Gertrude of Stony Island Avenue (US)
In 1956, James Purdy publishedDon't Call Me By My Right Name and Other Stories, and in the years since, he has produced some of the most remarkable stories, novels, and plays in the English language. Praised by artists as diverse as Dame Edith Sitwell, Gore Vidal, and John Waters for his evocative diction, emotional subtlety, and disturbingly baroque narratives, Purdy has created an emotional, psychological landscape uniquely American in its depiction of fear, love, loss, and violence. InGertrude of Stony Island Avenue--his 14th novel and 46th book--he charts the life of Carrie Kinsella, a stifled, repressed woman who suddenly realizes the emptiness of her own life after the death of her daughter Gertrude, a brilliant artist. In her search for the "real" Gertrude, Carrie realizes that it is actually herself she is attempting to find. As in his classicsEustace Chisolm and the WorksandIn a Shallow Grave, Purdy's understanding of the horrors of the human heart--and the slim but possible potential for salvation--shines through here in ways that are devastating and sublime.Gertrude of Stony Island Avenueis James Purdy at his best, which is to say magnificent.--Michael Bronski