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Twelve Stories
Guy Davenport's short stories are journeys through history and the imagination. Radically original and surprising, comic and sensuous, Davenport's virtuoso talent charms us into a world both familiar and strange. Whether in the timelessness of deep woods or fleeing the bloody dreamscape of battle, Davenport's characters embody life's contradictions.
248 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 18, 2011
At first Davenport's range of reference (which seems neither superficial nor artificial) is so large as to make one think he is omnivorous. And yet there are certain times, places, and themes to which he continually returns. The cave paintings of Lascaux, Ancient Greece, the Modernist period. Is there a common thread? Beginnings, I think, where everything seems possible, where the world begins to coalesce into significance, before degradation and disappointment.
He tends to take, unfortunately, a view of his subject that is too glancing and oblique. Fine enough for cultured men such as he, but I need a little more hand-holding.
There are a few too many naked young boys, but I suppose it's no trouble to tolerate his idiosyncrasies.
He tends to take, unfortunately, a view of his subject that is too glancing and oblique. Fine enough for cultured men such as he, but I need a little more hand-holding.
There are a few too many naked young boys, but I suppose it's no trouble to tolerate his idiosyncrasies.
November 2, 2015
Unfortunately the first two stories were drawn out and downright boring. A few others were just ordinary. But there were perhaps 5 that were real gems. Would like to get my hands on more of his books though. I do love his fractured narrative style.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews