German Picturesque

"The modest size of Jason Schwartz's first collection is misleading, since his fiction turns out to be grandly intrepid. Schwartz writes of family events and historical tragedies, evoking a nameless consciousness whirling through remembered facts, letters, memories - and he does so by recording not the narrative events but the traces of them that pulse within the words and memories and objects left behind ...Unlike much so-called experimental fiction, Schwartz's work contains genuine passion and invention - and an enormous appetite for challenging himself and his audience." - The New York Times