Under the Shadow takes the form of fifty-nine brief sketches with simple nouns as titles. These exquisite vignettes take place on a plane at once surreal, abstract, and ominous, describing a set of people and incidents derived largely from fragments of conversation and gossip gathered here and there. They are reminiscent of Raymond Roussel's characters amid his inimitable ersatz pastorals, with tableaux both innocent and grotesque. There is something ambiguous about these passages, something deliberately closed and ...
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Under the Shadow takes the form of fifty-nine brief sketches with simple nouns as titles. These exquisite vignettes take place on a plane at once surreal, abstract, and ominous, describing a set of people and incidents derived largely from fragments of conversation and gossip gathered here and there. They are reminiscent of Raymond Roussel's characters amid his inimitable ersatz pastorals, with tableaux both innocent and grotesque. There is something ambiguous about these passages, something deliberately closed and dreamlike. Many of them read like primal scenes of private pathologies; others are memories that, many years later, retain their power to haunt. From these fragments of memory, half-memory, and smudged images, certain scenes recur with eerie regularity: a half-clothed woman glimpsed through a kitchen window; a mysterious fire set by a maniac intent on the destruction of "official memories"; and most tantalizingly, a shifting, voyeuristic account of three young women in luminous white dresses by the shore of a dark lake. All of these events seem to have occurred years ago in an unspecified place and are already the subjects of files, case studies, even biographies. At first isolate and puzzling, these vignettes become linked to others as the book progresses; they cohere in the way images in a long poem cohere, or harmonic progressions in music, not in the sense of character and plot development. For Sorrentino's prose aspires to the condition of music, of painting--freeing the novel from the constraints of realism and entering the realm of pure art.
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Add this copy of Under the Shadow to cart. $8.01, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Reno rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Reno, NV, UNITED STATES, published 1991 by Dalkey Archive Press.
Add this copy of Under the Shadow to cart. $8.01, fair condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1991 by Dalkey Archive Press.
Add this copy of Under the Shadow (American Literature) to cart. $8.03, very good condition, Sold by HPB Inc. rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1991 by Dalkey Archive Press.
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Add this copy of Under the Shadow to cart. $9.66, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Reno rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Reno, NV, UNITED STATES, published 1991 by Dalkey Archive Press.
Add this copy of Under the Shadow to cart. $10.58, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 1991 by Dalkey Archive Press.
Add this copy of Under the Shadow to cart. $11.57, like new condition, Sold by GreatBookPrices rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Columbia, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1991 by Dalkey Archive Press.
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Fine. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 137 p. American Literature. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
Add this copy of Under the Shadow to cart. $12.00, fair condition, Sold by BookHouse On-Line rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Minneapolis, MN, UNITED STATES, published 1991 by Dalkey Archive Press.
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Fair. An ex-lib copy with front endpaper excised; stamped "withdrawn" on flyleaf; stamp on bottom edge; small spine label. Binding tight and sturdy, text unmarked, DJ with light shelfwear, protected in Mylar wraps. Ships from Dinkytown in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Add this copy of Under the Shadow to cart. $13.36, new condition, Sold by GreatBookPrices rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Columbia, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1991 by Dalkey Archive Press.
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New. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 137 p. American Literature. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.