{"product_id":"barley-patch-9781916751149","title":"Barley Patch","description":"\u003cb\u003ePublished in Australia in 2009, \u003ci\u003eBarley Patch \u003c\/i\u003ewas Murnane's first book in fourteen years, written after a period in which he had thought he would never write fiction again. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe book begins with the question, \"Must I write?\" What follows is both a chronicle of the images that have endured in the author's mind and an exploration of their nature. The clarity of the images is extraordinary, as is their range, from Mandrake the Magician to the bachelor uncle kicked in the \"stones\" as a child, from a cousin's doll's house to the mysterious woman who lets her hair down, from the soldier beetle who winks messages from God to the racehorses that run forever in the author's mind.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe narrator lays bare the acts of writing and imagining, finally giving us a glimpse of the mythical place where the characters of fiction dwell before they come into existence in books. With something of the spirit of Italo Calvino and Georges Perec, this is a cornerstone of Murnane's unclassifiable project, for which he is a deserving Nobel Prize candidate.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eGerald Murnane \u003c\/b\u003eis the award-winning author of such acclaimed works of fiction as \u003ci\u003eBorder Districts\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Plains\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eInland\u003c\/i\u003e, and equally acclaimed non-fiction such as \u003ci\u003eLast Letter to a Reader\u003c\/i\u003e and the essay collection \u003ci\u003eInvisible Yet Enduring Lilacs\u003c\/i\u003e. Murnane lives in Goroke, a remote village in western Victoria, Australia.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"And Other Stories","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51185972773138,"sku":"9781916751149","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_b1289b72-9602-43f1-9bd5-bed452ccb386.jpg?v=1744598746","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/barley-patch-9781916751149","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}