Nothing Lasts Forever: Three Novellas - Hardcover

Robert Steiner is a master. His work ranks alongside J G Ballard, Vladimir Nabokov, and James Salter. One cannot overstate his importance as an American stylist in the 21st century. He is the author of several books including Matinee, Quill, The Catastrophe, and Bathers. He now lives in Florida.

In an interview with January Magazine to promote a previous book, Dreamtime (2004), Steiner stated that one reason he writes is to stave off a mental death, to stay the inevitable decline of cognition. This may explain the dark elegance of his often-difficult prose stylings, and these three novellas, rooted in decay, infidelity, and death, address these themes explicitly. “Into the Green Ocean Deep” details a woman’s slow death and the indulgent depravity she and her lover enjoy in her last days and nights. Steiner’s nauseating obsession and incessant repetition stay painfully true to the events portrayed. “Inviolate” revolves around the ruminations of an adulteress as her husband lies comatose, and “Negative Space” tells the story of a decades-long affair in the voice of the cuckolded husband. While tobacco plumes, stiff whisky, and graphic ejaculation predominate, it is Steiner’s ability to illuminate life’s darkest edges that allows diligent readers to confront the bleak oblivion of trust betrayed. Readers of Paul Auster, John Hawkes, and Peter Nádas will be up for the challenge. --Diego Báez