A Day After the Fair

Many of the stories and plays collected here for the first time in one volume have already assumed the stature of classics: the chilling 'Mr. Evening', the pageant-like extravaganza, 'Wedding Finger', the searing 'Some of these Days', and the unhingingly brilliant tour-de-force of modern theatre, 'A Day After the Fair', from which this book takes its name. But this is only to mention a few in a collection bound to have wide literary repercussions now and in the future.In his introduction to the stories in Color of Darkness, the British critic Dr. Tony Tanner has written: 'James Purdy is one of the most accomplished writers in the genre to have appeared a America' - a statement previously enunciated by such eminent literary figures as Dame Edith Sitwell, who wrote: 'I am convinced that in the future James Purdy will be known as one of the greatest writers produced in America during the last 100 years.'The reader of the selections in A Day After the Fair will find here the same complex variety of mood, insight, and technical skill which was evident in such works as Malcolm, The Nephew, The House of the Solitary Maggot, and In a Shallow Grave.