Fur

Translated from the French by Guy Bennett A dimly-lit torture chamber, a showcase displaying genitalia and other organs, a laboratory reeking of rotting flesh, a child's room strewn with stuffed animals - such are the settings of Fur, a collection of thirteen new tales by Liliane Giraudon. In a style admirable both for what it reveals and what it fails to reveal, Giraudon continues her exploration of the frequently cruel and ambiguous dynamics of interpersonal relationships. Moving through an indeterminate atmosphere reminiscent of Beckett, marginalized characters are mysteriously drawn to one another or brutally torn apart for reasons they cannot understand or which they completely ignore, for Giraudon gives no explanation, forcing us to drawn our own conclusions and leaving us with a feeling of puzzlement and wonder. Author of the award-winning Pallaksch, Pallaksch (published by Sun & Moon Press in 1994), and numerous other works of poetry and fiction, Liliane Giraudon lives in Marseilles, where she edits the literary journal If with her husband, poet Jean-Jacques Viton.