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Lift Your Right Arm

The five sequences of Lift Your Right Arm are minimalist novels of sorts — thought-provoking, mostly deadpan prose that is often darkly humorous. From the stark relationship studies of "Bagatelles" and "Dirty Windows" to the wry observations of "Mr. Deadman" and "A Certain Clarence," the stars of these pieces are Peter Cherches' unique takes on Everyman and Everywoman — dead or alive — navigating a world in which very little is what it seems.

"One of the innovators of the short short story, Cherches (Condensed Book) returns with a collection whose pieces linger in the void somewhere between poetry and prose. Consisting of five sequences of loosely connected minimalist stories — few of which go on for longer than a page — these 'novellas', though distinct, keep returning to certain overarching themes: the reality of death, the difficulty of expressing subjective perspective, and the failures of language." — Publishers Weekly

“Packed into Lift Your Right Arm are conundrums, Abbott-and-Costello dialogues, nonsense narratives and other playful — sometimes hilarious, sometimes subversive — assaults on logic. To Gödel, Escher, and Bach we might consider adding Peter Cherches.” — Billy Collins

“Peter Cherches is one of the stingiest writers going — stingy with words, that is. He won’t use ten words if he can get away with five, and he won’t write a novel if he can convey its pith in a page. This book, then, is the equivalent of a whole shelf of books. Read slowly, it can last you for years.” — Luc Sante

  • Format
  • paperback
  • Pages
  • 160
  • Language
  • english
  • ISBN
  • 9781938349027
  • Release date
  • 2013