- Paperback: 432 pages
- Publisher: Vintage (Oct 17 2000)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0375706615
- ISBN-13: 978-0375706615
- Product Dimensions: 13.3 x 2.4 x 20.2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 295 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #516,268 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Booklist
Amnesia is an illusive subject that many artists have pursued, particularly literary artists. And like most things hard to get, its suitors are legion. Haruki Murakami's "The Fall of the Roman Empire, the 1881 Indian Uprising, Hitler's Invasion of Poland, and the Realm of Raging Winds" exhibits the utterly evasive nature of memory and is emblematic of the razor wit of these contributors. Lethem has mined a rich field for this splendid collection of short stories and turned up such authors as Julio Cortazar, Jorge Luis Borges, Philip K. Dick, Martin Amis, Oliver Sacks, Shirley Jackson, Walker Percy, Thomas M. Disch, and Vladimir Nabokov. They're all winners. Bonnie Smothers
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Product Description
Jonathan Lethem is perhaps our most active literary voice mining the genre margins of our culture. In this unique collection he creates an anthology that no one else could. He draws on the work of such unforgettables as Julio Cortazar, who presents a man caught between the ancient and modern worlds unable to say which is real; Philip K. Dick, who tells the story of a man trapped on a spaceship of the somnolent, unable to sleep and slowly losing his mind; Shirley Jackson, who takes us on a nightmarish trip across town with a young secretary; and Oliver Sacks, who presents us with an aging hippie who possesses no memory of anything that has taken place since the early seventies.
What Lethem has done is nothing less than define a new genre of literature-the amnesia story-and in the process he invites us to sit down, pick up the book, and begin to forget.
Also including: John Franklin Bardin, Donald Barthelme, Thomas M. Disch, Karn Joy Fowler, David Grand, Anna Kavan, Haruki Murakami, Flann O'Brien, Edmund White, and many others.
What Lethem has done is nothing less than define a new genre of literature-the amnesia story-and in the process he invites us to sit down, pick up the book, and begin to forget.
Also including: John Franklin Bardin, Donald Barthelme, Thomas M. Disch, Karn Joy Fowler, David Grand, Anna Kavan, Haruki Murakami, Flann O'Brien, Edmund White, and many others.
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Most helpful customer reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not everything with Lethem's name on it is wonderful,
This review is from: The Vintage Book of Amnesia: An Anthology of Writing on the Subject of Memory Loss (Paperback)
I wish someone had warned me that the selections in "Amnesia" are very uneven, in both writing skill and depth of content. I didn't bother finishing a couple of the selections; I read one of them three times.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Some great stories, some so-so,
By Girl Writer (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Vintage Book of Amnesia: An Anthology of Writing on the Subject of Memory Loss (Paperback)
When I saw this at a bookstore, I had to have it, being a big fan of that cheesiest of all literary and cinematic devices, amnesia.Most of these stories were new to me, except for the Donald Barthelme's "Game," and some are great, such as Philip K. Dick's "I Hope I Will Arrive Soon," Brian Fawcett's "Soul Walker," and particularly a nonfiction entry from Oliver Sacks, "The Last Hippie." I did not care at all for "Sarah Canary," or "The Second Coming." Many of these "stories," are actually excerpts, which now makes me want to read Cornell Woolrich's "The Black Curtain" and "Cowboys Don't Cry" by L.J. Davis. Still, I have to say the best thing in the whole book is Lethem's introduction. After that, the book itself was a bit of a letdown. Still, I'm glad I bought it and I look forward to going through the books listed in his "Incomplete Annotated Bibliography of Amnesia Fiction."
3.0 out of 5 stars
Uneven and teasing, but contains gems,
By
This review is from: The Vintage Book of Amnesia: An Anthology of Writing on the Subject of Memory Loss (Paperback)
The theme is right up my alley and Lethem is one of my favorite authors. Nevertheless I found the book frustrating, because many of the pieces are excerpts from novels and show it, with abrupt endings that don't resolve anything. I'm grateful for having the chance to get tastes of these (mostly obscure) books, but it detracts from the anthology itself. Nevertheless, thanks to this I've already discovered, purchased and read two excellent novels I'd never heard of before -- Lawrence Shainberg's "Memories Of Amnesia" (first person view of eminent neurologist's mental collapse) and John Franklin Bardin's "The Deadly Percheron" (weirdo '40s noir) -- and in between enjoyed some old classics I hadn't re-read in a while, such as Philip K Dick's terrifying SF short story "I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon".
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