{"product_id":"snijders-a-l-night-train-very-short-stories-copy","title":"Snijders, A. L.: Night Train: Very Short Stories","description":"\u003cp\u003eTranslated from the Dutch \u0026amp; with an Introduction by Lydia Davis (New Directions, paperback)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePublication Date: October 5, 2021\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003ePublisher Marketing: \u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eGorgeously translated by Lydia Davis, the miniature stories of A. L. Snijders might concern a lost shoe, a visit with a bat, fears of travel, a dream of a man who has lost a glass eye: uniting them is their concision and their vivacity. Lydia Davis in her introduction delves into her fascination with the pleasures and challenges of translating from a language relatively new to her. She also extols Snijders's \"straightforward approach to storytelling, his modesty and his thoughtfulness.\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eSelected from many hundreds in the original Dutch, the stories gathered here--humorous, or bizarre, or comfortingly homely--are something like daybook entries, novels-in-brief, philosophical meditations, or events recreated from life, but--inhabiting the borderland between fiction and reality--might best be described as autobiographical mini-fables.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThis morning at 11:30, in the full sun, I go up into the hayloft where I haven't been for years. I climb over boxes and shelving, and open the door. A frightened owl flies straight at me, dead quiet, as quiet as a shadow can fly, I look into his eyes--he's a large owl, it's not strange that I'm frightened too, we frighten each other. I myself thought that owls never move in the daytime. What the owl thinks about me, I don't know.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Open Books: A Poem Emporium","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44537622954007,"sku":"9780811228565","price":7.48,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0004\/6497\/7956\/products\/als.gif?v=1621534917","url":"https:\/\/open-books-a-poem-emporium.myshopify.com\/products\/snijders-a-l-night-train-very-short-stories-copy","provider":"Open Books: A Poem Emporium","version":"1.0","type":"link"}