Creature

Description
Creature brings together short fictions set in the space between action and reflection, edging at times toward the quiet and contemplative, at other times toward the grotesque or unsettling. Amina Cain's Creature brings together short fictions set in the space between action and reflection, edging at times toward the quiet and contemplative, at other times toward the grotesque or unsettling. Like the women in Jane Bowles's work, Cain's narrators seem always slightly displaced in the midst of their own experiences, carefully observing the effects of themselves on their surroundings and of their surroundings on themselves. Other literary precursors might include Raymond Carver and John Cage, some unlikely concoction of the two, with Carver's lucid prose and instinct for the potency of small gestures and Cage's ability to return the modern world to elementary principles. These stories offer not just a unique voice but a unique narrative space, a distinct and dramatic rendering of being-in-the-world.
About this Author
Amina is the author of two collections of stories: Creature and I Go To Some Hollow (Les Figues, 2009). Her writing has appeared in numerous publications, including the Paris Review Daily, n+1, Everyday Genius, and Two Serious Ladies. She lives and works in Los Angeles, where she sometimes curates readings and events as a member of Betalevel, a basement space in L.A.'s Chinatown.
Reviews
Amina Cain is a beautiful writer. Like the girl in the rear view mirror in your backseat, quiet, looking out the window half smiling, then not, then glancing at you, curious to her. That is how her thoughts and words make me feel, like clouds hanging with jets, and knowing love is pure.' -Thurston Moore '[Amina Cain's characters] are like people who have narrowly escaped disaster. Shell-shocked and clothed in tatters, they slip away to a quiet place - not to escape the feeling of having survived something extraordinary but to nurture it.' -Los Angeles Times 'Cain captures a particular kind of attempt at happiness: trying to be easy on oneself; praying at a Zen monastery; focusing on small pleasures like orchids and neatly folded towels. Perhaps that's why, in both form and content, so much here is microscopic, with a delicate sadness infusing mundane activities like bathing, spilling olive oil, and touching a wall . . . Cain's tone - unknowing, exhibiting the most awed reverence toward the smallest details of life and thought - remains wonderfully effective throughout.' -Publishers Weekly
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