In the Province of the Gods

Kenny Fries is the author of Body, Remember: A Memoir and The History of My Shoes and the Evolution of Darwin’s Theory. He is the editor of Staring Back: The Disability Experience from the Inside Out. He teaches in the MFA in Creative Writing Program at Goddard College and is the recipient of a prestigious Creative Capital grant.

“Kenny Fries writes out of the pure hot emergency of a mortal being trying to keep himself alive. So much is at stake here—health, affection, culture, trauma, language—but its greatest surprise is what thrives in the midst of suffering. A beautiful book.”—Paul Lisicky, author of The Narrow Door“In this subtle page turner, Fries helps reinvent the travel-as-pilgrimage narrative. He neither exoticizes nor shies away from the potential pitfalls of a Western mind traveling abroad; instead he demonstrates how, through an all-too-rare open heart and a true poet’s eye, bridges can be built and understanding deepened, one sincere action at a time.”—Marie Mutsuki Mockett, author of Where the Dead Pause, and the Japanese Say Goodbye“Deeply moving and exquisitely written about many things—cultural and physical difference, sexuality, love, loss, mortality, and the ephemeral nature of beauty and art—and a love letter to Japan.”— Mira Bartók, author of The Memory Palace“Not your typical AIDS memoir. . . . It’s also a book about living with a life-long disability, living in a unique and vastly different culture than one’s own. . . . Fries offers compelling insight into Japanese culture. Perhaps from a lifetime spent on the outside looking in, he shines in his understanding of and his perspective on the human condition.” — John Francis Leonard, A&U“An achingly beautiful and intricately-woven personal narrative…. Fries’ prose shines with a honed and brightly polished clarity—each phrase hangs heavy with meaning, reduced only to what is necessary, a world in of itself. . . . to read it is to experience what true literary achievement really means.”—Julia Bouwsma, Connotation Press“Absorbing, moving and intensely human. . . . In the unsettled and often angry world of disability politics, Kenny Fries' memoir enters centre stage, projecting an oasis of calm and insightful enquiry.”—Wordgathering

• Prologue: In the Province of the GodsI. FloatingOne: GenkanTwo: FortuneThree: Barrier FreeFour: Foreign AffairsFive: Mono no Aware Six: Physical FactsSeven: A Mountain of Skulls and Candlelit GravesEight: An Infected Throat and a Healing TreeNine: Borrowing the HillsII. AwayOne: BeforeTwo: AfterIII. WorldOne: SurvivalsTwo: A Pair of One-Winged BirdsThree: History Being Created, or What the Leech Child SaysFour: Rare and Uncommon BeingsFive: Bubbling WaterSix: My JapanSeven: Before and AfterEight: Positive EffectsNine: New Stories in an Ancient LandEpilogue: ProcessionAcknowledgments Suggested Readings