Overnight to Many Different Cities
Kaleidoscopically mesmerizing... Powerfully illuminating -- Village Voice
From New York to Tokyo to Copenhagen to the Radiant City of Le Corbusier, this sophisticated and surreal collection of short stories and brief visionary texts takes us on an exhilarating tour of the modern urban -- and psychological -- landscape. Alexandra, a designer of artificial ruins, creates a ruined wall with classical columns and a number of broken urns for a park in Arizona; a journalist for a magazine called Folks sets out to interview nine people who have been struck by lightning; and a retired messman steals fifty-three mothballed ships from the U.S. government.
Like a master magician, working with control and illusion, Barthelme breaks all rules. Manipulating language with irony, humor, and imagination, he captures the essence of our disorienting times.
Dizzying and enjoyable -- Publishers Weekly
Enticing. . . flecked with charm, surprise, and challenge -- Kirkus Reviews
圖書目錄
- Back Cover:
- They called for more structure. . .
- Visitors
- Financially, the paper is quite healthy
- Affection
- I put a name in an envelope
- Lightning
- That guy in the back room
- Captain Blood
- A woman seated on a plain wooden chair under a can
- Conversations With Goethe
- Well we all had our Willie。。。
- Henrietta and Alexandra
- Speaking of the human body
- The Sea of Hesitation
- When he came to 。。。
- Terminus
- The first thing
- The Mothball Fleet
- Now that。。
- Wrack
- On our street。。。
- The Palace at Four A.M.
- I am, at the moment。。。
- Overnight to Many Distant Cities