Other Electricities is a novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

 by Ander Monson

Ander Monson

-Life:He was raised in Houghton, Michigan in the Upper Peninsula. His mother's death when he was seven years old is reflected in the themes of his later fiction. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois...

. It is Monson's first novel, and is described by him as a work of poetry, fiction and nonfiction.

Plot

Other Electricities is based on experiences Monson had as a child growing up on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The novel focuses on the characters and their interactions with one another in a small town in Upper Michigan. Much of the book revolves around the central character "Yr Protagonist" and his interactions with his friends and family. The opening chapter describes a police officer alerting the family of Liz, Yr's girlfriend, being killed in a snowmobile crash in a frozen river, which is the basis of much of the novel. Some reviewers speculate that Yr Protagonist is a semi-autobiographical character.

Structure

Monson stated that he tried to "activate" otherwise non-authorial sections of the text by specially composing a character list, list of symbols, and index. The books pieces of poetry were designed by Monson to be read as poetry or prose. The book's thematic material is based largely on repeating motifs.

Role of Design

Monson, who claims "informal training" in design, both authored the text and designed the page layout of an early Other Electricities in Pagemaker. In an early draft of the novel, headers and gutter space featured text that interacted with page numbers.

Awards and nominations

Monson was a finalist for the 2006 New York Public Library's Young Lions Award, and won the 2007 John C. Zacharis First Book Award from the literary journal Ploughshares for Other Electricities.

External links

http://otherelectricities.com/, Monson's website.