Stitching together a post-apocalyptic history from the scraps of fairy tales, war memorials, hunting songs, and disparate scholarship, Jessica Bozek’s The Tales traces the violence that humans inflict upon one another. As the central narrative of the Lone Survivor becomes revealed through the mouths of various perspectives, Bozek investigates the language that victims and perpetrators alike use to make sense of (and attempt to forget) the aftermath of violence. From ordinary objects—family photographs, sweaters that unravel, old batteries, and lightbulbs—to the remnants of destroyed art and architecture, an annihilated nation is brought into reality, and the Lone Survivor’s story is simultaneously documented and invalidated, becoming “a memorial that will disintegrate over time, gray and fray as most of the dead did not have a chance to.”
This title is a second edition, released as part of punctum’s Special Collections project.
About the First Edition
- Winner of the 2012 NOS Book Contest, as selected by guest judge Sina Queyras.
- Dennis James Sweeney, Review of The Tales by Jessica Bozek, HTML Giant.
- Maggie Milner, “The Lone Survivor Bears Witness to Atrocity: Jessica Bozek’s The Tales,” Zyzzyva.
- Sally McCallum, Review of The Tales by Jessica Bozek, The Volta Blog.
- Spencer Dew, Review of The Tales by Jessica Bozek, decomP magazinE.