Suspended Sentences: Stories

Veteran novelist (The Hotel in the Jungle) and critic (The Triumph of the Novel) Guerard collects six short stories written over a span of six decades, two of which are chapters from still unpublished novels. As the title suggests, the characters in these tales constantly establish their right to personal freedom through transgressions that trigger crucial and life-expanding discoveries. The vacationing protagonist of ""Davos in Winter"" struggles with his desire to cheat at roulette and then realizes that he faces no worse punishment than his mother's censure. In ""Turista,"" a woman's slap of her husband's face represents the backlash of three years of repression--and yet, at the moment, it appears only to create the couple's embarrassment in a quiet restaurant. Sometimes Guerard employs skewed stereotypes in characterization, which distort the believability of his stories. ""The Incubus"" tells the story of a naive man whose sexual relationship with a mysterious young painter draws him into a seductive group of hip and menacing artists. ""Miss Prindle's Lover"" reveals a tender and surprising version of the tale of star-crossed odd couples. The stories are also richly atmospheric; Guerard reimagines his settings--the Alps, New York City, a border town near Mexico--as if he had swallowed them whole. His graceful prose glides suspensefully and carries much intellectual rigor. Consistency of voice and an allegiance to ribald truths mark these stories as durable additions to Guerard's body of work. (Jan.)