Harry Mathews

Cigarettes is a novel about the rich and powerful, tracing their complicated relationships from the 1930s to the 1960s, from New York City to Upper New York State. Though nothing is as simple as it might appear to be, we could describe this as a story about Allen, who is married to Maud but having an affair with Elizabeth, who lives with Maud. Or say it is a story about fraud in the art world, horse racing, and sexual intrigues. Or, as one critic...

A man is told by his doctor to start keeping a diary, it could cure his depressions. The patient follows the advice and in no time he is off pills. Only now he becomes addicted to his journal, fretting and fussing as he organizes and re-organizes the entries. By the author of Singular Pleasures.