Stealing: A Novel in Dreams
Author: Shelly Brivic
Publisher: Frayed Edge Press
ISBN: 9781642510034 (pbk.)
Physical description: 6X9; 260 p.
Two Jewish brothers growing up in the 1950s Bronx navigate a toxic home environment headed by an emotionally abusive father and an unhappy mother. One brother eventually finds escape through academic achievement and a new life on the west coast, while the other brother remains entangled in the darkness of his existence, his life and mind slowly unraveling. By presenting the conscious and unconscious connections between family members, this experimental novel explores the concept of individuality, the psychological influences of family, and the very nature of reality.
Shelly Brivic is an internationally recognized James Joyce scholar and a retired university professor. He has written extensively on Joyce and other modernists from the perspective of Lacanian psychology. His most recent scholarly book is Revolutionary Damnation: Badiou and Irish Fiction from Joyce to Enright, from Syracuse University Press. Stealing: A Novel in Dreams is his first work of fiction.