US/EN
Many Seconds Into the Future: Ten Stories
John J. Clayton
(Author)
Description
The stories in John J. Clayton's newest collection are luminous, expressing a struggle to see growth and meaning in life as much as possible. Nearly all focus on family, and the characters, most of them Jewish, grapple with questions of living, dying, loving, and worshipping. Clayton has published several novels, including Mitzvah Man (TTUP, 2011), but he is best known for his critically-acclaimed short fiction, which has been included in O. Henry Prize Stories, Best American Short Stories, and Pushcart Prize anthologies. His collection Radiance was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award. Written after his collection Wrestling with Angels (2007), the ten stories in Many Seconds into the Future first appeared in Commentary and various other literary magazines, while some are appearing here for the first time. Often humorous, they are masterful stories of spiritual questing and emotional complexity.Product Details
Price
$34.75
Publisher
Texas Tech University Press
Publish Date
March 15, 2014
Pages
224
Dimensions
6.0 X 8.9 X 0.6 inches | 0.7 pounds
Language
English
Type
Paperback
EAN/UPC
9780896728592
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About the Author
John J. Clayton has taught modern literature and fiction writing at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and has been a visiting professor at Mt. Holyoke College and Hampshire College. He lives in western Massachusetts and Cape Cod.
Reviews
Praise for "Radiance"
Here are powerful stories of urban life in America. . . among Jews who carry their exile and their wilderness within them. The prose is powerful, an impressive mixture of sinuous sentences--which one reads as if one overhears thoughts--and fragments of passion, small felt instances, that stay with the reader like bruises. All of these characters are bruised. They are often enough triumphant, though, even if locked into mortal flesh, because they have an astonishing belief in the spirit.
--Frederick Busch
John Clayton has proven once again that he is not just a master writer, but a master of breaking and mending the reader s heart. I read these stories in one great and terrible rush. They have such powerful momentum, such essential and true gravitas that there was no stopping. The world here, dark as it can be, glitters. There is a lifetime of knowing in this book. --Victoria Redel, author of "The Border of Truth: A Novel"
Here are powerful stories of urban life in America. . . among Jews who carry their exile and their wilderness within them. The prose is powerful, an impressive mixture of sinuous sentences--which one reads as if one overhears thoughts--and fragments of passion, small felt instances, that stay with the reader like bruises. All of these characters are bruised. They are often enough triumphant, though, even if locked into mortal flesh, because they have an astonishing belief in the spirit.
--Frederick Busch
John Clayton has proven once again that he is not just a master writer, but a master of breaking and mending the reader s heart. I read these stories in one great and terrible rush. They have such powerful momentum, such essential and true gravitas that there was no stopping. The world here, dark as it can be, glitters. There is a lifetime of knowing in this book. --Victoria Redel, author of "The Border of Truth: A Novel"
John Clayton is a mystic, a seer, a magi, and yet he doesn t know all, or care to. Within the mysteries lie the hearts of these great stories. His people are as real as ours, and we worry over them, listen to them, laugh with them, most of all feel with them. No writer evokes emotion like John Clayton, from tears to joy, from shock to acceptance, and "Many Seconds into the Future "is a testament to faith, compassion, and the power of love. --Bill Roorbach, author of "Life Among Giants" and "The Remedy for Love""
