Desires

by John L'Heureux

hardcover with dust jacket and clear protective cover

256 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1981

About the author

John L'Heureux served on both sides of the writing desk: as staff editor and contributing editor for The Atlantic and as the author of sixteen books of poetry and fiction. His stories appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Esquire, Harper's, The New Yorker, and have frequently been anthologized in Best American Stories and Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards. His experiences as editor and writer informed and direct his teaching of writing. Starting in 1973, he taught fiction writing, the short story, and dramatic literature at Stanford. In 1981, he received the Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching, and again in 1998. His recent publications include a collection of stories, Comedians, and the novels, The Handmaid of Desire (1996), Having Everything (1999), and The Miracle (2002).

http://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/m...

Reviews

[carson · Rating 4 out of 5]

read for class—
at no point could i predict where this was going next. i was really into it though. at one point i was in awe of the prose and the poetic-ness of the content and then the next moment it was “what the fuck”

[isz ✷ · Rating 5 out of 5]

read “The Anatomy of Desire”

[Lizzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

(I read "Brief Lives in California," anthologized separately from this book. I'm going to mark this read for lack of having another way to add the story here. This is also a pretty hard book to find!)

Even though this story is about a totally berserk character whom I shouldn't like, I really liked it. It makes sort of a perfect capsule of crazy, as well as an intentional comment about the strand of American culture obsessed with bestness, specialness, selfishness.

It works so well it's better to read yourself than discuss. Leonora's character-building moments are so on-pitch I kind of wanted to scream even as I laughed at what happened. She's loathsome and pitiable at the same time. Why don't you appreciate her? Why are you so determined to hurt her feelings? Her self-centeredness is both epic and believable. That it has such ultimate consequences is almost stupid, but in a way that's believable too. These things come out stupid, they do.

I'm rounding this one up too because it feels like that sort of day.

[Jeff Hobbs]

Read so far:

Marriages--
The anatomy of bliss
Married love
Love and death in Brighams
*The priest's wife

Mysteries--
Consolations of philosophy
*Brief lives in California
*Departures
Answered prayers

Desires--
Roman ordinary
Witness
*The anatomy of desire
***
Clothing
The comedian
A family affair
Fox and swan