Prayers of an Accidental Nature

By Debra Di Blasi and Debra DiBlasi

Book Overview

Stylistically innovative fiction that tests the borders of gender and class issues, skirting the edge of post-modern erotica.

Whether urban or rural, rich or poor, young or old, the characters in Prayers of an Accidental Nature are driven by perpetual yearning: for love, sex, healing, even for death. This virtuoso collection of cutting-edge short stories with a subversive undercurrent is marked by dazzling versatility.

Di Blasi tells the stories of a teacher who converses with God, a pair of mythic (and meta-) lovers, and a scotch-soaked schizophrenic. In the title story, the plural narrator of a doomed upper class masterminds the demise of a favored son's romance with a woman from "Peru or Bolivia (we can't remember which)." In "An Interview with My Husband," an artificial exercise forces a couple to face up to the dissolution of their marriage. In "An Obscure Geography" a beloved teacher meets her match in the form of the evil son of wealthy newcomers, and yet manages to triumph, even in death. At the end of the story, her students toss flowers into her grave as they recite the names of capital cities. Di Blasi's fierce artistry tugs her readers into the psyches and beds of her characters, and leaves us there to wonder if a greater truth, or a greater lie, is being laid bare. Intellectual and funny, erotic and contemplative, the stories in Prayers of an Accidental Nature scrutinize the tensions and divisions that arise in human relations--divisions of culture, class, age, and sex. Di Blasi's narratives probe the intricacies of human love, lust, and loneliness, and the darkest areas where these overlap.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1566890837
• ISBN13: 9781566890830
• Release Date: April 1999
• Publisher: Coffee House Press
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

Solid not brilliant

Di Blasi's Drought set up expectations that few authors can fulfill - including Di Blasi. In this collection, however, the author has shown herself willing to experiment with a variety of styles, willing to stretch herself.Several of the stories are memorable - An Obscure Geography and I Am Telling You Lies - are examples. An Obscure Geography is set in the eighth grade in a poor rural community; the author captures some of the more obscure nature of the students. I Am Telling You Lies reveals how a Latin American student deals with his family expectations and his physical appearance.Two of the stories are "short shorts" - Fog misses the mark for this form while Chairman of the Board succeeds.All in all this collection is worth reading. Di Blasi is an author worth watching. I await the day this is labeled one of her "lesser" works for she has proven herself to be very talented.