Bøger af John McKeown

Joss, a newly successful erotic author, and his wife Annabel are invited by Annabel's friend Cynthia to dinner with Adrian, a gallery owner, his girlfriend Emily a young Australian painter, and Pedro a gay Brazilian dancer. After dinner they decide to have a competition to see who can tell the best erotic story. Fetishes both standard and bizarre come to light as the evening progresses and each narrative increases the sexual temperature. There are surprises in store for everyone, particularly Joss, who believes himself the master of the situation

Rather than "emotion recollected in tranquillity," many of these short poems encapsulate the aggravations of love untempered by any fireside philosophy. Unrealizable lusts of the eye, unrequited attachment, and moments of realized and imaginary passion are concentrated into cameos and carbuncles - "glimmering tokens of memory." A calmer but no less acquisitive eye is turned on manifestations of nature, while the taken-for-granted basics of our human background - day, night, and the elements - are imbued with beauty and mystery.