Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Eli Gottlieb's top 10 scenes from the battle of the sexes

Eli Gottlieb has worked as a Senior Editor of Elle Magazine and taught American Literature as a Lecturer at the University of Padova, Italy. His first novel, The Boy Who Went Away, won the prestigious Rome Prize, the 1998 McKitterick Prize from the British Society of Authors, and was a New York Times Notable book. He is a contributing editor for 5280 magazine.

His latest novel is Now You See Him.

For the Guardian, he named his "top 10 scenes from the battle of the sexes." One novel on the list:
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan

After the shimmering Saturday this tiny, concentrated novel unpacks the world of two newlyweds struggling with the cumbersome gear of their pre-1960s genitals. Wielding his insight with characteristic aplomb, McEwan lays bare the mountain of contradictory assumptions held by the virginal young couple as they head for bed on their wedding night. The rage of their botched sexual encounter and its fatal aftermath is rendered with nearly forensic precision.
Read about another title to make Gottlieb's list.

The Page 69 Test: Eli Gottlieb's Now You See Him.

--Marshal Zeringue