Machine Dreams

by PHILLIPS, JAYNE ANNE

• ISBN13: 9780375705250
• ISBN10: 0375705252
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-11-09
• Publisher: Vintage

Summary

In her highly acclaimed debut novel, the bestselling author ofShelterintroduces the Hampsons, an ordinary, small-town American family profoundly affected by the extraordinary events of history. Here is a stunning chronicle that begins with the Depression and ends with the Vietnam War, revealed in the thoughts, dreams, and memories of each family member. Mitch struggles to earn a living as Jeans becomes the main breadwinner, working to coplete college and raise the family. While the couple fight to keep their marriage intact, their daughter Danner and son Billy forge a sibling bond of uncommon strength. When Billy goes off to Vietnam, Danner becomes the sole bond linking her family, whose dissolution mirrors the fractured state of America in the 1960s. Deeply felt and vividly imagined, this lyrical novel is "among the wisest of a generation to grapple with a war that maimed us all" (The Village Voice), by a master of contemporary fiction.

Author Biography

Jayne Anne Phillips was born in Buckhannon, West Virginia. She is the author of three novels, MotherKind (2000), Shelter (1994) and Machine Dreams (1984), and two collections of widely anthologized stories, Fast Lanes (1987) and Black Tickets (1979). She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, and a Bunting Fellowship. She has been awarded the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction (1980) and an Academy Award in Literature (1997) by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Her work has been translated into twelve languages, and has appeared in Granta, Harper’s, DoubleTake, and The Norton Anthology of Contemporary Fiction. She is currently Professor of English and Director of the MFA Program at Rutgers-Newark, the State University of New Jersey. Her new novel, Lark and Termite, is forthcoming from Knopf.

Table of Contents

Reminiscence To A Daughter: Jean	3	(22)
The Secret Country: Mitch	25	(24)
War Letters: Mitch, 1942--45	49	(10)
Machine Dreams: Mitch, 1946	59	(34)
Anniversary Song: Jean, 1948	93	(26)
Coral Sea: Mitch, 1950	119	(8)
The House At Night: Danner, 1956	127	(8)
Machine Dreams: Billy, 1957	135	(24)
Reminiscence To A Daughter: Jean, 1962	159	(8)
Radio Parade: Danner, 1963	167	(32)
The Air Show: Billy, 1963	199	(14)
Amazing Grace: Danner, 1965	213	(22)
Moonship: Danner, 1969	235	(10)
November And December: Billy, 1969	245	(36)
War Letters: Billy, 1970	281	(16)
The World: Danner, 1972	297	(34)
Machine Dream: Danner	331