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In The Age of Wire and Stories, hailed by Robert Coover as "the most audacious literary debut in decades," Ben Marcus welds together a new reality from the scrapheap of the past. Dogs, birds, horses, automobiles, and the weather are some of the recycled elements in Marcus' first collection—part fiction, part handbook—as familiar objects take on markedly unfamiliar meanings. Gradually, this makeshift world, in its defiance of the laws of physics and language, finds a foundation in its own implausibility, as Marcus produces new feelings and sensations—both comic and disturbing—in the definitive guide to an unpredictable yet exhilarating plane of existence.
In a reality constructed from the detritus of the familiar, the inhabitants of this world must navigate a landscape where the fundamental laws of physics and language have been systematically dismantled. The narrative functions as a fragmented, encyclopedic guide, forcing the reader to abandon traditional expectations of plot and character development. Instead, the text presents a series of surreal, often unsettling observations that challenge the stability of everyday objects and concepts. By reassembling the mundane into the bizarre, the work forces a confrontation with the instability of meaning itself.
This work is frequently cited as a landmark of experimental prose, noted for its uncompromising rejection of traditional narrative structures. Critics often highlight the author's ability to create a self-contained, implausible reality that functions through its own internal, albeit bizarre, logic. The text is recognized for its capacity to evoke sensations that oscillate between the comic and the deeply unsettling, reflecting a profound skepticism toward language. Readers often approach this collection as a linguistic puzzle, appreciating the technical audacity required to sustain such a surreal vision across multiple vignettes.
Page Count:
160
Publication Date:
1995-01-01
Publisher:
Flamingo
ISBN-10:
0002256509
ISBN-13:
9780002256506
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