A01=Rod Val Moore
absurdity and redemption in storytelling
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American Gothic landscapes
Author_Rod Val Moore
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body and mind in modern fiction
Category1=Fiction
Category=FA
Category=FBA
character-driven psychological fiction
class and poverty in contemporary fiction
coming-of-age amid hardship
complex portrayals of suffering
contemporary American fiction
COP=United States
critique of American medical culture
darkly comic novels
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
dysfunctional family dynamics
eccentric characters in fiction
emotional paralysis and renewal
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eq_fiction
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eq_modern-contemporary
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existential struggle in rural settings
exploitation and vulnerability in fiction
exploration of freedom through illness
grotesque realism and dark humor
healing and autonomy in storytelling
human fragility and resilience in fiction
identity and alienation in modern novels
illness as metaphor in literature
Language_English
literature of decay and rebirth
madness and reason in literature
medical ethics in literature
minimalist yet lyrical prose
moral ambiguity in literature
moral corruption and false salvation
novels about doctors and patients
novels about illness and recovery
PA=Available
postmodern rural narratives
power dynamics in caregiving
Price_€20 to €50
PS=Active
psychological confinement and liberation
psychological realism in fiction
rural California literature
rural isolation and decay
small-town disillusionment
softlaunch
surreal realism in American prose
the blurred line between sanity and delusion
the limits of medical science
unreliable narrators in modern prose
working-class struggle in literature
Product details
- ISBN 9781625340962
- Weight: 456g
- Dimensions: 160 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 12 Feb 2014
- Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
- Language: English
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This powerful novel begins with the ambiguities of illness and moves on to explore both the reasonable and the absurd actions of those who suffer and those who exploit suffering. The setting is a failed farm on the Central California coast during a time of rural isolation and decline. Virge, the protagonist, is an awkwardly introspective young man living with his parents, suffering from lingering effects of an accidental childhood poisoning, including a lack of coordination and the possibility of mental weakness. Within the first few pages, Virge trips, falls, and finds that his hands have become paralysed - a potential disaster for someone unable to afford a doctor’s visit.
Soon, however, an elderly and possibly criminal doctor, offering free therapy, moves in, much to the dismay of bedridden Virge. While the physician endeavors to restore the patient’s hands with a series of highly suspect injections, Virge recovers his sense of autonomy and an urge to escape the suffocating domestic circumstances that have perhaps caused his illnesses in the first place.
A History of Hands is a novel that invites the reader into a richly and eccentrically detailed world where fevered imaginations and dark comedy prevail, but where the determination to escape the ambiguities of illness leads to the equal ambiguities of health and freedom.
Soon, however, an elderly and possibly criminal doctor, offering free therapy, moves in, much to the dismay of bedridden Virge. While the physician endeavors to restore the patient’s hands with a series of highly suspect injections, Virge recovers his sense of autonomy and an urge to escape the suffocating domestic circumstances that have perhaps caused his illnesses in the first place.
A History of Hands is a novel that invites the reader into a richly and eccentrically detailed world where fevered imaginations and dark comedy prevail, but where the determination to escape the ambiguities of illness leads to the equal ambiguities of health and freedom.
Rod Val Moore’s story collection Igloo among Palms won the Iowa Short Fiction Award in 1994. His novel Brittle Star will be published in 2015. He has taught English in Puerto Rico and on the Mexico-California border and is currently a professor of literature and linguistics at Valley College in Los Angeles, where he lives with his wife, the artist Lisa Bloomfield.
