Mark Singer's lively and extremely popular "U.S. Journal" column in The New Yorker featured under-the-radar stories that were unusual but emblematic tales of American life. A first-time collection of these pieces, Somewhere in America offers an illuminating glimpse of the cultural kaleidoscope of our country. From worm farmers in Weleetka, Oklahoma, to angry nudists in Wilmington, Vermont, Singer proves that "sometimes you don't even need a passport to experience a new nation" (U.S. News & World Report).
From the unwed mother believing the lies of her boyfriend to the end; the healing preacher, who loves to lay hands on his members; to the "down low" brother, whose denial sets off a horrifying chain of events, these off-beat, gritty stories will "scratch" you and force you to examine life situations, the choices you make and the repercussions from them. Realistic and comical, you will laugh, cry and "holler" with the neighborhood folk. Don't see yourself yet? Keep reading, you will.
THE STORIES: MARGARET’S BED. Elsie picks up Ben at the symphony and brings him back to the apartment she shares with Margaret, who is away for the night. Ben assumes that this is a prelude to sex, but truly Elsie is just desperate for Ben to sleep in Margaret’s empty bed, because she has a pathological fear of sleeping in an empty apartment. (1 man, 1 woman.) THE KILLING. Mac meets Huey at a bar and brings him home to his apartment to share a bottle of whiskey, but this isn’t the kind of pick-up you might think. Mac, who is a religious man and fears damnation, hopes to convince Huey, who does not believe, to kill him. (2 men.) THE POWER OF SILENCE. Teachers at the same school, Emma and Louise have been receiving mysterious phone calls, and when Emma answers, no one speaks. Louise is less disturbed by the calls, but they make Emma frantic, and she is sure that one of her students is responsible. After several silent calls, someone rings their door buzzer repeatedly. But who’s there? (2 men, 2 women.) PRODIGAL. Terry is a troubled teen who’s been arrested multiple times and is on probation. In fact, if his mother won’t let him stay with her, Terry has to turn himself in and go back to “the farm.” Nancy has a chance at a new life with a new husband, though, and she can’t handle her son anymore. But her decision has dire consequences for others. (1 man, 2 women.) THE CALL. Joe has traveled to New York City from Billings, Montana for a Shriners-like convention and parade, but he is weighed down by his sense of failure and fear of a changing world. He can’t even bring himself to stay with his successful actress sister and her husband in their tony apartment, preferring to drag his heavy suitcase to find a hotel room on a low floor. (2 men.) THE LOVE DEATH. Byron is a successful writer, living alone in a well-decorated apartment, who makes a series of calls to his mother, friends, and the critic who gave his last book of short stories a terrible review to let them know that he is about to commit suicide. (1 man, voices.) MOVED-IN. The super of the apartment complex, Mr. Flicker, is leaving, and the board has offered his job to Carlton. But Carlton, an African American who struggled to get admitted to the complex in the first place, isn’t sure he wants to take the job and give up the hate he feels for many of his fellow tenants. (2 men, 1 woman.)
“If Tina Fey and David Sedaris had a daughter, she would be Maeve Higgins.” —Glamour A startlingly hilarious essay collection about one woman’s messy path to finding her footing in New York City, from breakout comedy star and podcaster Maeve Higgins Maeve Higgins was a bestselling author and comedian in her native Ireland when, at the grand old age of thirty-one, she left the only home she’d ever known in search of something more and found herself in New York City. Together, the essays in Maeve in America create a smart, funny, and revealing portrait of a woman who aims for the stars but sometimes hits the ceiling and the inimitable city that helped make her who she is. Here are stories of not being able to afford a dress for the ball, of learning to live with yourself while you’re still figuring out how to love yourself, of the true significance of realizing what sort of shelter dog you would be. Self-aware and laugh-out-loud funny, this collection is also a fearless exploration of the awkward questions in life, such as: Is clapping too loudly at a gig a good enough reason to break up with somebody? Is it ever really possible to leave home? “Maeve Higgins is hilarious, poignant, conversational, and my favorite Irish import since U2. You’re in for a treat.” —Phoebe Robinson
Dr. Michael Berman is a workaholic psychiatrist who prays for a God and dreams for peace. As he struggles to define his own reality and answer the questions of his lucid nightmares, Dr. Berman sees patient after patient in his office, hoping he can help them more than he can help himself. But the truth is that Dr. Berman does not always have the answers. Between his appointments with his patientswho face a wide range of problemsDr. Berman flips on his office stereo and lies on his own couch, determined to nap his troubles away. But instead, he is plagued by visions that cause him to question everything in his life. Is he an existential pessimist? Why has he been lying to his patients lately? Is the beautiful woman he dreams about real? In this novel, a psychiatrist floats somewhere between sanity and insanity as the voice of his stereo leads him on an unstoppable path to his destiny.
"Born in Harlem during the Great Depression, a little African-American girl is named Hope Sequoyah for the promise of better times to come and the Cherokee chief who taught his people how to read and write. With a name like yours, you must stand tall, her mama always says. When Hope is five years old, her mama takes a painting class with Robert Brackman and Hope's life is forever changed. In her own words, Hope tells of how she gets another name and meets President Franklin D. Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor--all with her teddy bear by her side."--Dust jacket.
THE STORIES: BAD BREATH. What starts as a seemingly light spoof of 1960s Mad Men-era advertising and the All-American Family turns darker, exposing lies and betrayals behind the glossy sheen. (6 men, 9 women, doubling.) CINDERELLA. This sharp and sly retelling is set in a pretentious middle-class home, somewhere in America. But this young woman seems to have everything in hand to save herself. (4 women.) THE DISPOSAL. Jess was convicted for killing his pregnant wife, and now he sits on death row, awaiting execution today. He alternates between calm acceptance and violent hysteria, raging at his fellow inmates and the prison’s chaplain. Jess is desperate for forgiveness from his father, but his father refuses to accept that Jess is guilty, robbing his son of the possibility of some kind of understanding. (8 men, 1 woman.) A HERO OF OUR TIME. Bonnie and Vic are teenage neighbors who have the eye for one another, but their families keep them apart. Bonnie’s father worries that his daughter hangs out with bad company. Vic’s religious and conservative mother wants her son to steer clear of impure thoughts and deeds. And so the parents condemn their children to lives of dissolution and repression. (4 men, 4 women.) A MURDER. A private man with a box of memories seeks lodging at a strange boarding house—a place where the weather and time itself can change in an instant. When the man discovers the dead body of a young boy in the wardrobe, we wonder if we really have crossed over into another dimension. (2 men, 1 woman.) VENUS IN THERAPY. The owner of a small beauty parlor in a country village, Venus loves to be in love. She seems to be ageless, and it’s possible that she really is an embodiment of the goddess of love. But this Venus feels that her lifelong desire has become a curse, and that in the face of sexual obsession, people don’t think of love as something real. (6 men, 7 women, doubling.)
Film noir is more than a cinematic genre. It is an essential aspect of American culture. Along with the cowboy of the Wild West, the denizen of the film noir city is at the very center of our mythological iconography. Described as the style of an anxious victor, film noir began during the post-war period, a strange time of hope and optimism mixed with fear and even paranoia. The shadow of this rich and powerful cinematic style can now be seen in virtually every artistic medium. The spectacular success of recent neo-film noirs is only the tip of an iceberg. In the dead-on, nocturnal jazz of Charlie Parker and Miles Davis, the chilled urban landscapes of Edward Hopper, and postwar literary fiction from Nelson Algren and William S. Burroughs to pulp masters like Horace McCoy, we find an unsettling recognition of the dark hollowness beneath the surface of the American Dream. Acclaimed novelist and poet Nicholas Christopher explores the cultural identity of film noir in a seamless, elegant, and enchanting work of literary prose. Examining virtually the entire catalogue of film noir, Christopher identifies the central motif as the urban labyrinth, a place infested with psychosis, anxiety, and existential dread in which the noir hero embarks on a dangerously illuminating quest. With acute sensitivity, he shows how technical devices such as lighting, voice over, and editing tempo are deployed to create the film noir world. Somewhere in the Night guides us through the architecture of this imaginary world, be it shot in New York or Los Angeles, relating its elements to the ancient cultural archetypes that prefigure it. Finally, Christopher builds an explanation of why film noir not only lives on but is currently enjoying a renaissance. Somewhere in the Night can be appreciated as a lucid introduction to a fundamental style of American culture, and also as a guide to film noir's heyday. Ultimately, though, as the work of a bold talent adeptly manipulating poetic cadence and metaphor, it is itself a superb aesthetic artifact.
Digte. Addresses race, class, sexuality, faith, social justice, mortality, and the challenges of living HIV positive at the intersection of black and queer identity
