American Fugue

by Alexis Stamatis, Diane Thiel (Translator), Constantine Hadjilambrinos (Translator)

Alexis Stamatis has been hailed as “one of the most gifted writers of his generation” (Françoise Noiville, Le Monde ) in both Greece and Europe. His work has not yet been published in America and thus has been mostly inacces sible to US readers. Amerikaniki Fouga ( American Fugue ), published in 2006, is Alexis Stamatis’ most recent work. This novel continues to examine the basic themes that are persistent in all of Stamatis’ works of an all-consuming past, the flight to escape one’s personal demons, and, most importantly, the search for personal identity that is ultimately revealed only through what is unknown to the self. The treatment of these themes is also characteristic of the author’s other novels—travel narrative on the surface, mystery or thriller with an existential dimension at another level, but ultimately a quest for self-discovery and personal redemption. American Fugue is one of the first books supported by the National Endowment for the Arts International Literature Awards program.

Genres: Fiction

390 pages, Paperback

First published October 6, 2006

About the author

Alexis Stamatis (Greek: Αλέξης Σταμάτης) is a Greek novelist.
He studied Architecture at the National Technical University of Athens and earned postgraduate degrees in Architecture and Cinematography in London.
He has published nine novels, several of which have been translated and published in Europe and the USA.
Alexis Stamatis has also published six books of poetry. His second collection, The Architecture of Interior Spaces, was awarded the Nikiforos Vrettakos Prize in 1994. Τwo collections of his poems have been translated in Great Britain.
In 2004 he participated in the renowned International Writing Program of the University of Iowa courtesy of a Fulbright Artists & Art-Scholars Award. In 2007 Etruscan Press won the U.S. National Endowment for the Arts' first International Literary Award for the translation of the novel American Fugue.
In 2009 Alexis Stamatis was writer in residence in Shanghai, invited by the Shanghai Writers Association. He has represented Greece in numerous international book festivals and seminars.
His writing appears regularly in major Greek newspapers and magazines.

Reviews

[iliooon · Rating 3 out of 5]

τι μας λέει λοιπόν ο Σταμάτης σε αυτό το βιβλίο; τρέξτε να ξεφύγετε από τη μνήμη σας και όταν όλα συγκλίνουν στο πόσο κακή ιδέα ήταν αυτή εξαρχής, αγκαλιάστε την μνήμη. άμα σας αγκαλιάσει πίσω, έχει καλώς! αλλιώς ; αλλιώς «ζωή σε τρία επεισόδια και κάθαρση στο τέλος»!

[Gkats5513 · Rating 2 out of 5]

The original idea behind this book is nice, but the way the plot moves forward is flat and unrealistic—a bad thing for a story that wants to be real and believable. The writer knows more things about the US than the average Greek, I get it. Throwing in some city names, a Mustang car, some Navajo philisophy, a former blues/rock singer, Mark Twain and his most known heroes, Oliver Twist and Huck Fin, plus random events like beggars who know poetry and children that live inside a tree trunk won't help a novel feel American or steal any shine from the aforementioned (and widely recognizable) themes and characters. It's raw and often the writer tries to escapes his plot obstacles with new introductions and little success. It's the second book of Stamatis that I read and frankly, it's worse that the first which was written earlier.

[Azy Gouziou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Περιπέτεια με αρκετό σασπένς, μεγάλη πλοκή που διάβασα ευχάριστα. Όμως, κάποιες περιγραφές χώρων τις βρήκα πολύ μεγάλες, χωρίς ουσία στην πλοκή του μυθιστορήματος και περιττές. Επίσης, η ηρωίδα που έφυγε απ' το πατρικό της σπίτι στα 16, έζησε στο περιθώριο με ό,τι αυτό σημαίνει, ξαφνικά μπορεί να παίξει στο πιάνο Φούγκα του Μπραμς!! Ένα έργο που τουλάχιστον χρειάζεται να έχει κάποιος δίπλωμα πιάνου και πολλές ώρες μελέτης πίσω του. Δεν δέχομαι "ποιητική αδεία" μια τέτοια αστοχία.

[Nikos1 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Αγαπημένος συγγραφέας εδώ και πολλά χρόνια. Έχω διαβάσει τα περισσότερα βιβλία του. Η Αμερικάνικη φούγκα είναι ιδανικό ξεκίνημα για κάποιον θέλει να γνωρίσει τη μεστή, ώριμη και γεμάτη νοήματα γραφή του Σταμάτη.

[Aryan Kato · Rating 1 out of 5]

"And, suddenly, he felt it. First it was a sharp pain in the back, and at once a terrible jolt of the spinal cord. A hot wave traveled instantly through his whole body. At the same time, everything around him started growing dark. Within less than a second, he felt another piercing pain, this time in his neck, even more acute. Without thinking, he turned around. He could not make out anything, anybody. Sounds started to be muffled, and his mouth filled with liquid. The trees around him looked as if they were bending, as if they were holding their branches up with difficulty in a sky that was being split from within. Everything fluttered, darkness spreading like mist. The air was carrying the city's smells: human, foreign, unbearable. He felt himself falling. It was a slow fall, almost pleasurable. etc."

Okay, that was the ending. I ruined it for you. It's not worth reading to begin with.

It's at least approximately 3.2 times better than Murakami's Kafka on the Shore.

[Stella Tsotsi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Πολύ κακό για το τίποτα.