Primal Scenes

By Richard Geha

A collection of short stories that grasp the senses, "Primal Scenes" is a masterful demonstration of human emotion, written by a professional in the field. Simple occurrences in an adult life - sexual, or otherwise- can devastate a child, if witnessed too young. "Primal Scenes" explores the ramifications of children seeing adult worlds through young eyes. A primal scene, as described by the author, is a real or imagined event that profoundly affects the psyche; after reading "Primal Scenes" you may be affected just as profoundly.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0887391745
• ISBN13: 9780887391743
• Release Date: June 1999
• Publisher: Creative Arts Book Co
• Length: 300 Pages
• Weight: 1.06 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.0" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

My New Favorite Author

I received my copy of "Primal Scenes" as a gift, literally & figuratively. To enter Richard Geha's universe is akin to entering Edgar Allan Poe's universe. The stories in "Primal Scenes" exist outside the usual spaces. They carry you to places you don't expect -- or necessarily want -- to go, but once you're there, you are filled with awe. Geha's prose is as intimate and accessible as Stephen King's, his characters as fascinating and enigmatic as Poe's. "Primal Scenes" is compelling, an excellent gift for the intelligent readers you know.

To: The Reductive New York Reader

Dear Anonymous Reader: Criticizing Geha for being obsessed with Oedipal themes suggests a narrow reading of the book which is suprising if you have indeed understood Geha's professional writing. The stories can be interpreted in far from simplistic Oedipal terms--much of our great literature draws heavily on Oedipal themes--Hamlet, Lolita, and Absalom Absalom are among the many examples that leap to mind. However, the beauty and intrigue of Geha's stories is that they can be interpreted in many ways. In fact, Oedipal interpretations only scratch the surface of the complicated, terrifying characters and narratives in Primal Scenes. When reading Geha, the reader achieves the rare state in which the written text translates effortlessly to image in the imagination such that the reader looses self-conciousness of the process of reading. Geha's stories are disturbing, suspenseful, grotesque, and frightening. As a Freudian, I'm guessing that these qualities of the fiction are what truly disturb you and what you are really criticizing. This book is a must read for anyone interested in sex, violence, relationships, and post-modern uncertainty.mk/ja

Reductively

The scathing review of Richard Geha's book,"Primal Scenes" by a "Reader from New York" ("Reductively Oedipal," 7/9/02) caused me to take another look. He says it's familiar Freudian nightmares. I wouldn't know, and I don't think most readers would, either--but the stories are solid in the horror vein. I thought Stephen King but better, more Poe-like--stories like "Mary Kelly's Dream" about Jack the Ripper's final victim, and "The Spectator" about a psychotic voyeur. Not a cookie-cutter job in the batch. Many mix horror and humor in interesting ways, like the one about Lady Godiva and the original Peeping Tom, and the one about The Erection That Stormed Smallville.

Radical stories/Radical interest

Stories of absorbing interest, of dreams and blood, crime and love. A primal witness to the human scene, to the endurance of what Lacan (speaking of Klein) called the merde and nappy rash, Richard Geha should be read and encouraged as an author. As Michel de Certeau (Jesuit and analyst) wrote, "...above all we must continue to write."