Standing on Richards

Toronto, Ontario, Canada : Viking Canada, 2004. 1st Edition . Hardcover. As New/As New. As New, An Unread Copy. May Have Minor Shelf Wear To Dust Jacket. - For More Information On Condition. Please See All Photos. In One Of The Stories In Standing On Richards, George Bowering's Latest Collection Of Short Fiction, The Narrator (And Perhaps The Author) Admits "I Am Sick And Tired Of Description." Based On The Evidence In Standing On Richards, Though, What Bowering Is Really Weary Of Are The Conventions Of Narrative. Bowering's Exhaustion Is A Boon To The Reader, However, As He Finds Alternatives That Are Often More Effective Then Standard Storytelling Devices. In "The Creator Has A Master Plan," For Instance, A Protagonist Walks Into A Bar To Hear Sax Player Pharoah Sanders. Just As You Anticipate A Description Of The Sound, The Author Breaks In With "Well, Do We Really Have To Try To Describe Music?--Go Listen To Karma, Impulse As-9181." And Yet Bowering Is Quite Good At Description. In "Creator" He Refers To "The Wide Finger Of Manhattan," And In "Carter Fell" He Writes Of "Spanish Phrases Falling Off Him Like Dying Insects." The Governor General's Award-Winner And Current National Poet Laureate Is Equally Adept At Bits Of Behaviour That Explain Character, Incidents That Move The Plot Along, And Details That Set The Scene. And He Has A Mischievous Streak That Can't Help But Call Attention To What He Is Doing, As In "A Short Story" And "Rhode Island Red" And "Staircase Descended," All Of Which Are, To Some Extent, Meta-Fictions. At The Same Time, Bowering's Self-Awareness Is Offset By A Disarmingly Casual Style That, On The Surface, Seems As Natural As Breathing. From Shaggy Dog Tales To Tender Reminisces To Just-Crazy-Enough-To-Be-True Incidents, In Locales Ranging From Small Town Diners To Big City Nightclubs, The Stories In Standing On Richards Are Told In A Voice That Sounds Like It's Coming From The Wisest And Most Unpretentious Guy In The Bar, Who Introduces Himself With The Words, "Let Me Tell You A Story." --Shawn Conner

Jackie Greenstein Is A Victim Of The Midas Compulsion. The Stock Market Is His Obsession, And Though He Is Pushing Gold Mining Stocks, Not Everyone Jackie Touches Will Find Gold. The Midas Compulsion Is A Novel That Takes You Beyond The Confines Of Toron