Skip to content
Responsive image
Vendor
Liepman Literary Agency
Marc Koralnik
Original language
English

LATER

Paul Lisicky

My Life at the Edge of the World

When Paul Lisicky arrived in Provincetown in the early 1990s, he was leaving behind a history of family trauma to live in a place outside of time, known for its values of inclusion, acceptance, and art. In this idyllic haven, Lisicky searches for love and connection and comes into his own as he finds a sense of belonging. At the same time, the center of this community is consumed by the AIDS crisis, and the very structure of town life is being rewired out of necessity: What might this utopia look like during a time of dystopia?

Later dramatizes a spectacular yet ravaged place and a unique era when more fully becoming one's self collided with the realization that ongoingness couldn't be taken for granted, and staying alive from moment to moment exacted absolute attention. Following the success of his acclaimed memoir, The Narrow Door, Lisicky fearlessly explores the body, queerness, love, illness, community, and belonging in this masterful, ingenious new book.

PAUL LISICKY is the author of five books, including The Narrow Door and Famous Builder. He has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment of the Arts, among others. He teaches in the MFA program at Rutgers University and lives in Brooklyn.
Available products
Book

Published 2020-03-01 by Graywolf Press

Comments

“[A] coastal elegy . . . ravishing in its precision and restraint. . . . What's affecting here is Lisicky's preservation of a multitude of subtle, ambivalent feelings, of small kindnesses and cruelties. Nothing is simplified in a bid for universal resonance, and the text is richer for that. It bristles with pinprick observations. . . . A huge variety of people and even animals are given consideration and respect, including those who appear on a few scattered pages. You're reminded that looking closely can be a form of love.”