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Of Memory and Desire: Stories
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Of Memory and Desire: Stories Hardcover - 1989

by Gladys Swan


From the publisher

hese eleven compelling stories reveal the interplay and varying hues of two basic elements of human experience -- memory and desire, Gladys Swan's characters are frequently forced to shed their illusions as they struggle to shape their lives.
The title story, like many of the others in the collection, has as its backdrop the beautiful but sometimes harsh landscape of the American Southwest. There a reclusive farmer known as Goat Man takes in a young Mexican boy as his companion. When the greed of a tax collector and the complicity of a community destroy Goat Man, the boy vanishes into the night but returns in the form of a legend, a reminder to the residents of the valley of their changing, crueler world. In another story a traveling carnival breaks down when a sandstorm does final damage to the dreams of the company, and a tired, almost defeated woman attempts to regroup and continue what has been so hopefully called "Carnival for the Gods." An older couple, carrying their Jewish past to a "Land of Promise." Discovers instead an alien territory and must struggle from day to day, one leaning to the past, the other inclining toward an unattainable vision of the future.
In "The Ink Feather" a small, lonely girl, witness to endless quarrels between her mother and her much older brother, draws comfort from the world of her dolls and the prospect of adventure outside the mist-covered windows of her house. In "Getting an Education" a diffident young woman, "trying to be a student and to discover what she ought to be learning," finds insight in the details of the lives around her, especially the secretive, eccentric existence of one of her professors. A widowed grandmother, in "Black Hole," is impregnated during a chance encounter with a nameless stranger and shocks her family when she determines to give birth to and raise her child.
Like that grandmother, all of the characters in these fictions -- whether from the comfortable middle class or the fringes of society -- are at odds with themselves and their world. It is Gladys Swan's special gift that she can so seamlessly depict the particular terrors and wonders of their lives. This is a mesmerizing collection.

From the rear cover

These eleven compelling stories reveal the interplay and varying hues of two basic elements of human experience--memory and desire. Captivated by memory, impelled by desire, Gladys Swan's characters are frequently forced to shed their illusions as they struggle to shape their lives.

Details

  • Title Of Memory and Desire: Stories
  • Author Gladys Swan
  • Binding Hardcover
  • Edition First Edition
  • Pages 184
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher LSU Press, Baton Rouge
  • Date 1989-08-01
  • ISBN 9780807114803 / 0807114804
  • Weight 0.94 lbs (0.43 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.85 x 5.81 x 0.82 in (22.48 x 14.76 x 2.08 cm)
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 88038353
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

Media reviews

Citations

  • Library Journal, 06/15/1989, Page 0
  • Publishers Weekly, 08/04/1989, Page 0

About the author

Gladys Swan, associate professor of English at the University of Missouri at Columbia, also teaches creative writing at Vermont College. She is the author of a previous story collection, On the Edge of the Desert, and a novel, Carnival for the Gods.

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Of Memory and Desire
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Of Memory and Desire

by SWAN, GLADYS

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Of Memory and Desire
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Of Memory and Desire: Stories
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Of Memory and Desire: Stories

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Of Memory and Desire: Stories
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Of Memory and Desire: Stories
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Of Memory and Desire: Stories

by Gladys Swan

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Of Memory and Desire: Stories

by Swan, Gladys

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Of Memory and Desire Stories

Of Memory and Desire Stories

by Swan, Gladys

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Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. Near Fine in Very Good+ dust jacket. 1989. First Edition. Hardcover. 0807114804 . INSCRIBED by author on half-title page, "For Rolland Comstock. Re 'voluntary reader' every writer remembers and desires. Warm regards, Gladys Swan 12/7/89." Publisher's letter and author's card laid in. "These eleven compelling stories reveal the interplay and varying hues of two basic elements of human experience - memory and desire." Ships same or next business day. Bookplate of noted collector, Rolland Comstock, on front paste-down endpaper. Spine is slightly tilted, minor edge wear, small bumps on spine ends; overall, pages are clean and tight. Dust jacket protected in archival plastic cover. DJ has minor edge wear, lightly faded on spine, creases on front flap. ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; 166 pages; Signed by Author .
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Of Memory and Desire  Stories

Of Memory and Desire Stories

by Swan, Gladys

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Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. Fine in Near Fine dust jacket. 1989. First Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. 0807114804 . Jacket shows light scuffing to fields and edges, else fine. Flat signed by the author on the half title page. Stated First Printing. ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; 166 pages; Signed by Author .
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