The Overwhelming Urge
by Andersen Prunty
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Book Summary Information
Author: Andersen PruntyEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-02-03
ISBN: 1933929650
Number of pages: 140
Publisher: Eraserhead Press
Book Reviews of The Overwhelming Urge
Book Review: 21st Century Kafka
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a collection of very short (flash) fiction from a writer at the absurd end of the bizarro spectrum. This book is a smashed funfair mirror, fragments reflecting our world, though in a grotesque, distorted way. Paint huffers abound, misunderstanderings are the norm, people shrug in the face of the impossible.
What struck me reading this was how much it reminded me of reading Kafka in a good, clean translation, perhaps Michael Hofmann's versions. This is two fold; superficially the length of the stories is comprable to the work in "Contemplation", but the subject matter is distinctly late Kafka, circa "A Country Doctor: Short Prose for my Father".
Hopefully I've sketched a picture, and need only add a quick dash of colour by noting this; when Kafka's work was read aloud it was common for people (including the man himself) to fall about in hysterical laughter. This detail is often overlooked... and I dare anyone not to pick up "The Overwhelming Urge", find a story at random, and break up like a kicked in funfair mirror.
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