Intellectual and moral seriousness blends with great wit in the stories of Deborah Eisenberg, as well as a gift for metaphor
For most people there is a gap between the person we are and the person we want to be, or think we are and turn out, in fact, to be. This is the space many of Deborah Eisenberg's short stories inhabit, and attempts to navigate it are what provide their drama. But these voyages of discovery often fail to make landfall, or, Columbus-like, arrive in unexpected places. Dissatisfied Otto, contemplating the puzzle of identity in Some Other, Better Otto, despairs: "No wonder one tended to feel so fragile. It was infuriating enough just trying to have contact with a few other people, let alone with all of one's selves!"
Continue reading...