Public Works: Short Fiction and a Novella

by Christopher Grimes

The short fictions collected in Public Works explore the extremes of human nature and literary technique. From the manic, single-sentence fiction "Public Sentence" to the carefully structured and plot-twisting "We Stand Here, Swinging Cats," Grimes' stories have an idiosyncratic and associative quality-nothing follows predictably from anything, and beginnings never foreshadow ends. While reading, one has the sense that, despite recognizable voices and themes, this imagination seems alien, as though divvying up and parceling out the world by its own rules. In "Glue Trap," a one-legged shopkeeper offers expert instruction in the art of one-on-one combat with a rat. In "Making Love: a Translation," the stream of consciousness creates a fiction as simple as Hemingway, as wistful and dissociative as Julio Cortazar. Ultimately, Grimes' stories question the grids and schemas we impose on "reality." His is a formal defiance of the tyranny of traditional narrative, expressed with a thematic daring that moves between the contemplation of ordinary buckets and high art.

177 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Bill Hsu]

A bit uneven. But in the best pieces, the tight sculpted prose is a pleasure, the unexpected bursts of black humor very funny. And despite the carefully maintained ironic distance, I can't help sympathizing with characters and their awkward dilemmas.

I know nobody bothers to copyedit anymore. But when the dense prose rewards such close reading, obvious typos are really jarring. p. 85: "parking break"? "Jackson Pollack"? Argh.

[Andrew]

"My Immortal Works" belongs with "Borges and I" in great short pieces about one's relationship with his writing.

[Cris Mazza]

You might find that you won't be able to pause to breathe while reading these exquisite pieces.