{"title":"Stephen Dixon","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"sleep","title":"Sleep","description":"\u003ch3 style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #9a6372;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eStories by Stephen Dixon\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003ch5 style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003eApril 1, 1999 • 5.5 x 8.5 • 288 pages • 978-1-56689-081-6\u003c\/h5\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003eContemporary short stories about edgy, urban, obsessive characters by one of America’s best writers of experimental fiction.\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis new volume presents short stories from the past twenty-five years by a master of contemporary fiction, collected in book form for the first time. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe edgy, obsessive characters in \u003cem\u003eSleep\u003c\/em\u003e revise themselves as they speak, in sentences that cross themselves out and start over, as his narrators examine and explore every possible alternative, to the point where these texts become palimpsests, recording not only what is or was, but what might be. And it is left to the reader to determine which is which. Is which.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStephen Dixon (1936-2019) was a two-time finalist for the National Book Award, for Frog and Interstate, and the author of twenty books, including The Play and Other Stories and Sleep by Coffee House Press. His short works have previously appeared in many publications, including Harper’s, Triquarterly, and Best American Short Stories.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch5 style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h5\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReviews\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"text\"\u003e“Dixon’s quirky style almost renders ordinary exposition unnecessary. Instead, Dixon careens back and forth between machine-gun dialogue and description, merging thoughts, conversation, and other absurd narrative into a single mind blurring entity.” \u003cstrong\u003e—\u003cem\u003eBoston Globe\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A master at portraying the trajectory of a life. . . . He succeeds not only with his sharp ear for dialogue, but in the undermining of genre, often collapsing novel, short story, letter, and play elements into a cohesive whole.” \u003cstrong\u003e—\u003cem\u003eRain Taxi\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"CHPbeta","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43707666190,"sku":"","price":17.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1475\/9808\/products\/Sleep.jpg?v=1499210918"},{"product_id":"the-play-and-other-stories","title":"The Play and Other Stories","description":"\u003ch3 style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #9a6372;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eStories by Stephen Dixon\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003ch5 style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003eNovember 1, 1988 • 5.5 x 8.5 • 160 pages • 978-0-918273-45-1\u003c\/h5\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese tough urban tales present characters beset by bizarre bureaucracies, real and imagined city violence, and private hells of their own making. A man who witnesses a baby falling to its death from an apartment building begins to hallucinate his own child tumbling from his apartment window—he finally has to leave the city to retain his sanity. Evicted from his apartment and dumped by his lover, another character is offered ten thousand dollars by an eccentric, only to be arrested for counterfeiting. Unifying these seventeen stories is the characters’ ability to find inner reserves that enable them to continue their struggle to make an uneasy peace with friends, lovers, the city, and themselves.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStephen Dixon (1936-2019) was a two-time finalist for the National Book Award, for Frog and Interstate, and the author of twenty books, including The Play and Other Stories and Sleep by Coffee House Press. His short works have previously appeared in many publications, including Harper’s, Triquarterly, and Best American Short Stories.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReviews\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"text\"\u003e“Dixon demands the attention of his readers and assumes their basic intelligence. His stories have been aptly compared to silent films: as in early silent movies, action, gestures, movement, dialogue are—by the author’s highly controlled and rhythmic narrative—temporarily frozen, yet never isolated.” \u003cstrong\u003e—\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[Dixon’s work] examines the human spirit stretched to its limits, ultimately justifying a life for no more reason than the fact that it is being lived. It is a recipe for living life on one’s own terms or dying trying. It’s what happens when homo urbanus tries to preserve a code of honor without a coat of honor.” \u003cstrong\u003e—Michael Heaton, \u003cem\u003eCleveland Plain Dealer\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"CHPbeta","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43707787598,"sku":"","price":9.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1475\/9808\/products\/The-Play.jpg?v=1499211064"}],"url":"https:\/\/coffeehousepress.org\/collections\/stephen-dixon.oembed","provider":"Coffee House Press","version":"1.0","type":"link"}