An Amorous Discourse in the Suburbs of Hell E-Book

Deborah Levy

• Herausgeber: And Other Stories
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 30

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

Man Booker Prize shortlisted Deborah Levy whips up a storm of romance and slapstick, of heavenly and earthly delights, in this dystopian philosophical poem about individualfreedom and the search for the good life.

Leseprobe

Praise forAn Amorous Discourse in the Suburbs of Hell

‘I loved this effervescent dialogue between she and he, angel and accountant, wild desire and the (ever more desirable) quotidian. It’s Deborah Levy at her wise, witty and playful best. Read it and be seduced away from (or back into) the suburbs of hell.’

Lisa Appignanesi, author of All About Love

‘She writes like a hyper-kinetic angel.’

Sunday Times

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Praise for Deborah Levy

‘Levy winds her characters up and watches them go, and they do as most humans do, which is to mess up in the face of desire … Utterly beautiful and lyrical throughout.’

Booklist

‘She is one of the few contemporary British writers comfortable on a world stage.’

New Statesman

‘Accomplished and uncanny. The strange, unpredictable journey is worth it.’

Alex Clark, Guardian

‘A major contemporary writer who never pulls her punches.’

Julia Pascal, Independent

‘Levy’s strength is her originality of thought and expression.’

Jeanette Winterson

‘Levy’s sense of dramatic form … is unerring.’

New Yorker

First published in 1990 by Jonathan Cape, UK

This edition published with revisions in 2014 by And Other Stories London – New York

www.andotherstories.org

Copyright © Deborah Levy 1990

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transported in any form by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher of this book.

The right of Deborah Levy to be identified as Author of An Amorous Discourse in the Suburbs of Hell has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organisations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

ISBN 9781908276469 eBook ISBN 9781908276476

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Contents

Part OnePart Two

i will not eat tomorrow and i did not eat today but wotthehell i ask you the word is toujours gai

Don Marquis,Archy and Mehitabel

In order to show you where your desire is it is enough to forbid it to you a little. a little prohibition a good deal of play

Roland Barthes,A Lover’s Discourse translated by Richard Howard

‌Part One

He

There you are

All wonderful and winged and leaking

That smile

Let me in

Want to

Walk through snow storms

Burning for you

Peeling oranges for you

Shimmeringand

Shiveringmy

Assured

Modern

Woman

Who are you

Anyway?

she

i have come

to save you

from the suburbs of hell

to rub my skin

against

the regularity of your habits

to bend your thoughts

like a spoon

to find your memories

lost in software

dived like a thought

out of paradise

into

your acrylic arms

He

Uninvited

You flew into

My semi

And ate all my daffodils

I woke up

To your

Starry tattoos

Fingers

Tangled

In your hair

I asked

You

To stay

Now you make

Incense

From myheart

And liver

Spit

Mean small

Feathers

At my good intentions

she

good intentions

are there

to be ruined

look at the tear stains on your tie

newlyweds

wear a band of gold

full of good intentions

look how they jitter and panic

when the bus stops to change drivers

at the junction between lidl and chicken cottage

He

No wonder you

Fell

From Grace

Into

My poor lap

Fearful pigeons