"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.

About the Author
In addition to his books of poetry and criticism, Gilbert Sorrentino is the author of fourteen novels, including Imaginative Qualities of Actual Things, The Sky Changes, and Mulligan Stew. He has received numerous grants and awards throughout his career, including the John Dos Passos Prize for Literature, two Guggenheim Fellowships, two NEA Fellowships and a Lannan Literary Award.

Reviews
Under the Shadow is a rare contemporary work that is wise enough to allow the reader to be a collaborator in the production of meaning rather than a consumer of another's literary mirage. -- San Francisco Chronicle A rare specimen of the genre: an intellectual page-turner. -- Publishers Weekly Long after you have turned the last page, Under the Shadow goes on inhabiting your thoughts and activating your imagination. This is a virtuoso performance by our most original writer. Read it, you'll like it. -- Dallas Morning News



Book Information
ISBN 9780916583934
Author Gilbert Sorrentino
Format Paperback
Page Count 137
Imprint Dalkey Archive Press
Publisher Dalkey Archive Press
Weight(grams) 199g
Dimensions(mm) 214mm * 139mm * 11mm