Abstract

The stories of this collection describe and navigate mysterious social relations and the spaces that influence their dramas. Linguistic play and metafictional devices aim to emphasize emotive and intellectual ties to urban habitations, and, moreover, the difficulties in knowing one's or another's identity within these shifty civic milieus. Verbal slippages confound the vulnerable protagonist of "The Slideshow," leading him to question his own perception and the possibility of knowing the intentions of a love interest. Buildings enact a central role in "A Positive Piece on Buildings: A Love Story," "At An Architect's Apartment," "The Long-exposure Photograph," "The Prosperity of Walter May," "The Addition," and "The Eight Brightly Lit Windows." In each story, the protagonist is forced to understand the influence of architectural surroundings on his own agency; and alongside these meditations on buildings, he attempts to understand the relationship between himself and an acquaintance, a friend, or a lover. In "The Asrah Levitation," a mind-altering drug allows the protagonist to shed his inhibitions and confront his relationship to the city by way of viewing it from above. As images within texts draw attention to a blurry line between fictional and documentary representation, photographs are included in "The Slideshow," "The Long-exposure Photograph" and "The Eight Brightly Lit Windows" to embolden this line. This inclusion does not replicate information within the stories, but rather works in tandem to expose other angles from which the texts may be interpreted.