Demigods on Speedway

Fiction & Literature, Literary
Cover of the book Demigods on Speedway by Aurelie Sheehan, University of Arizona Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Aurelie Sheehan ISBN: 9780816598625
Publisher: University of Arizona Press Publication: November 13, 2014
Imprint: University of Arizona Press Language: English
Author: Aurelie Sheehan
ISBN: 9780816598625
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Publication: November 13, 2014
Imprint: University of Arizona Press
Language: English

Men in dinosaur suits. A Norwegian freakazoid millionaire. Cats and catharsis, somber symbols, listless lives going off the rails. Pluck, persistence, and the pursuit of happiness.

In the tradition of Joyce’s Dubliners, Demigods on Speedway is a portrait of a city that reflects the recession-era Southwest. Inspired by tales from Greek mythology, these gritty heroes and heroines struggle to find their place in the cosmos. Each of these linked stories develops the extremes of the modern psyche: an executive struggling to understand his wife’s illness even as he compulsively cheats on her, a teenage runaway whose attraction to her “twin” is bound to fail, an overweight boy vicariously experiencing true love through the tales of his trainer, a car-wash attendant with outsized dreams of Hollywood.

Characters with mythical-sounding names like Dagfinn and Zero plot their courses through a sky riddled with flawed constellations. Sheehan’s edgy language aptly reveals her characters as they lurch toward the next day’s irreverent beginning. As the characters’ lives overlap, their stories carry mythology out of the past and into a very modern dilemma: the cumulative sense that here is a city with its own demigods, individuals struggling to survive under siege while passionately seeking to make something immortal in their lives.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Men in dinosaur suits. A Norwegian freakazoid millionaire. Cats and catharsis, somber symbols, listless lives going off the rails. Pluck, persistence, and the pursuit of happiness.

In the tradition of Joyce’s Dubliners, Demigods on Speedway is a portrait of a city that reflects the recession-era Southwest. Inspired by tales from Greek mythology, these gritty heroes and heroines struggle to find their place in the cosmos. Each of these linked stories develops the extremes of the modern psyche: an executive struggling to understand his wife’s illness even as he compulsively cheats on her, a teenage runaway whose attraction to her “twin” is bound to fail, an overweight boy vicariously experiencing true love through the tales of his trainer, a car-wash attendant with outsized dreams of Hollywood.

Characters with mythical-sounding names like Dagfinn and Zero plot their courses through a sky riddled with flawed constellations. Sheehan’s edgy language aptly reveals her characters as they lurch toward the next day’s irreverent beginning. As the characters’ lives overlap, their stories carry mythology out of the past and into a very modern dilemma: the cumulative sense that here is a city with its own demigods, individuals struggling to survive under siege while passionately seeking to make something immortal in their lives.

More books from University of Arizona Press

Cover of the book Chicano Sketches by Aurelie Sheehan
Cover of the book American Indians and National Forests by Aurelie Sheehan
Cover of the book Fluid Arguments by Aurelie Sheehan
Cover of the book Searching for Golden Empires by Aurelie Sheehan
Cover of the book Palm Frond with Its Throat Cut by Aurelie Sheehan
Cover of the book There's a Bobcat in My Backyard by Aurelie Sheehan
Cover of the book Moquis and Kastiilam by Aurelie Sheehan
Cover of the book Ciudad Juárez by Aurelie Sheehan
Cover of the book More Than Two to Tango by Aurelie Sheehan
Cover of the book Food Systems in an Unequal World by Aurelie Sheehan
Cover of the book Red Weather by Aurelie Sheehan
Cover of the book Sabino Canyon by Aurelie Sheehan
Cover of the book Border-Crosser with a Lamborghini Dream by Aurelie Sheehan
Cover of the book Desert Landscaping by Aurelie Sheehan
Cover of the book Chaco Revisited by Aurelie Sheehan
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy