Private Novelist: Fiction

Private Novelist: Fiction

<p>From the brilliant and incisive author of <em>Mislaid</em>—"a writer of extraordinary talent and range" (Jonathan Franzen) whose "capacity for inventions is immense"  <em>(BookForum</em>)—comes a new collection of her earliest work: two wildly funny novellas (<em>Sailing Towards the Sunset by Avner Shats</em> and <em>European Story for Avner Shats</em>) available in one compact volume.</p><p>Years ago, Nell Zink resolved to write a book for her friend, the Israeli novelist Avner Shats, that would mirror his remarkable style. Unable to read his Hebrew, she was forced to start from scratch. Now, this tongue-in-cheek homage is available to Nell’s growing readership for the first time, accompanied by a second dazzling and imaginative work that breathes—at Shats’s request—the perfumed air of the Old Europe and stars a figure very much like Shats.</p><p><em>Sailing Towards the Sunset by Avner Shats</em> is Zink’s faux-translation of Shats’s 1998 novel <em>Lashut El Hashkia</em> ("Sailing Towards the Sunset"). It flows with a narrative spin only the singular Zink could pull off—including both authentic and fictional versions of characters from Shats’s life and work such as the author herself.</p><p>A fast-moving portrait of expat artists, authors, and academics on fellowships at the Villa Romana in Florence, <em>European Story for Avner Shats</em> centers on a trio of three indelible characters: an Israeli writer vaguely reminiscent of Shats, a German specialist in ancient lint, and a beautiful and fraudulent Russian performance artist.</p><p>Demonstrating the hallmarks of Zink’s unique talent, <em>Private Novelist</em> is an intimate look into this acclaimed novelist’s early work that will please her coterie of admirers and further burnish her lustrous reputation.</p>