The Sunlight Dialogues

724 Pages·2006·32.48 MB·English

by  Gardner, John

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also by John Gardner
October Light
Nickel Mountain (forthcoming)
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Sunlight
Diolo^uoa
JOHN CARDNBR
Introduction byCh^rlCS JotlllSOn
A New Directions Book
Copyright © 1972 by John Gardner
Copyright © 2006 by Charles Johnson
All rights reserved. Except for brief passages quoted in a newspaper,
magazine, radio, or television review, no part of this book may be
reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage
and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher.
New Directions Books are printed on acid-free paper.
First published clothbound by Alfred A. Knopf in 1972.
First published as New Directions Paperbook 1051 in 2006.
Published simultaneously in Canada by Penguin Books Canada Limited.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gardner, John, 1933-1982.
The sunlight dialogues / by John Gardner ; introduction by Charles
Johnson.
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8112-1670-8 (acid-free paper)
ISBN-10; 0-8112-1670-5 (acid-free paper)
1. Drifters—Fiction. 2. Sheriffs—Fiction. 3. Social change—Fiction.
4. Social classes—Fiction. 5. City and town life—Fiction. 6.
Nineteen
sixties—Fiction. 7. Batavia (N.Y.)—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3557.A712S9 2006
813’.54—dc22
2006026361
New Directions Books are published for James Laughlin
by New Directions Publishing Corporation,
80 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10011
To Edmund Epstein
V.
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CONTENTS
Introduction ix
xix
List of Characters
1
Prologue
I
5
The Watchdog
II
When the Exorcist Shall Go to the House of the Patient 59
ni
125
Lion Emerging from Cage
IV
181
Mama
V
210
Hunting Wild Asses
VI
278
Esther
VII
305
The Dialogue on Wood and Stone
VIII
335
The Kleppmann File
IX
362
“Like a robber, I shall proceed according to my will.”
X
387
Poetry and Life
XI
406
The Dialogue of Houses
vii
XII
A Mother’s Love 436
XIII
Nah ist—und schwer zufassen der Gott 458
XIV
The Wilderness
494
XV
The Dialogue of the Dead
517
XVI
Love and Duty
548
XVII
Benson versus ^oy\&
556
XVIII
The Dragon’s Dwelling-Place and the Court for Owls
577
XIX
Workmen in a Quarry
590
XX
Winged Figure Carrying Sacrificial Animal
625
XXI
The Dialogue of Towers
639
XXII
Luke
650
XXIII
E sdentio
658
XXIV
Law and Order
683
Vlll