Legendary NarrativesThis collection of early stories is not a lesser work in any way. In it, Coover maps out the journey that his writing career would subsequently follow. It announces and displays his early ambition and skill.It reflects a dual interest in the subject matter of fiction and its methodology. As Coover says of some of his stories, in retrospect:"...great narratives remain meaningful through time as a language-medium between generations, as a weapon against the fringe-areas of our

One of the milestones, or pilestones, in self-reflexive fiction, the influence of Pricksongs & Descants among the subsequent two generations of humorous imps, genrebenders, and transgressive egomaniacs in experimental prose fiction, is plain to see. Metafantastical fables, reworkings of reworkings, forking paths and fucking piths, numerical mini-chapters, self-regarding scoundrels for narrators, black humour, mindless surrealism, incomprehensible but entertaining indulgences, sneaky s-o-c, shock...

So farewell forever, then, to metafiction. This is the stuff where it says I wander the island, inventing it. I make a sun for it, and trees, and cause water to lap the pebbles of its abandoned shores.which is how The Magic Poker kicks off in this volume. Metafiction - yeah, that's right - it's fiction about fiction, celebrating the lying truthfulness and the truthful lies we all need to keep our brains glued together. Apparently. I mean, I don't really know, I just work here.Now, you know those...

He pronounces it aloud, smiles faintly, sadly, somewhat wearily, then continues his tedious climb, pausing from time to time to stare back down the stairs behind him.When the time arrives for resolution, I will be there. One day soon the followers of Coover will engage those of Barth tooth and claw. There will be no quarter. The scene will remind us of Bangkok and we will wear the shirt of Coover proudly. Through the tear-gas and vitriol we will triumph. Our cause will prevail because of the bri...

3.5/5 stars This was a case of my personal connection with a book not lining up with the work's real impact or excellence. Despite my miserly three star rating, I would recommend reader give Pricksongs and Descants a try. In fact, if I was just going to rate the book on innovation it would get 4.5 stars. My favorite stories were: Quenby and Ola, Swede and Carl; a Pedestrian Accident; the show stopping The Babysitter and the retelling of the story of Noah.The retelling of Noah is shocking and tra...

Coover, wearing a top hat, drives down the street in a hummer, windows rolled down. He's got an MP3 file of his contradictions, recited by Brian Blessed - "ROBERT COOOOOOOOOOO-VUH! The FOLKSSSSY intell-ECT-ual! The chi-chi-chi... CHILLY... (stage whisper) pornographer. Teller of BEDTIIIIIIIME STORIIIESSSSSSSS.... AAAAAAAANNND... horror stories!" He's doing 50 in a 35 zone, but he's bored by that, so he floors it and swerves back and forth across the street, pancaking other cars and busting up pa...

I liken this to a circus, with lots of stunts and acrobatics.So as not to get discouraged or intimidated, skip the first "story" (I should call the stories here more properly as ACTS--like in a real circus) "The Door" because it is not easy to digest (my interpretation of it is that it is some kind of an inter-generational dialogue using the fairy tale of Jack and the Beanstalk as a literary allusion). Go straight to some of the favorites, like "The Babysitter." The characters and the setting: a...

So like being Robert Coover, in his head that is, the mind rather, he who brought forth these storied oddities reminds me comically of "Being John Malkovich" where someone takes over and makes you do nutty things and then spits you out in a drainage pipe withered, sullied and bewildered. These tales are each a Diane Arbus street photo of some homely sort, bent, disfigured and strangely loveable. I would suggest they be read intermittently between other readings to cleanse the palette of your rea...

One of the best story collection in US literature:The Door: A Prologue of Sorts 4*The Magic Poker 5*Morris in Chains 5*The Gingerbread House 4*Seven Exemplary Fictions 5*Dedicatoria y Prólogo a don Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra 3*1 Panel Game 5*2 The Marker 4*3 The Brother 5*4 In a Train Station 4*5 Klee Dead 3*6 J’s Marriage 5*7 The Wayfarer 3*The Elevator 4*Romance of the Thin Man and the Fat Lady 4*Quenby and Ola, Swede and Carl 3*The Sentient Lens 5*1 Scene for ‘Winter’ 4*2 The Milkmaid of Sa...

Pricksongs and Descants is a collection of short stories by Robert Coover that was originally published in 1969. The stories are retellings of popular stories including fairy tales, bedtime stories, and a few biblical stories. The Amazon synopsis states the following: "In these riotously word-drunk fictional romps, two children follow an old man into the woods, trailing bread crumbs behind and edging helplessly toward a sinister end that never comes; a husband walks toward the bed where his wife...

An understanding reviewer might say experiments are necessary and that some are bound to go wrong. But in this case, the draft ought to have been buried in RC's file cabinet.

Pricksongs & Descants is mostly about the power of human imagination…That sweep odour that girls have. The softness of her blouse. He catches a glimpse of the gentle shadows amid her thighs, as she curls her legs up under her.Imagination is rich but it plays dirty... And that’s a reason so many prefer to live an imaginary life in a realm where everyone can be king.He loves her. She loves him. And then the babies come. And dirty nappies and one goddamn meal after another. Dishes. Noise. Clutter.

Holy shit! This is some crazy something. All the edgy writers that young folk like us like? They don't have shit on this guy. Seriously, my reviews are just utterly devolving. At any rate...literally every fundamental aspect of fiction is toyed with in here: characterization, timeline, voice, perspective. The overall effect is one of complete disorientation, but it's the hardest my brain has had to work to read a book in a long while, and that (to me) is valuable as hell.

Dear Robert,It was great seeing you again. It’s been sooo long. It was nice to catch-up with one another after, what, 20-years (god, that makes me feel so old!)? Anywho…as hard as it is for me to bring myself to do so, there are some things I ought to say.Namely, I’m talking about your prick(songs). It had been so long since I’d even thought about your prick(songs) that the idea of revisiting it, well, you know, just seemed kinda fun. But I see now that you really can’t go back. Let’s not kid ou...

It's rare to find a short story collection where every story hits a high note for me, but Coover's done it. Each one is a fabulist gem set in a terrifyingly recognizable world.I get the feeling that not too many people read Coover anymore, which is a crying shame. After I plowed through Vonnegut as a teenager, I made the next logical step to Pynchon and Barth, and from there discovered the whole wide world of postmodernist fiction, including Coover. I'm buying my 17 year old brother a copy of th...

I know, since it’s Coover, that I’m supposed to be a bit more awed by this book than I am.I don’t want to say that it’s aged poorly, or even that it feels aged – neither of these things are true. It’s just that, reading this in 2014 is (I’m assuming) considerably different than reading it in 1969. So it’s not that it feels aged, it’s just that, under the weight of the last 45 years, it doesn’t really feel as revelatory as it must have upon its publication.The thing is: it’s still good. It’s stil...

This was pretty great. It was the first Coover I'd read and I figured I'd start with the short stories in order to hopefully see the kind of widest range of experimentation. "The Magic Poker" was the story that to me was jaw-dropping but which uses a similar technique to "Babysitter" (which was adapted into an Alicia Silverstone movie.) Both stories have an interesting way of showing a wide range of possible outcomes almost simultaneously. Coover has a kind of interest in these non-linnear games...

These postmodern surrealist short stories seem very typical of the late 60s (when the collection was released) but I'll have to read some of Coover's subsequent 15 novellas and novels, not to mention many more short stories, before making any further generalizations.I tend to compare writing like this to Donald Barthelme, solely because that's who I discovered first in this realm. Coover makes frequent use of myths and fairy tales as templates. There's a bit of an undertone of menace as someone

In his piece "For Bob" collected in the 2012 The Review of Contemporary Fiction dedicated to Coover, author Joe Ashby Porter says about his first encounter with this book: "...it so bowled me over I had to teach it to understand it better." A perfect explanation to how this collection of stories feels upon the first reading.Coover does more than deconstruct familiar myths and fairy tales - he was one of those first writers that wanted to do something more with the structure of fiction. Some of t...