The Ant Generator

Selected by Marilynne Robinson Punctuated with weirdly comic moments, the stories in The Ant Generator reflect Harris' view of the world as a slightly strange place with shifting, dubious boundaries. Men and women encounter the commonplace im-probabilities of modern life: a woman who works in an archaeological museum dreams of order but experiences random violence, a bored schoolteacher gets into the Book of World Records for standing on one foot. In the various inte ractions of mind and matte r in Harris' affecting stories, people try to force their expe rience into simple shapes, agai nst natural and social opposition, with comic or tragic results. Sometimes their determination to command their own meaning is redemptive and creative; at othe r times they confront the luminous mystery and unforgiving character of the natural world o r the anger of the dispossessed. Harris sensitively creates individuals who respond to the o rdinary in extraordinary ways, characters who think in dreams and visions and who, like the author, employ rare gifts. Marilynne Robinson comments, 'The Ant Generator includes an impressive variety of stories, which have in common long, medi-tative narrative movements and a bemused awareness of the uncertain frontiers between the quotidian and the dreamlike. " No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, without permission in writing from the publisher. This is a work of fiction; any resemblance to actual events or persons is entirely coincidental.