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The Stupefaction: stories and a novella
Praising her ingenious subversions of the conventions of narrative. The New York Times has called Diane Williams "a master spy, a double agent in the house of fiction." In this book she broadens the riotously disruptive program of her earlier collections. piecing together stories out of jagged shards of consciousness to give form to our most complicated longings.
In the title novella, Williams offers her version of A woman runs off with a man on an enchanted journey across an enchanted landscape to an enchanted house, where their time is spent proving all the pleasures -- eating, drinking, bathing, slumbering, and coupling -- and where fantastic creatures, ravishing objects, and enthralling notions present themselves. But this sensual, blissful tale also becomes, in the female narrator's artful telling, a vehicle of discovery as she passes from state to state eluding our expectations of her.
The novella, Williams's first longer work, is accompanied by forty-nine short pieces, all of them superbly wry and knowing instances of the "sudden fiction" for which she is renowned. The Stupefaction is a stunning illumination of the heart and mind from one of our most innovative and audacious writers.
In the title novella, Williams offers her version of A woman runs off with a man on an enchanted journey across an enchanted landscape to an enchanted house, where their time is spent proving all the pleasures -- eating, drinking, bathing, slumbering, and coupling -- and where fantastic creatures, ravishing objects, and enthralling notions present themselves. But this sensual, blissful tale also becomes, in the female narrator's artful telling, a vehicle of discovery as she passes from state to state eluding our expectations of her.
The novella, Williams's first longer work, is accompanied by forty-nine short pieces, all of them superbly wry and knowing instances of the "sudden fiction" for which she is renowned. The Stupefaction is a stunning illumination of the heart and mind from one of our most innovative and audacious writers.
- GenresShort StoriesFiction
176 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1996
1 person is currently reading
158 people want to read
About the author
Diane Williams
100 books152 followersDiane Williams is an American author, primarily of short stories. She lives in New York City and is the founder and editor of the literary annual NOON (est. 2000). She has published 8 books and taught at Bard College, Syracuse University and The Center for Fiction in New York City.
Her books have been reviewed in many publications, including the New York Times Book Review ("An operation worthy of a master spy, a double agent in the house of fiction") and The Los Angeles Times ("One of America's most exciting violators of habit is [Diane] Williams…the extremity that Williams depicts and the extremity of the depiction evoke something akin to the pity and fear that the great writers of antiquity considered central to literature. Her stories, by removing you from ordinary literary experience, place you more deeply in ordinary life. 'Isn't ordinary life strange?' they ask, and in so asking, they revivify and console”).
Jonathan Franzen describes her as "one of the true living heroes of the American avant-garde. Her fiction makes very familiar things very, very weird." Ben Marcus suggested that her "outrageous and ferociously strange stories test the limits of behavior, of manners, of language, and mark Diane Williams as a startlingly original writer worthy of our closest attention."
Her books have been reviewed in many publications, including the New York Times Book Review ("An operation worthy of a master spy, a double agent in the house of fiction") and The Los Angeles Times ("One of America's most exciting violators of habit is [Diane] Williams…the extremity that Williams depicts and the extremity of the depiction evoke something akin to the pity and fear that the great writers of antiquity considered central to literature. Her stories, by removing you from ordinary literary experience, place you more deeply in ordinary life. 'Isn't ordinary life strange?' they ask, and in so asking, they revivify and console”).
Jonathan Franzen describes her as "one of the true living heroes of the American avant-garde. Her fiction makes very familiar things very, very weird." Ben Marcus suggested that her "outrageous and ferociously strange stories test the limits of behavior, of manners, of language, and mark Diane Williams as a startlingly original writer worthy of our closest attention."
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 15, 2017
Diane Williams' style is difficult to describe because she resembles little else in fiction. Her deft, perfect stories are deeply strange without being unreal, and would be difficult to describe them as quirky, or other throwaway terminologies for the unusual. I said this about her more recent collection as well, but I'll say it again: here, at last, I understand more of the potential of the ultra-short form that is usually attributed to flash fiction. I'm not sure that these are flash fictions, they recall shades of prose poetry and surrealist automatism, but are decidedly other. There's an intense, precise care that goes into the feeling of the words against eachother, nothing is left to chance, the way each sentence spins unexpectedly away from the last at every moment is an act of sublime construction. And somehow, they do not feel divorced from recognizable situations and sensations, even if these have been submerged in the play of words and grammars, modes of narration. The best way to read these may be aloud. Here the turning of the sentences becomes a highwire act of anticipation and adjustment, and each nuance of startled expectation or word grinding against word is especially exposed for reader and listener.
The second part of this book is a novella, constructed on similar motions as the stories, but given a longer arc of progression. She performs showstopping maneuvers here, but in the general disconcerting unspooling of the words, these may not be immediately noted for what they are. I actually read it twice, immediately, back to back.
The second part of this book is a novella, constructed on similar motions as the stories, but given a longer arc of progression. She performs showstopping maneuvers here, but in the general disconcerting unspooling of the words, these may not be immediately noted for what they are. I actually read it twice, immediately, back to back.
July 11, 2008
Diane Williams: "When I wrote The Stupefaction I was giddy. The labor may have been the cause of my giddiness. Nothing at that time seemed to me beside the point." (From interview here.
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July 14, 2025I feel like every few months I need to read some Diane Williams and reset my brain. She compresses into each story, pagelong, a whole world. The stories last a godly minute and I enjoyed reading them on the train, in the pub and while I was in line to buy a ticket to the football.
March 17, 2013
Forgettable, even after having just read it.
September 2, 2018
https://msarki.tumblr.com/post/177673...
Only Diane Williams could get away with her writing. I am not sure how she does it. She says what nobody else says. Perhaps because she is a woman she has the liberty to be forthcoming in ways deemed inappropriate by men. Or perhaps she is saying better, and more honestly, what men have been trying to say all along. Nonetheless, Williams is shocking. And real. Similar to being on the receiving end of a slap of fresh, cold air. Of course, this reader rarely knows exactly what Williams is talking about, ever, but intuitively understands it is certainly about sex, politics, communication, and relationships.
...The cause of my serenity may be that I am not ashamed to just go through the motions of having naked power and ambition, as in fucking.
This burgeoning is gratifying…
I especially enjoy her short pieces. But the novella is not unlike the shorter pieces. Connected in some way, but not indifferent to what has come before. It is possible that Williams, through all her books, is simply writing one long novel. Or her life story. Regardless, she is a power to be reckoned with, if one has the courage to nakedly enter her world of words.
...I could do that.
I graze the back of her hand with the tail end of his penis and when you are inside of me, this is not unlike my reaching down into a barrel or a big pail for something which I want, which is out of my reach, but the barrel needs to be knocked over onto its side.
When I was confused, he poked a finger up into her vagina. This time, at least, I am not waiting for matters to be made clear…
It is difficult to put a finger on where Williams is coming from. Is it art or some need to pick away at a carcass in order to discover its origin? Does she have a bone to pick or is she just extremely adventurous and courageous to climb out on this shaky limb? Whatever, I read her, and you should too.
...The temperature of the room is cool. I want to pet you, but not your private part. I would not touch it with a fork. You would think if I could tolerate the bedside clock that I could bind up your parcel with the cord!
They did not know why I felt this way...
Only Diane Williams could get away with her writing. I am not sure how she does it. She says what nobody else says. Perhaps because she is a woman she has the liberty to be forthcoming in ways deemed inappropriate by men. Or perhaps she is saying better, and more honestly, what men have been trying to say all along. Nonetheless, Williams is shocking. And real. Similar to being on the receiving end of a slap of fresh, cold air. Of course, this reader rarely knows exactly what Williams is talking about, ever, but intuitively understands it is certainly about sex, politics, communication, and relationships.
...The cause of my serenity may be that I am not ashamed to just go through the motions of having naked power and ambition, as in fucking.
This burgeoning is gratifying…
I especially enjoy her short pieces. But the novella is not unlike the shorter pieces. Connected in some way, but not indifferent to what has come before. It is possible that Williams, through all her books, is simply writing one long novel. Or her life story. Regardless, she is a power to be reckoned with, if one has the courage to nakedly enter her world of words.
...I could do that.
I graze the back of her hand with the tail end of his penis and when you are inside of me, this is not unlike my reaching down into a barrel or a big pail for something which I want, which is out of my reach, but the barrel needs to be knocked over onto its side.
When I was confused, he poked a finger up into her vagina. This time, at least, I am not waiting for matters to be made clear…
It is difficult to put a finger on where Williams is coming from. Is it art or some need to pick away at a carcass in order to discover its origin? Does she have a bone to pick or is she just extremely adventurous and courageous to climb out on this shaky limb? Whatever, I read her, and you should too.
...The temperature of the room is cool. I want to pet you, but not your private part. I would not touch it with a fork. You would think if I could tolerate the bedside clock that I could bind up your parcel with the cord!
They did not know why I felt this way...
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December 29, 2017The perfect book to read while sick and unable to do little else, including other books. This is positive review.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews