Best Selling Books by MARY GAITSKILL

National Book Award finalist Mary Gaitskill’s classic debut collection from the 1980s—powerful stories of dislocation, longing, and desire Now towering and inevitable in its influence on writing by and for young urbanites, Bad Behavior heralded Mary Gaitskill’s arrival on the literary scene and her establishment as one of the sharpest writing talents of her time, or any time: exquisitely funny and startlingly honest; bold and eye-opening on relationships, sex, and the erotic. Set in Manhattan''s Lower East Side and peopled with artistic freelancers and intelligent sex workers, smug yuppies and love-torn masochists, Bad Behavior depicts a world equally cruel and tender, where romance and danger go hand in hand. Gaitskill delivers unforgettable stories of a disenchanted and rebellious urban fringe generation groping for human connection.

Starting with Bad Behavior in the 1980s, Mary Gaitskill has been writing about gender relations with searing, even prophetic honesty. In This Is Pleasure, she considers our present moment through the lens of a particular #MeToo incident. The effervescent, well-dressed Quin, a successful book editor and fixture on the New York arts scene, has been accused of repeated unforgivable transgressions toward women in his orbit. But are they unforgivable? And who has the right to forgive him? To Quin’s friend Margot, the wrongdoing is less clear. Alternating Quin’s and Margot’s voices and perspectives, Gaitskill creates a nuanced tragicomedy, one that reveals her characters as whole persons—hurtful and hurting, infuriating and touching, and always deeply recognizable. Gaitskill has said that fiction is the only way that she could approach this subject because it is too emotionally faceted to treat in the more rational essay form. Her compliment to her characters—and to her readers—is that they are unvarnished and real. Her belief in our ability to understand them, even when we don’t always admire them, is a gesture of humanity from one of our greatest contemporary writers.

The friendship between Alison, a young woman struggling with her ruined career as a fashion model, and Veronica, an older eccentric and proofreader, survives Alison''s return to the world of fashion and Veronica''s battle with AIDS.

A collection of startling and breathtaking stories about people struggling with the disparity between what they want and what they know. A New York Times Notable Book A man tells a story to a woman sitting beside him on a plane, little suspecting what it reveals about his capacity for cruelty and contempt. A callow runaway girl is stranded in a strange city with another woman’s fractiously needy children. An uncomprehending father helplessly lashes out at the daughter he both loves and resents. In these raw, startling, and incandescently lovely stories, the author of Veronica yields twelve indelible portraits of people struggling with the disparity between what they want and what they know. Because They Wanted To is further evidence that Gaitskill is one of the fiercest, funniest, and most subversively compassionate writers at work today.

A Vintage Shorts “Short Story Month” Selection It was the first autumn of the Iraq War, when Ella saw Dani again. “Today I’m Yours” is a story of seduction and layered memory, a love affair fifteen years past but not forgotten—from the author of the National Book Award nominated and National Book Critics Circle Award finalist Veronica. Mary Gaitskill is widely acclaimed as a caustically sharp observer of American culture high and low, of bodily temptations and sensual intelligence. A selection from Gaitskill’s story collection, Don’t Cry, a New York Times Notable Book. An eBook short.

"In this searching biography of the writer''s imagination, Mary Gaitskill excavates her own novels, revealing their origins and obsessions, the personal and societal pressures that formed them, and the life story hidden between their pages. Using the techniques of collage, The Devil''s Treasure splices fiction together with commentary and personal history, and with the fairy tale that gives the book its title, about a little girl who ventures into Hell through a suburban trapdoor." -- Publisher''s website.

Justine, a beautiful, lonely, sexually addicted young woman, meets Dorothy, fat, maladjusted, and unhappy since childhood. They are superficially a study in contrasts yet share equally haunting sexual burdens carried since youth. With common secrets, they are drawn into a remarkable friendship.

Following her National Book Award–nominated Veronica, here is Mary Gaitskill’s most poignant and powerful work yet—the story of a Dominican girl, the Anglo woman who introduces her to riding, and the horse who changes everything for her. Velveteen Vargas is eleven years old, a Fresh Air Fund kid from Brooklyn. Her host family is a couple in upstate New York: Ginger, a failed artist and shakily recovered alcoholic, and her academic husband, Paul, who wonder what it will mean to “make a difference” in such a contrived situation. Gaitskill illuminates their shifting relationship with Velvet over several years, as well as Velvet’s encounter with the horses at the stable down the road—especially with an abused, unruly mare called Fugly Girl. With strong supporting characters—Velvet’s abusive mother, an eccentric horse trainer, a charismatic older boy who awakens Velvet’s nascent passion—The Mare traces Velvet’s journey between the vital, violent world of the inner city and the world of the small-town stable. In Gaitskill’s hands, the timeless story of a girl and a horse is joined with a timely story of people from different races and classes trying to meet one another honestly. The Mare is raw, heart-stirring, and original.

"Engaging, unusual essays written over the last two decades, on matters literary, social, cultural, and personal--from the explosive date rape debates of the ''90s to the ubiquitous political adultery of the ''00s, from Anton Chekhov to Celine Dion. Here is Mary Gaitskill the essayist: witty, direct, penetrating to the core of each issue, personality, or literary trope (On Updike: "It is as if [he] has entered a tiny window marked ''Rabbit,'' and, by some inverse law, passed into a universe of energies both light and dark, expanded and contracted, infinite and workaday." On Elizabeth Wurtzell: "If this kooky, foot-stamping, self-loathing screed is meant to be, as it claims, a defense of ''difficult women,'' i.e. women who ''write their own operating manuals'' . . . all I can say is, bitches best duck and run for cover.") Gaitskill writes about the ridiculous and poetic ambition of Norman Mailer, about the socio-sexual cataclysm embodied by porn star Linda Lovelace, and, in the deceptively titled "Lost Cat," about how power and race can warp the most innocent and intimate of relationships. Appearing in chronological order, the essays offer their thoughts and reactions, always with the heat-seeking, revelatory understanding for which we value the author''s fiction"

Mary Gaitskill returns with a luminous new collection of stories—her first in more than ten years. In “College Town l980,” young people adrift in Ann Arbor debate the meaning of personal strength at the start of the Reagan era; in the urban fairy tale “Mirrorball,” a young man steals a girl’s soul during a one-night stand; in “The Little Boy,” a woman haunted by the death of her former husband is finally able to grieve through a mysterious encounter with a needy child. Each story delivers the powerful, original language, and the dramatic engagement of the intelligent mind with the craving body—or of the intelligent body with the craving mind—that has come to be seen as stunningly emblematic of Gaitskill’s fiction.

''Last year I lost my cat Gattino. He was very young, at seven months barely an adolescent. He is probably dead but I don''t know for certain.''

" ... Essential reading for anyone who loves great music and impassioned writing about it"--Page 4 of cover.

Quin en Margot, ruim twintig jaar bevriend, zijn beiden getrouwd en zeer succesvol binnen de New Yorkse uitgeverswereld. Hun jarenlange, innige vriendschap is gebaseerd op wederzijdse behoeften en een ondefinieerbare spanning tussen de twee. De flamboyante Quin houdt van flirten en ongepaste grappen. Margot, vanaf het begin duidelijk over de grenzen van hun vriendschap, vermaant hem graag, maar wanneer ze niet boos op hem is, is ze dol op hem. Wanneer ze niet beledigd is, is ze nieuwsgierig. Soms is ze al deze dingen tegelijkertijd. Als Quin wordt beschuldigd van herhaaldelijk grensoverschrijdend gedrag op zijn werk raakt hij in de problemen. De gebeurtenissen zetten Margot ertoe aan om te werken aan een dieper begrip van haar vriend, de schade die hij mogelijk heeft veroorzaakt en de loyaliteit die hij verdient. Is zijn gedrag onvergeeflijk? En wie heeft het recht hem te vergeven? Dit is lust kijkt onbevooroordeeld naar de moeilijke debatten van ons huidige tijdperk. Het verwerpt morele zekerheden en doet op die manier eer aan de kern van alle menselijke relaties. Door de stemmen en standpunten van Quin en Margot af te wisselen, creëert Gaitskill een genuanceerde tragikomedie, een die haar personages als complete personen toont: ze zijn zowel kwetsend als kwetsbaar, razendmakend als ontroerend, en altijd zeer herkenbaar.

En Quin i la Margot fa més de vint anys que són amics. En Quin és extravertit i molt sensual, té una personalitat magnètica, i sempre es mou en l''ambigüitat del flirteig. És incapaç d''establir un lligam superficial amb les dones que l''envolten, i necessita conèixer la seva realitat i els seus secrets. Tot i això, la Margot va saber traçar unes fronteres sòlides a la seva relació, i ara observa en Quin amb una barreja d''enuig i afecte. Però tot canvia el dia que les accions d''en Quin es tornen a la seva contra i la seva vida comença a esfondrar-se. La Margot intentarà entendre la naturalesa dels actes del seu amic, el mal que les seves accions han provocat i la lleialtat que mereix. Una aproximació a les complexitats de l''assetjament sexual, la responsabilitat moral que implica i els límits de la lleialtat. «Una novel·la exquisida, i moralment molt palpable.» The Sunday Times «Una lectura incendiària. Extraordinària, atrevida, provocadora. Perfecta.» The Observer «L''obra de Gaitskill se sent més real que la vida mateixa.» The Boston Globe «Gaitskill és una escriptora enormement talentosa.» The New York Times «L''obra de Gaitskill és d''una gran profunditat humana.» LA Times

Quando foi publicado pela primeira vez, em 1988, Mau comportamento causou furor na cena literária americana com suas histórias de obsessão — frequentemente regadas a sexo, drogas e fetiches — que iluminam o lado menos confessável do desejo humano. Em mais de um conto, mulheres jovens trabalham como prostitutas, orbitando uma Nova York dos anos 1980 que fervilha de aspirantes a artistas lutando por reconhecimento. Em outros, a relação entre duas amigas é construída com refinamento psicológico ímpar. Inveja, vaidade e frustração são sentimentos que Mary Gaitskill leva a sério. Aos trinta e poucos anos, a escritora de Detroit dinamitou as barreiras da ficção que restringiam aos personagens masculinos o direito de ser imperfeitos, de ter maus hábitos ou de cometer erros, e inaugurou um novo tempo das protagonistas refratárias a convenções e incapazes de se ajustar a moldes de delicadeza e bondade até então inescapáveis. Mais de trinta anos após sua primeira publicação, Mau comportamento se firmou como um clássico moderno do cânone americano e se apresenta como uma obra que transcende o nosso contexto político atual, como transcendia o de então, confirmando hoje o que já se intuía lá atrás: Mary Gaitskill é muito mais do que a voz de uma geração, é uma grande tradutora da natureza humana.

No todo es blanco o negro. Mary Gaitskill condensa en esta inteligente novela toda la rabia y la complejidad del #MeToo. El efervescente y elegante Quin, un reputado editor y destacado miembro de la escena artística de Nueva York, está en el punto de mira tras recibir distintas acusaciones de abuso sexual. Su amiga Margot, sin embargo, las pone en duda. Él es un hombre que escucha de verdad a las mujeres. Sí, es cierto, es un seductor, tiene una manera peculiar de ganarse su confianza y siente debilidad por un coqueteo sin filtros, pero ¿le convierte esto en un acosador? Alternando los puntos de vista de los dos personajes, Mary Gaitskill cruza en apenas cien páginas los campos de minas del #MeToo. Esta novela urgente condensa toda la rabia y toda la complejidad del debate para situarlo en zona de grises y demostrar que la ficción es el mejor espacio para poner a prueba la realidad. Reseñas: «La ficción de Gaitskill milita contra las respuestas fáciles.» The Sunday Times «Mary Gaitskill es la persona idónea para cuestionar la relación entre las versiones de los acosadores del #MeToo y las de las víctimas en un contexto ficcional. Es hora de tener estas conversaciones, de explorar los matices.» The Washington Post «Incendiario, enigmático y ambiguo [...]. Una de las grandes escritoras vivas nos trae el matiz más inflamatorio de los temas del momento.» The Boston Globe «En el centro de esta historia extraordinaria, atrevida, y provocativa, contada con el tono perfecto, se encuentra la idea de que, a veces, exteriorizamos una verdad tan solo para huir de ella. Lo sensato de nosotros sabe que esa huida es real, y que entre esas dos realidades se esconde un mundo de placer tras el que, de manera abrupta, aparece el dolor.» The Guardian «Gaitskill nunca se queda en la superficie [...] Cree, aunque quizás a regañadientes, en la absoluta primacía de las conexiones humanas, sin importarle los desastres que solemos hacer con ellas.» Chicago Tribune

Quin est licencié de la maison d''édition new-yorkaise où il travaille depuis de longues années. Il est accusé par plusieurs femmes de conduite " inappropriée ". Pourtant, il peine à comprendre ce qu''on lui reproche. Margot est sa meilleure amie. Si elle approuve la punition infligée à Quin, elle ne peut s''empêcher d''y voir une sorte d''injustice. Au fond, que désirons-nous vraiment, et pourquoi ? Qu''est-ce que le consentement ? Dans ce récit percutant à deux voix, c''est toute l''ambiguïté de nos comportements qui se révèle, cette zone grise à laquelle seuls les écrivains ont accès. Car rien ne les oblige, eux, à juger leurs personnages. Traduit de l''anglais (États-Unis) par Marguerite Capelle.

No todo es blanco o negro. Mary Gaitskill condensa en esta inteligente novela toda la rabia y la complejidad del #MeToo. El efervescente y elegante Quin, un reputado editor y destacado miembro de la escena artística de Nueva York, está en el punto de mira tras recibir distintas acusaciones de abuso sexual. Su amiga Margot, sin embargo, las pone en duda. Él es un hombre que escucha de verdad a las mujeres. Sí, es cierto, es un seductor, tiene una manera peculiar de ganarse su confianza y siente debilidad por un coqueteo sin filtros, pero ¿le convierte esto en un acosador? Alternando los puntos de vista de los dos personajes, Mary Gaitskill cruza en apenas cien páginas los campos de minas del #MeToo. Esta novela urgente condensa toda la rabia y toda la complejidad del debate para situarlo en zona de grises y demostrar que la ficción es el mejor espacio para poner a prueba la realidad. ENGLISH DESCRIPTION Starting with Bad Behavior in the 1980s, Mary Gaitskill has been writing about gender relations with searing, even prophetic honesty. In This Is Pleasure, she considers our present moment through the lens of a particular #MeToo incident. The effervescent, well-dressed Quin, a successful book editor and fixture on the New York arts scene, has been accused of repeated unforgivable transgressions toward women in his orbit. But are they unforgivable? And who has the right to forgive him? To Quin’s friend Margot, the wrongdoing is less clear. Alternating Quin’s and Margot’s voices and perspectives, Gaitskill creates a nuanced tragicomedy, one that reveals her characters as whole persons—hurtful and hurting, infuriating and touching, and always deeply recognizable. Gaitskill has said that fiction is the only way that she could approach this subject because it is too emotionally faceted to treat in the more rational essay form. Her compliment to her characters—and to her readers—is that they are unvarnished and real. Her belief in our ability to understand them, even when we don’t always admire them, is a gesture of humanity from one of our greatest contemporary writers.

"No ano passado, perdi meu gato. Gattino era muito novo, apenas um adolescente de sete meses. Provavelmente está morto." O gato perdido começa com a história de como Mary Gaitskill resgatou um gato de rua na Itália e o levou para os Estados Unidos. Enquanto explora o trauma inesperado da perda, ela descreve sua relação com três crianças menos privilegiadas que passavam verões com a autora e seu marido em seu mundo de afluência e contatos culturais.

«Cosí, lei può essere la ragazza innocente e la prostituta e la scrittrice, eh? Bè, immaginate un intero mazzo di carte, e su ogni carta dei simboli di donna - la trovatella, la meretrice, la madre, la guerriera, la regina - fino all''ultima carta, raffigurante Medea, un coltello nella sua implacabile mano alzata. Ecco, quella sono io e qualunque donna può esserlo». Mary Gaitskill, Oggi sono tua *** Nel conturbante mazzo di carte di Mary Gaitskill ogni figura è nuda. Qualcuna la si fissa ossessivamente, da qualcun''altra si distoglie lo sguardo con pudore. Difficile non ritrovare la propria.

Margot sa che Quin le donne le ascolta, le spalleggia e le ama. Ma sa che allo stesso tempo le fruga, le manipola, le offende. Ora che un''accusa di molestie sessuali travolge la vita e la carriera di Quin, Margot deve chiedersi quanto sia tagliente la lama che separa la seduzione dall''abuso, l''empatia dalla giustizia. «Incendiario... e ambiguo. In Questo è il piacere una delle piú grandi scrittrici viventi affronta un tema al calor bianco con sottigliezza e rispetto delle sfumature. La sua capace umanità accorda compassione anche quando non giustifica». «The Boston Globe»

Journal of literature and art

Collection of fiction, nonfiction and poetry on the topic of air travel.