A History of Books

This New Work By Gerald Murnane Is A Fictionalised Autobiography Told In Thirty Sections, Each Of Which Begins With The Memory Of A Book That Has Left An Image On The Writer’s Mind. The Titles Aren’t Given But The Reader Follows The Clues, Recalling In The Process A Parade Of Authors, The Great, The Popular, And The Now-forgotten. The Images Themselves, With Their Scenes Of Marital Discord, Violence And Madness, Or Their Illuminated Landscapes That Point To The Consolations Of A World Beyond Fiction, Give New Intensity To Murnane’s Habitual Concern With The Anxieties And Aspirations Of The Writing Life, In The Absence Of Religious Belief. A History Of Books Is Accompanied By Three Shorter Pieces Of Fiction Which Play On These Themes, Featuring The Writer At Different Ages, As A Young Boy, A Teacher, And An Old Recluse.