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Cows
Cows is Sukenick‘s seventh novel and was originally published in 2001. This newly designed edition is Volume 07 of The Ronald Sukenick Edition.
RONALD SUKENICK (1932–2004) was one of the most important innovators, editors, and critics of US-American literature. His eight novels, three collections of short stories, and four books of nonfiction/theory, published between 1968 and 2005, have variously been described as avantgarde, energetically performative, dissident, revisionistic, and a threat to all hierarchies. Educated at Cornell University, New York, and Brandeis University, Massachusetts, Sukenick taught as Professor of English at the University of Colorado, Boulder, from 1975 to 1999, where he was also director of the creative writing program. Sukenick co-founded the publishing house the Fiction Collective (now FC2) and edited the journals American Book Review and Black Ice Magazine .
RONALD SUKENICK (1932–2004) was one of the most important innovators, editors, and critics of US-American literature. His eight novels, three collections of short stories, and four books of nonfiction/theory, published between 1968 and 2005, have variously been described as avantgarde, energetically performative, dissident, revisionistic, and a threat to all hierarchies. Educated at Cornell University, New York, and Brandeis University, Massachusetts, Sukenick taught as Professor of English at the University of Colorado, Boulder, from 1975 to 1999, where he was also director of the creative writing program. Sukenick co-founded the publishing house the Fiction Collective (now FC2) and edited the journals American Book Review and Black Ice Magazine .
- GenresNovels
176 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
3 people are currently reading
137 people want to read
About the author
Ronald Sukenick
32 books32 followersRonald Sukenick was an American writer and literary theorist.
Sukenick studied at Cornell University, and wrote his doctoral thesis on Wallace Stevens, at Brandeis University.
After Roland Barthes announced the "death of the author", Sukenick carried the metaphor even further in "the death of the novel". He drew up a list of what is missing: reality doesn't exist, nor time or personality. He was widely recognized as a controversial writer who, frequently humorously, questioned and rejected the conventions of traditional fiction-writing. In novels, short stories, literary criticism and history, he often used himself, family members or friends as characters, sometimes quoting them in tape-recorded conversations. He did stints as writer in residence at Cornell University, the University of California, Irvine, and Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel. But his books were never best-sellers. Sukenick once commented that he had “only forty fans, but they’re all fanatics.”
He referred to his career as a university professor as his "day job". He taught at Brandeis University, Hofstra University, City College of the City University of New York, Sarah Lawrence College, Cornell University, the State University of New York (Buffalo), and l'Université Paul Valéry, Montpellier, France. His most prolonged teaching career was at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where he was professor of English from 1975-1999.
He was actively committed to publishing and promoting the writing of other unconventional writers. He was founder and publisher of American Book Review, and a founder of The Fiction Collective (now Fiction Collective Two). Sukenick was chairman of the Coordinating Council of Little magazines, and on the executive council of the Modern Language Association and the National Book Critics Circle.
Sukenick studied at Cornell University, and wrote his doctoral thesis on Wallace Stevens, at Brandeis University.
After Roland Barthes announced the "death of the author", Sukenick carried the metaphor even further in "the death of the novel". He drew up a list of what is missing: reality doesn't exist, nor time or personality. He was widely recognized as a controversial writer who, frequently humorously, questioned and rejected the conventions of traditional fiction-writing. In novels, short stories, literary criticism and history, he often used himself, family members or friends as characters, sometimes quoting them in tape-recorded conversations. He did stints as writer in residence at Cornell University, the University of California, Irvine, and Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel. But his books were never best-sellers. Sukenick once commented that he had “only forty fans, but they’re all fanatics.”
He referred to his career as a university professor as his "day job". He taught at Brandeis University, Hofstra University, City College of the City University of New York, Sarah Lawrence College, Cornell University, the State University of New York (Buffalo), and l'Université Paul Valéry, Montpellier, France. His most prolonged teaching career was at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where he was professor of English from 1975-1999.
He was actively committed to publishing and promoting the writing of other unconventional writers. He was founder and publisher of American Book Review, and a founder of The Fiction Collective (now Fiction Collective Two). Sukenick was chairman of the Coordinating Council of Little magazines, and on the executive council of the Modern Language Association and the National Book Critics Circle.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 25, 2018
О, счастье — наконец-то нормальный роман из 21-го века, хоть у Сукеника он и оказался последним. Добро пожаловать в Пинчонляндию: это лихой нуар (ну как бы) про Колорадо, со всем ассортиментом маргинальных групп и прочих ебанатических ебанатов. Фактура чудесная, написано остроумно, масса шуточек (одна иудеобуддистская компания по прокату горных байков под названием «Кармический цикл» чего стоит: «все, что от нас уходит к нам возвращается»; а иудеобуддисты понятно откуда, да? Институт Наропа, и камео Гинни — лично Аллена Гинзбёрга). Ну и так далее. Потерянное звено между «Шандарахнутым пианино», «Винляндией» и «Внутренним пороком». Да, а диалоги там Джима Томпсона и Джорджа Хиггинза. И коровы светятся, хотя если вам будут рассказывать, что это роман на материале каких-то там громких убийств — не верьте, это рецензент дошел до пятой страницы, а дальше не продвинулся. Нет там никаких убийств. Ну вроде. Зато почти у каждого персонажа есть доппельгангеры и натурально призраки. Со щупальцами.
В общем, если будете читать, расскажете, о чем этот роман на самом деле.
В общем, если будете читать, расскажете, о чем этот роман на самом деле.
September 27, 2021
‘Vacas’, de Ronald Sukenick, es un artefacto literario paradójico, alucinado y alucinatorio, sin sentido y con muchos sentidos a la vez. El lector lo pasará mal si pretende encontrar una trama lógica en este thriller que, más que presentar personajes y tramas, los precipita. Es una experiencia rápida, desternillante por sus equívocos y llena de grandes significados.
Si tuviéramos que elegir una lectura para acotar el amplio espectro de lo posmoderno, bien podría ser ‘Vacas’. Una evasión literaria que se adentra en los aspectos más profundos del sueño americano y no deja títere con cabeza. Crítica a la perversión de unos valores que nunca existieron pero que igualmente nos vendieron.
Al final todos estamos en el mismo barco, el de la esquizofrenia paranoide, también llamado S. XXI. Locura como síntoma del inminente desastre. El retrato de una era tomado años antes de su llegada. Un viaje surrealista que da tumbos entre lo azaroso, lo negro y lo fantasioso. Nada es comprensible en ‘Vacas’, quizás como la vida real. Dicen por ahí que su lectura invita a dejarse llevar mientras uno ve el mundo arder. Doy fe de ello.
4/5
Si tuviéramos que elegir una lectura para acotar el amplio espectro de lo posmoderno, bien podría ser ‘Vacas’. Una evasión literaria que se adentra en los aspectos más profundos del sueño americano y no deja títere con cabeza. Crítica a la perversión de unos valores que nunca existieron pero que igualmente nos vendieron.
Al final todos estamos en el mismo barco, el de la esquizofrenia paranoide, también llamado S. XXI. Locura como síntoma del inminente desastre. El retrato de una era tomado años antes de su llegada. Un viaje surrealista que da tumbos entre lo azaroso, lo negro y lo fantasioso. Nada es comprensible en ‘Vacas’, quizás como la vida real. Dicen por ahí que su lectura invita a dejarse llevar mientras uno ve el mundo arder. Doy fe de ello.
4/5
July 21, 2021
Suelen gustarme los libros con diálogos rápidos como este, pero me pierdo en el vaivén de personajes y sus numerosos pasajes surrealistas. No es para todo el mundo.
August 3, 2021
Jolín.
February 20, 2023
Me quiere gustar, pero me he enterado de la misa la mitad. Para releer.
September 2, 2024
L'inici és molt caòtic, personatges que van i venen, acotacions ambigües, situacions surrealistes. Però a mesura que avances necessites saber a on anirà a parar aquesta locura de vaques assassinades, cowboys, sectaris, budistes new age, mafiosos i un tio expert en l'obra de Poe que s'embolica en aquest cacao.
Cap al tram final on només estem amb el protagonista i les seves al·lucinacions ens trobem amb moments molt còmics i absurds.
És un llibre molt curiós, hi has d'entrar sense esperar res, deixar-te anar i endinsar-te fins que trobis el ritme de la seva melodia.
Cap al tram final on només estem amb el protagonista i les seves al·lucinacions ens trobem amb moments molt còmics i absurds.
És un llibre molt curiós, hi has d'entrar sense esperar res, deixar-te anar i endinsar-te fins que trobis el ritme de la seva melodia.
March 27, 2021
“Un fantasma es el regreso de lo incomprensible que no se puede negar.”
Puro surrealismo al estilo Twin Peaks con personajes tan excéntricos como los protagonistas de Burn after reading.
Una maravilla en la que perderse.
Puro surrealismo al estilo Twin Peaks con personajes tan excéntricos como los protagonistas de Burn after reading.
Una maravilla en la que perderse.
January 20, 2023
Por momentos no sabía qué estaba leyendo pero al mismo tiempo no podía dejar de saber qué iba a pasar después. Boulder podría estar hermanada con Twin Peaks.
October 1, 2025
Podría decir muchas cosas de Vacas, pero voy a dejar por aquí un párrafo de su protagonista que describe a la perfección lo que he ido sintiendo durante su lectura:
"El investigador sabía que estaba poco menos que en shock, pero todo lo que estaba sucediendo empezaba a parecerle completamente normal, empezaba a pensar que estaba en contacto con unos acontecimientos cuyo ritmo era distinto al que por lo general sintonizaba el resto de personas. Se estaba complicando seguirle la pista a cuanto sucedía en el mundo y a cuanto sucedía dentro de su cabeza".
Bien comparado con Twin Peaks, no debemos dejar a un lado la cantidad de humor y crítica que contienen sus páginas. O eso creo.
"El investigador sabía que estaba poco menos que en shock, pero todo lo que estaba sucediendo empezaba a parecerle completamente normal, empezaba a pensar que estaba en contacto con unos acontecimientos cuyo ritmo era distinto al que por lo general sintonizaba el resto de personas. Se estaba complicando seguirle la pista a cuanto sucedía en el mundo y a cuanto sucedía dentro de su cabeza".
Bien comparado con Twin Peaks, no debemos dejar a un lado la cantidad de humor y crítica que contienen sus páginas. O eso creo.
February 16, 2023
No entiendo
March 6, 2015
This was possibly the best book ever written about Jon Benet Ramsey, cattle mutilations, ghosts, Nazi scientists, illicit organ traffic, Judeobuddhist cowboys, and schizophrenic nymphomaniacs. I honestly didn't see the ending coming ... or the middle ... and the beginning was pretty bizarre too. I suppose this is best described as Twin Peaks meets Dirk Gently meets the National Enquirer.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews