Aspects of the Novel

by David R. Slavitt

This first-person narrative mines comedic gold in the narrator's psychological escape from a trio of critical family a graduation ceremony, a funeral, and a wedding. The narrator, self-aware and yet deeply depressed, spins out characters in a stream of consciousness as he reluctantly comes to grips with regrets from the past and familial anxiety in the present. Dry observations about the buffoonery of his fictional characters around him compete with examinations of his own complicity. Stylistically unique, deeply funny, and ultimately redemptive, this story discusses aspects of the novel and how it parallels reality. A fount of wisdom about life and art, it presents a moving depiction of depression from inside, keeping the reader off balance both intellectually and emotionally.

Genres: Writing

192 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2003

About the author

David Rytman Slavitt was an American writer, poet, and translator, the author of more than 100 books.
Slavitt has written a number of novels and numerous translations from Greek, Latin, and other languages. Slavitt wrote a number of popular novels under the pseudonym Henry Sutton, starting in the late 1960s. The Exhibitionist (1967) was a bestseller and sold over four million copies. He has also published popular novels under the names of David Benjamin, Lynn Meyer, and Henry Lazarus. His first work, a book of poems titled Suits for the Dead, was published in 1961. He worked as a writer and film critic for Newsweek from 1958 to 1965.
According to Henry S. Taylor, winner of the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, "David Slavitt is among the most accomplished living practitioners" of writing, "in both prose and verse; his poems give us a pleasurable, beautiful way of meditating on a bad time. We can't ask much more of literature, and usually we get far less." Novelist and poet James Dickey wrote, "Slavitt has such an easy, tolerant, believable relationship with the ancient world and its authors that making the change-over from that world to ours is less a leap than an enjoyable stroll. The reader feels a continual sense of gratitude."