Third Class Superhero
1st Edition
Published on 1. November 2017
192 pages
978-0-547-54570-7 (ISBN)
Description
"A compulsively readable collection" of short fiction from the author of
How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe (
Publishers Weekly).
With deadpan humor and originality, Charles Yu spins Kafkaesque tales of modern identity and insecurity in this whip-smart debut. In 401(k), a couple living in the Luxury Car Commercial subdivision are disappointed when their exotic vacation turns into a Life Insurance/Asset Management pitch. The author struggles to write the definitive biography of his mother in Autobiographical Raw Material Unsuitable for the Mining of Fiction. And would-be superhero Moisture Man must come to terms with the darkness in his heart.
Throughout the collection, Yu's characters run up against the limitations of their artificial story lines while tackling the terrifying aspects of existence: mothers, jobs, spouses, and perhaps most terrifying of all, the need to express feelings. Heartbreaking and hilarious, Third Class Superhero marked the debut of an author who has been a PEN award finalist, and whose novel How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe was named one of Time's best books of the year.
"The post-collegiate braininess of many of Yu's stories is like the music of the Talking Heads, making the familiar seem off-kilter.... Takes a Kafkaesque turn in its comic examination of the essence of identity." - Kirkus Reviews
With deadpan humor and originality, Charles Yu spins Kafkaesque tales of modern identity and insecurity in this whip-smart debut. In 401(k), a couple living in the Luxury Car Commercial subdivision are disappointed when their exotic vacation turns into a Life Insurance/Asset Management pitch. The author struggles to write the definitive biography of his mother in Autobiographical Raw Material Unsuitable for the Mining of Fiction. And would-be superhero Moisture Man must come to terms with the darkness in his heart.
Throughout the collection, Yu's characters run up against the limitations of their artificial story lines while tackling the terrifying aspects of existence: mothers, jobs, spouses, and perhaps most terrifying of all, the need to express feelings. Heartbreaking and hilarious, Third Class Superhero marked the debut of an author who has been a PEN award finalist, and whose novel How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe was named one of Time's best books of the year.
"The post-collegiate braininess of many of Yu's stories is like the music of the Talking Heads, making the familiar seem off-kilter.... Takes a Kafkaesque turn in its comic examination of the essence of identity." - Kirkus Reviews
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Charles Yu
Third Class Superhero
Book
09/2006
Harcourt Publishers,U.S.
€17.30
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Person
Charles Yu is the author of
How to Live Safely
in a Science Fictional Universe, which was named one of the best books of the year by
Time magazine. He received the National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35 Award for his story collection
Third Class Superhero, and was a finalist for the PEN Center USA Literary Award. Yu's work has been published in the
New York Times,
Playboy, and
Slate, among other periodicals.
Content
- Intro
- Title Page
- Front
- Third Class Superhero
- 401(k)
- The Man Who Became Himself
- Problems for Self-Study
- My Last Days As Me
- Two-Player Infinitely Iterated Simultaneous Semi-Cooperative Game with Spite and Reputation
- Realism
- Florence
- Man of Quiet Desperation Goes on Short Vacation
- 32.05864991%
- Autobiographical Raw Material Unsuitable for the Mining of Fiction
- Back
