Bücher von James Lasdun

THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY BEST BOOKS OF 2009THE WALL STREET JOURNAL BEST FICTION OF 2009LIBRARY JOURNAL BEST BOOKS OF 2009FAVORITE FICTION OF 2009 FROM THE LOS ANGELES TIMESJames Lasdun's great gift is his instinct for the vertiginous moments when the essence of a life discloses itself. In sharply evoked settings that range from the wilds of northern Greece to the beaches of Cape Cod, these intensely dramatic tales in It's Beginning to Hurt chart the metamorphoses of their characters as they fall prey to the range of human passions. As James Wood has written, "James Lasdun seems to me to be one of the secret gardens of English writing. . . . When we read him we know what language is for."

"Superb... Every page of this narration bears examples of Lasdun's own poetic mastery... Shockingly vivid."-Time Out

These narratives are set against a variety of backdrops - from the teeming banks of the Ganges to a homeless shelter in New York. In "Ate/Menos" or "The Miracle", a young man takes advantage of a woman who mistakes him for someone else. In "The Siege", a wealthy recluse falls in love.

Lawrence Miller, English expatriate and professor of gender studies, tells the story of what appears to be an elaborate conspiracy to frame him for a series of brutal killings a world of subtly deceptive appearances where the most nightmarish acts occur.

"American readers who want to see rejuvenated form in untroubled action, giving brisk shape to contemporary and classical events, will find it in Lasdun." -Helen Vendler

"Brilliant ...certainly among the most gifted, vivid, and deft poets now writing in English."-Anthony Hecht, author of The Darkness and the Light