Mitko (Miami University Press Fiction)
"Garth Greenwell's MITKO is a work of enormous verbal energy in the service of a vision punishing and remorseless. An anatomy of desire and disappointment in a life 'pitched almost always beneath the pitch of poetry' yet captured in language alert to every prospect of beauty, however compromised and fleeting."--Robert Boyers, author of The Dictator's Dictation"In MITKO Garth Greenwell displays a dazzling ability to negotiate the shadowy boundary between lust and longing. The story is thoroughly modern, but the elegance of his style, his devotion to his characters, and his Jamesian skill in parsing emotions give this narration a timeless quality. A splendid debut."--Margot Livesey, author of The House on Fortune Street"In this lyrical and sophisticated exploration of tormented desire and romantic obsession, Garth Greenwell unfurls a story of love and life in a faraway place that is finely observed and deeply felt. His voice is elegant and original; his prose graceful, seductive and full of yearning."--David Francis, author of Stray Dog Winter"MITKO is a haunting and compelling meditation on erotic obsession, loneliness, and power. Garth Greenwell writes with the intensity and urgency of a poet, and his novella takes on the weight and impact of a much longer work of fiction."--Stephen McCauley, author of The Object of My Affection"MITKO is a novella of astonishing force and poignance, and Greenwell's Sofia brings to mind Christopher Isherwood's Berlin or the Saigon of Marguerite Duras."--Honor Moore, author of The Bishop's Daughter