The Skin Is the Elastic Covering that Encases the Entire Body

by Björn Rasmussen

Other authorsMartin Aiken (Translator)
Paperback, 2019

Status

Available

Call number

FICT-G Rasm

Publication

Two Lines Press (2019), Edition: Translation, 120 pages

Description

"A feverish combination of stream of conscious, autobiography, collage, and narrative,Skin marks the arrival of a truly original literary voice. Reminiscent of Maggie Nelson's The Argonauts, it is as omnivorous as the bodies within it, as unrestrained as the appetites, terrors, and trysts that celebrated author Bjørn Rasmussen evokes in poetic detail. Deeply emotional, erotic, elegiac, and pansexual, it caresses the wounds we visit upon our body and soul in an attempt to serve the urges of our largest organ--the skin that covers and defines us."--Entropy, Best Fiction of 2019 What if your first true love broke all known taboos? What if your very first romance drowned you in a whirlpool of transgression? A coming-of-age novel that is minutely in tune with the perversions of its narrator's body,The Skin Is the Elastic Covering that Encases the Entire Body defines category. The desperate account of a teenage boy in love with a much older riding instructor, it follows the unforgettable Bjorn as he pushes his flesh to its very limits, annihilating boundaries of gender and sexuality in a search for impossible gratification. A feverish combination of stream of conscious, autobiography, collage, and narrative,Skin marks the arrival of a truly original literary voice. It is as omnivorous as the bodies within it, as unrestrained as the appetites, terrors, and trystings that celebrated author Bjorn Rasumssen evokes in poetic detail. Deeply emotional, erotic, elegiac, and pansexual, it caresses the wounds we visit upon our flesh and soul in an attempt to serve the urges of the body's largest organ--the skin that covers and defines us.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member greeniezona
I found a used copy of this at the bookstore when I was spending my Christmas book money looking for novellas and translation, and this meets both categories!

I was kind of expecting this book to be more erotic, but it isn't, not exactly. It's not a sexy book, though it is *about* sex, and desire,
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and obsession. There are bits of it that are sexy, but generally the reader is quickly reminded of the self-destruction wrapped up with the sex. This is a book about wanting to be broken open, about wanting our wounds to show, about needing to hurt yourself to feel. This brokenness is mirrored in the writing, a collage of narrative, stream of consciousness, letters, memoir, and all-caps howling.

Certainly an experience, and in some places it worked better for me than others. I liked that he acknowledged those he has stolen lines and thoughts from in the end, from Kathy Acker to The Little Prince.

Not recommended for the faint of heart.
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Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

2011

ISBN

1931883858 / 9781931883856

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Rating

(3 ratings; 3.3)
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