"Experimental" and "underground" tend to be relative terms, applied to any piece that strikes its audience as somewhat unusual. THRUST publishes an eclectic group of writers whose work falls outside the fairly narrow conventions adhered to by most American fiction. The first issue has a translation of work by former East German writer Wolfgang Hilbig; the rest are writers from the US. Reviews of experimental prose are promised in future issues. Issue 1 is somewhat mixed. Tom Whalen successfully masquerades as a European writer of philosophical magic realism in "Annals"; though his writing conveys few specificities, it does translate the form. Likewise, Helen Duberstein translates the art-Märchen into English in "Old Man and the Faerie," but the setting of the tale remains Central Europe. Albert Huffstickler's one-page "Alley Way," however, succeeds in bringing a favorite European genre, the tale of an uncanny encounter in a modern city, into what is clearly the contemporary US, in language, manners, and diction. Kirpal Gordon's self-consciously jazzy prose transcribes rather than investigates the rude collages thrown up by contemporary US life. And Dan Parker's "Revenge of the Roach," though finished, successful, and enjoyable, is also thoroughly unambitious. Clearly, writers of experimental prose in American English still have much work--and play--to do. I am glad that THRUST is providing them with a forum.--Charlotte Pressler
This review originally appeared in TapRoot Reviews #4,
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Copyright Burning Press 1994, 1995.