{"product_id":"stories-like-illnesses-9781961884915","title":"Stories, Like Illnesses","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eElkins \"offers a profusion of visual and philosophical imagination... A deeply unconventional debut, it's an invitation into a teeming imagination.\"\u2028--John Williams, \u003ci\u003eWashington Post \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"The language, the pacing, the shifting moods, the academic stuff- all are in the right proportions. This is a MAJOR novel.\" --Steven Moore, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Novel, An Alternative History\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eMushrooms and comets, amoebas and crystals, an idyllic but uncanny day in the country: Samuel Emmer is losing grasp of his memories, and relying on a microscope to search for his future. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBiologist Samuel Emmer's imagination is spinning out of control. As he confronts an increasingly mystifying and unreliable past, he is also losing sight of his future. Brilliant but lost, Emmer desperately tries to engage with those he cares about: the memory of his grief-stricken mother, obsessed with mycology and cosmology; a potential romance with co-worker Rosie, dependent on healing crystals to feel safe; and the fraying relationship with his older brother, disappearing into the ether of his own success. Strange imagery (mushrooms, crystals, microscopes, technical diagrams, comets, amoebas and idyllic skies) disrupts and diverts the text as the narrative itself fractures into competing voices. In the midst of it all is Samuel Emmer, at risk of vanishing himself. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe third volume in James Elkins' landmark multi-volume novel \u003ci\u003eFive Strange Languages\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e Stories, Like Illnesses\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e is set in time both before and after the events of previously published volumes (\u003ci\u003eWeak in Comparison to Dreams \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eA Short Introduction to Anneliese\u003c\/i\u003e), the ideal entry point to Elkins' sprawling modern day epic. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHeartbreaking, hilarious and deeply resonant.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"I don't where it came from, I don't know how it happened, but I got it in Toronto... I think everyone should read that book. It's unbelievable\" \u003cb\u003e--JACOB ELORDI, on \u003ci\u003eWeak in Comparison to Dreams \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Unnamed Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/06\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781961884915\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 510","brand":"James Elkins","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53241136971957,"sku":"9781961884915","price":33.15,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_cac9506d-652f-4598-a900-0498070ad306.jpg?v=1788996297","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/stories-like-illnesses-9781961884915","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}