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"Bereft after the death of his ailing wife, a retired professor has resumed his life's work -- a book that will stand as a towering cathedral to Michel de Montaigne, reframing the inventor of the essay for the modern age. The challenge is the litany of intrusions that bar his way -- from memories of his past to the nattering of smartphones to his son's relentless desire to make an electronic dance album. As he sifts through the contents of his desk, his thoughts pulsing and receding in a haze of caffeine and grief, ghosts and grievances spill out across the page. From the community college where he toiled in vain to an artists' colony in the Berkshires, from the endless pleasures of coffee to the finer points of Holocaust art, the professor's memories churn with sculptors, poets, painters, and inventors, all obsessed with escaping both mediocrity and themselves. Laced with humor as acrid as it is absurd, Lesser Ruins is a spiraling, raging meditation on ambition, grief, and humanity's ecstatic, agonizing search for meaning through art"--
A propos de l'auteur
Mark Haber was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Florida. His debut novel,
Reinhardt’s Garden (2019, Coffee House Press), was longlisted for the PEN/Hemingway Award. His second novel,
Saint Sebastian’s Abyss (2022, Coffee House Press), was named a best book of 2022 by the New York Public Library,
Literary Hub, and
Publishers Weekly. Mark's fiction has appeared in
Guernica,
Southwest Review, and
Air/Light, among others. Mark lives in Minneapolis.
Résumé
From the author of Reinhardt's Garden and Saint Sebastian's Abyss comes a breathless new novel of delirious obsession.
Bereft after the death of his ailing wife, a retired professor has resumed his life's work—a book that will stand as a towering cathedral to Michel de Montaigne, reframing the inventor of the essay for the modern age. The challenge is the litany of intrusions that bar his way—from memories of his past to the nattering of smartphones to his son's relentless desire to make an electronic dance album.
As he sifts through the contents of his desk, his thoughts pulsing and receding in a haze of caffeine, ghosts and grievances spill out across the page. From the community college where he toiled in vain to an artists' colony in the Berkshires, from the endless pleasures of coffee to the finer points of Holocaust art, the professor's memories churn with sculptors, poets, painters, and inventors, all obsessed with escaping both mediocrity and themselves.
Laced with humor as acrid as it is absurd, Lesser Ruins is a spiraling meditation on ambition, grief, and humanity's ecstatic, agonizing search for meaning through art.
Préface
- National print, radio, and online campaign
- Targeted bookseller mailing
- Events in Twin Cities and surrounding areas
- Author presence at Winter Institute
- Promotion on Coffee House Press e-newsletter, website, and social media channels
- Giveaways on Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads
- Simultaneous print and e-book release
- Galleys available in May 2024
- Indie Next Deadline: July 29, 2024
- Email laura@coffeehousepress.org for physical galleys
