City Made of Words (Outspoken Author, 23)

by Paul Park

Paperback, 2019

Status

Available

Call number

PS3566.A6745 A6

Genres

Science Fiction

Fiction

Publication

PM Press (2019), Edition: None, 128 pages

Description

Paul Park is one of modern fiction's major innovators. With characters truly alien and disturbingly normal, his work explores the shifting interface between traditional narrative and luminous dream, all in the service of a deeper humanism. 'Climate Change,' original to this volume, is an intimate and erotic take on a global environmental crisis. 'A Resistance to Theory' chronicles the passionate (and bloody) competition between the armed adherents of postmodern literary schools. 'A Conversation with the Author' gives readers a harrowing look behind the curtains of an MFA program. In 'A Brief History of SF' a fan encounters the ruined man who first glimpsed the ruined cities of Mars. 'Creative Nonfiction' showcases a professor's eager collaboration with a student intent on wrecking his career. The only nonfiction piece, 'A Homily for Good Friday,' was delivered to a stunned congregation at a New England church.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member iansales

Park has had an interesting and varied career. He debuted with a complex sf trilogy set on a world with extremely long seasons and with a somewhat meandering plot. His next novel was postcolonial science fiction, and remains one of my favourite genre novels. He then wrote a pair of Biblical

fantasies, followed by a straight-up, but very literary, portal fantasy set in a Romanian empire. Although Park moves effortlessly between fantasy and science fiction, he has always worked at the literary end of both genres. But there has, in recent years, come an increasing narrative playfulness apparent in his fiction. His last novel was, among other things, about the Forgotten Realms novel he wrote under a pseudonym, the history of his family, an art installation he wrote a text for, and, in part, his writing career. A City Made of Words is more of the same. It’s a collection of short stories, most previously published, and an “interview”, and it’s more of the meta-fiction Park has been writing of late. He is one of my favourite writers, and has been for many years, and while for some that – being a favourite writer – means a consistent delivery of exactly the same stuff the reader likes, for me Park is a favourite writer because he is forever changing what he produces. The meta-fiction is not just a progression from earlier works, it’s built on earlier works and it’s extremely cleverly done. I suspect my opinion will be shared by few people but I consider Paul Park one of the best US science fiction writers currently being published.

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