Nervosities

by John Madera

In this debut collection of experimental short fiction, John Madera explores the complexities of identity, memory, history, and language, revealing the heterogeneities and instabilities that distinguish the post-industrial world. Born of diaspora and transversalism, the fourteen stories in Nervosities exhibit narrative modes and voices that converge on our ever-evolving culture of violence, mediatization, and fragmentation. Ultimately, these fictions enact a realization of what Deleuze and Guattari (via Antonin Artaud) call “the cancerous body of America, the body of war and money.” Reading Nervosities is at once a journey to an alternate universe and an uncanny chronicle of all-too-familiar terrain.

206 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 2024

Reviews

[Jeff Bursey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this fine collection last year and recommend it for anyone who might like short stories that are intense, feature wayward characters, contain a wide vocabulary, yo-yo between the abstract and the grounded, and have a dark or jaundiced sense of humour. Not every story is as good as its companions, but the overall quality is high. Get a little Madera into your reading life.

[Joseph Schreiber · Rating 4 out of 5]

This debut collection of short stories is surprisingly energetic, varied and frequently experimental. Unlike many collections, there is very little of the sameness that can weigh down such gatherings, but the classic Madera narrator/protagonist does tend to be a rather damaged, neurotic specimen, even if each one is damaged in his (and occasionally her) own way. His language is inventive (I loved his many verbal neologisms), vivid and often intense. A highly recommended collection.

A more detailed review can be found here: https://roughghosts.com/2024/06/03/th...

[Seb · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Madera's collection "Nervosities" is the living proof that avant-garde literature is not dead, as we watch the bloated corpse of mainstream fiction drift by in its toxic river of sameness. As a true heir to Clarice Lispector, Ann Quin, Paul Bowles, William Burroughs, Jack Keouac, early Don DeLillo and a collection of crazy literary ghosts, John Madera uses language as a false center, a deterrent to lure the reader into its true center, the characters' alienations, dreams and epiphanies. Both vernacular and complex, the stories take place in various parts of the globe, but all are linked by the psychogeography of hope, memories and shattered identities. A true nightmare for academics (like all the best writers), "Nervosities" is a must have/must read for any reader curious for an extremely rewarding literary challenge.