Fiction. NORTH ARROW is a collection of seventeen stories that traverse stylistic, emotional, and geographical landscapes. From New Jersey to the Netherlands to abstract poetic terrain, Dennis Barone places his characters in situations where they're forced to confront the nature of memory, of change, and of finding one's way in a society that can be hostile to those who circumvent its meager expectations. Barone's stories are instructive, but their morals are not clear-cut or pedantic. Rather, Barone creates space for the reader to sidle up next to his characters—an ambitious film director in a secret, proto-Hollywood New Jersey of the past; a young woman trying to make her way as a large-animal veterinarian in the Netherlands; the author himself, attempting to weave together the near and distant strains of his memory—as they are faced with decisions that will determine not only their own identities, but the stamp they will leave on the world.

Author City: BROOKLYN, NY USA

Dennis Barone is a Professor of English and Director of the American Studies Program at Saint Joseph College in West Hartford, Connecticut. A graduate of Bard College, he received his Ph.D. in American Civilization from the University of Pennsylvania. In 1992 he held the Thomas Jefferson Chair, a distinguished Fulbright lecturing award, in the Netherlands, and in 1997 he received the America Award for fiction. His many books include AMERICA/TRATTABILI (Bordighera Press, 2011), PARALLEL LINES (Shearsman Books, 2011), FIELD REPORT (Quale Press, 2011), NORTH ARROW (Quale Press, 2008), PRECISE MACHINE (Quale Press, 2006), THE WALLS OF CIRCUMSTANCE (Avec Books, 2004), TEMPLE OF THE RAT (Left Hand Books, 2000), THE RETURNS (Sun & Moon Press, 1996) and ON THE BUS: SELECTED STORIES (BlazeVOX [books], 2012).