Legends of Glory and Other Stories contains
a novella and eight short stories by award-winning author Harry Mark Petrakis.
In his novella “Legends of Glory,” Petrakis deals with the traditions
and emotions of a small Midwestern town caught in the whirlwind of the Iraq
War. In a communal rite of mourning, each character embodies a different
voice, a different perspective, in regard to patriotism and pacifism. Although
the novella relates to the sacrifice of a young man, the grieving of parents,
and the conflicts of a family, it explores human sorrow and anger unchanged
from the time of the Trojan War.
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Praise for Legends of Glory:
“Legends of Glory is a masterpiece, a commentary as well as a
history of the present era.”
—Fr.
Andrew M. Greeley, author
of The Senator and the Priest and Irish Crystal: A Nuala Anne McGrail
Novel
“We shout against the wind, spitting
our spleen against this war and fall back exhausted and defeated. Harry
Mark Petrakis, in the quiet eloquence of his Legends of Glory, not only
nails the war but the American militarism that feeds it. He leaves us our
humanity, and in these days of chaos, who writes us such music?”
—Edward Asner, actor and activist
“Legends of Glory is the experience of our time transmitted not
by cable news but by a great artist who feels our pulse and hears the breaking
of our hearts.”
—Eugene Kennedy,
author of The Unhealed Wound: The Church and Human Sexuality
“This tale of generations at their warring song is both timely
and timeless—as fresh as the news from Iraq and ancient as the sorrows
of the Trojan War. Harry Mark Petrakis demonstrates once more his unmatched
gift for melding the contemporary and old world—where glory turns
to ash and yet endures.”
—Nicholas
Delbanco, author of Spring and Fall
“I read
Legends of Glory and found myself in tears. That Petrakis could get so much
from so few pages is a tribute to his narrative power. The last paragraphs
are close to sublimity.”
—Richard
Stern, author of Almonds to Zhoof: Collected Stories
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Offering a collection of new stories populated with characters
who face dilemmas of sacrifice, love, fidelity, and mortality.
Legends of Glory and Other Stories contains a novella and eight
short stories by award-winning author Harry Mark Petrakis. In a departure
from his previous, highly regarded work, Petrakis offers a fresh new perspective
in the novella, “Legends of Glory,” which Fr. Andrew Greeley
has called a “masterpiece.” For the first time Petrakis deals
with the traditions and emotions of a small Midwestern town caught in
the whirlwind of the Iraq War. In a communal rite of mourning, each character
embodies a different voice, a different perspective, in regard to patriotism
and pacifism. Although the novella relates to the sacrifice of a young
man, the grieving of parents, and the conflicts of a family, it explores
human sorrow and anger unchanged from the time of the Trojan War.
In a return to his earlier lyrical prose style, Petrakis also treats us
to eight beautifully crafted short stories. “Beauty’s Daughter”
introduces a sullen-spirited Greek bakery owner and his lovely, more amiable
wife.
“The Birthday” considers the fear that most people have of
the emotional and physical decline that the years bring and the reconciliation
with death.
In “The Wisdom of Solon,” Solon, who does not realize that
life cannot be neatly categorized within the mysterious relationships
between men and women, finds that every action sets in motion a series
of often bewildering consequences.
The question of a proper marriage match and the struggle to make the right
choice mark “The Rousing of Mathon Sarlas.” And the longing
to believe that something survives our mortal bodies even if reason dictates
otherwise is central to “A Dishwasher’s Tale.”
Completing the collection are “Christina’s Summer,”
“Rites of Passage,” and “A Tale of Color,” which
are also presented in an inviting prose style and individualized by engaging
characters to provide readers with a cumulative sense of culture, geography,
and sensibility.
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Harry Mark Petrakis is the author of
twenty-two books, including A Dream of Kings, which was made
into a major motion picture. He has held appointments at Ohio University
as McGuffy Visiting Lecturer and at San Francisco State University
as Kazantzakis Professor in Modern Greek Studies. He was twice nominated
for the National Book Award in Fiction, won the O. Henry Award, and
received awards from Friends of American Writers, Friends of Literature,
and the Society of Midland Authors. |
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