Adultery
I will begin with dimensions. As one should.
“Talk to your father.”
“You’re married.”
This First Proof contains an excerpt from Distant Cousin by Federico Vegas, translated by Lisa Dillman.
Set in a Mennonite community in picturesque Northern Mexico, Silent Light is the story of a conflicted married Mennonite man, Johan (Cornelio Wall Fehr), who is in love with another woman.
Edge Theater Company produces unequivocally complex new American plays that bring a provocative mix of dark humor and ardent wit to bear in their exploration of life’s messy contingencies. Carolyn Cantor directed their latest, Orange Flower Water.
This First Proof contains the story “Harry Bellefield.”
Set in the straitlaced and gossipy Hong Kong of the early ’60s, In the Mood for Love, Wong Kar-wai’s latest masterpiece of suave innuendo stars Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung as two married neighbors who share a contagious secret.
This First Proof contains the story “Preservation.”
Swine
My stepfather’s golden pencil was a present from his mistress.
Brutus had intense yellow eyes that locked onto yours when he looked at you and cocked his head, but his eyes were closed when he was on the operating table. Joe had the OR nurse cover him with blue sheets and only his feathery, mottled tail stuck out. Joe was operating on his leg.
His wife had ice cream cone breasts and was given to fits of crying which she did alone and in the shower.
Benjamin, love beyond loves; my obsession, my object, object of my obsession; oh wordless lust, philosophical disorder.
… a vast body of curious beliefs, customs, and story narratives are handed down by tradition from generation to generation, the origin of which is unknown.
September 10, 1990
Dear Bill:
Mrs. Merriman sat in her front yard with a bit of embroidery work, chattering pleasantly to herself.
Accidental Rain
There was a brief moment once, as we reached the apex of the Manhattan Bridge, when the setting sun pierced the thin opening between rain clouds and horizon, casting the Westward side of Wall Street into a sudden blood orange glow, while the Eastern edges were all still and grey and pounded by black rain.
Julian Barnes was awarded the prestigious Booker Prize for his novel The Sense of an Ending. He spoke with Patrick McGrath in 1987 about sex, Flaubert, and being obsessed with obsessions.