American Dreams
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Edition: 1st ed.,
Condition remarks:
Book: Very good
Jacket: N/A
Pages: Good
Markings: No markings
A masterwork of Australian short fiction, American Dreams presents a quietly unsettling collection of stories in which Peter Carey dissects the myths of progress, conformity, and desire with dark, satirical precision. The title story chronicles the transformation of a small Australian town after a reclusive man's secret project — a meticulously detailed scale model of the town and its inhabitants — is revealed upon his death, drawing tourists and ultimately stripping the community of its privacy and authenticity. Carey illustrates how ordinary people become complicit in their own commodification, surrendering identity to the spectacle of being observed. Written with a tone that balances deadpan wit and creeping dread, the stories in this collection argue that the seductive promises of modernity — wealth, fame, and the American ideal — carry a corrosive cost. Carey's prose is precise and fable-like, rendering the surreal with such matter-of-fact clarity that the absurd becomes deeply, uncomfortably recognizable.
Author: Peter Carey
Format: Paperback
Published: 1997, Angus & Robertson (An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers)
Genre: Modern fiction
Edition: 1st ed.,
Condition remarks:
Book: Very good
Jacket: N/A
Pages: Good
Markings: No markings
A masterwork of Australian short fiction, American Dreams presents a quietly unsettling collection of stories in which Peter Carey dissects the myths of progress, conformity, and desire with dark, satirical precision. The title story chronicles the transformation of a small Australian town after a reclusive man's secret project — a meticulously detailed scale model of the town and its inhabitants — is revealed upon his death, drawing tourists and ultimately stripping the community of its privacy and authenticity. Carey illustrates how ordinary people become complicit in their own commodification, surrendering identity to the spectacle of being observed. Written with a tone that balances deadpan wit and creeping dread, the stories in this collection argue that the seductive promises of modernity — wealth, fame, and the American ideal — carry a corrosive cost. Carey's prose is precise and fable-like, rendering the surreal with such matter-of-fact clarity that the absurd becomes deeply, uncomfortably recognizable.