A collection of short stories presents a satirical assault on humankind's most recognized taboos in an anthology that includes the title novella, in which an American playwright visits a former concentration camp, and "Three Pigs in Five Days." 12,500 first printing. Tour.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review:
These two novellas about Americans abroad combine to create one wallop of a book. As they confront the legacy of history and their own shortcomings, Prose's characters are obsessively self-aware, even narcissistically petty--just like we are. In the title story, Landau, a struggling playwright, engages in a vanity-laden struggle of wills with a charismatic Holocaust-survivor in the cafeteria of a death camp-turned-tourist-attraction during a Kafka symposium. In the second novella "Three Pigs in Five Days," Nina is sent to Paris by her boss and ex-lover to write an article about a whorehouse-turned-hotel. While there, she is plagued by the demons of her erotic past as well as the romantic ghosts of the dysfunctional relationships of dead Parisian artists and their mistresses. Always harrowing, occasionally baroque, and tinged with hilarity, Guided Tours of Hell is an early candidate for the best fiction of the year.
About the Author:
Francine Prose has taught at the Iowa Writers' Workshop, the Sewanee Writers' Conference, and Johns Hopkins University.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherMetropolitan Books
- Publication date1997
- ISBN 10 0805048618
- ISBN 13 9780805048612
- BindingHardcover
- Edition number1
- Number of pages241
-
Rating