tone is often playful, Davenport layers each story with a variety of allusions and rather obscure meanings that perhaps only the most scholarly readers will fully appreciate. A wonderful example is "Meleager," in which the sexual play of two boys is juxtaposed with descriptions of geometry. Another is "And," a snippet (nine paragraphs) of a parable in which Jesus scatters seeds on a river. More satisfying are the longer tales, especially "O Gadjo Niglo," a touching love story told by Eros, and "Gunner and Nikolai," with its surprise ending. Male sexuality is the predominant theme, one the author presents with light but clearly serious intent. The title--a story in itself--is taken from Falstaff's dying vision, inspired by the 23rd Psalm. It makes a most fitting symbol for this most unusual and imaginative collection. Highly recommended.
- Janet Wilson Reit, Univ. of Vermont Lib., Burlington
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Davenport's literary intelligence can be stratospheric, and when he aims it high, he's able to make an inimitable sort of constructivist sculpture from it (Tatlin!, recall, was the title of his first collection in 1974): part quotation, part commentary, part reimagination. The feat can be electrifying--as is very much here: in ``The Concord Sonata''--considering a phrase of Thoreau's- -and ``The Kitchen Chair''--off a sentence in Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal. From both he takes a bit of wordwork that we believe we merely can decode and elevates it into mystery and subtlety and diamond-like style. But, unfortunately, in order to be astonished by Davenport of late means having to endure what once again here is a surfeit of the soft-core gay kiddie-porn (masquerading as Arcadian idylls) that he puts so much of his effort to. Danish teenagers cavort and jut and spurt in tiresome displays of riggish (and etymological) energy: ``I rode the foreskin full stretch with a swirl of tongue deep on the downstroke. Shallow with a flicker on the up. I put a thraw into the treadle. For style. A thropple dive plumb to the bush. A slow ripping passage''). A frustratingly mixed bag. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 149 pages
• Publisher: New Directions; First edition. edition (December 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811212513
• ISBN-13: 978-0811212519
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,489,240 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Gypsy acrobats on market day", February 28, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: A Table of Green Fields: Ten Stories (Hardcover)

The line above, taken from a Davenport story, perhaps suggests the sense of vibrance flowing through a "typical" Davenport story: one not only gets to go to market, but there are Gypsies there as well! Arguably the most striking and unusual stories in this collection are those that pivot around three famous men: Lawrence of Arabia [disguised as Airman Ross] in "August Blue"; Thoreau in "The Concord Sonata"; and Soren Kierkegaard in "Mr. Churchyard and the Troll." But Kafka reappears here as well, sending postcards to a young girl whose missing doll is, according to Mr. K., embarked on a world tour. And in each of the two long stories we meet a just-adolescent boy, discovering his own sexuality and that of the world around him, with--in one case--tragic and heart-breaking results. Can every story be "the best"? Maybe not, but in this collection, Davenport comes very close

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Splurge on the Hardcover!, February 16, 2001

By 

matthew robinson (UNI, Iowa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Table of Green Fields: Ten Stories (Hardcover)

No one plays with the assumptions of a reader in terms of genre, plot, image, or even sentence structure like Davenport. This book is one of his best. And in terms of the general American literary scene, this book is one the greatest!