'Cleanness' Revisits Familiar Ground, Beautifully
Garth Greenwell's new story collection — like his previous novel — follows young, gay American men teaching English in Bulgaria. It's part heartbreaking, part forward-looking, and all beautiful.
by Martha Anne Toll
Jan 19, 2020
3 minutes
Halfway through Garth Greenwell's exquisite story collection, Cleanness, the narrator and his boyfriend wander through a Bologna museum devoted to a single, unnamed artist. The narrator becomes transfixed by paintings "humming at a frequency I wanted to tune myself to catch."
You don't need to have been to Bologna (I haven't) to recognize that Greenwell has discovered , a twentieth century Italian painter whose small, haunting still lifes evoke mystery and wonder. The giveaway is the narrator's sequence of reactions: His initial impression that the paintings are "quiet and unambitious,," followed
You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.
Start your free 30 days