Ken Kalfus – författare

Russia, 1910. Leo Tolstoy lies dying in Astapovo, a remote railway station. Members of the press from around the world have descended upon this sleepy hamlet to record his passing for a public suddenly ravenous for celebrity news. They have been joined by a film company whose cinematographer, Nikolai Gribshin, is capturing the extraordinary scene and learning how to wield his camera as a political tool. At this historic moment he comes across two men -- the scientist, Professor Vorobev, and the revolutionist, Joseph Stalin -- who have radical, mysterious plans for the future. Soon they will accompany him on a long, cold march through an era of brutality and absurdity. The Commissariat of Enlightenment is a mesmerizing novel of ideas that brilliantly links the tragedy and comedy of the Russian Revolution with the global empire of images that occupies our imaginations today.

Christopher Morley was one of the most celebrated American authors of the 1920s and 1930s. Best known as the author of Parnassus on Wheels and Kitty Foyle, Morley wrote for a popular audience that keenly appreciated his style, his wit, and his exuberant championing of the written word. Morley wrote most of the pieces collected in this volume from 1918 to 1920, while a columnist for the Philadelphia Evening Ledger. His assignment: to "saunter" around town and the Philadelphia suburbs, and then – usually after a leisurely lunch – report back. The result was a series of lively essays that, read now, not only reveals a city's colorful past, but sheds light on its present: much of the Philadelphia Morley explored remains intact for the native or visitor with the eye and patience to discover it. Morley's best Philadelphia work, scattered among 12 volumes published during his lifetime, have been collected in this handsome new book, which includes period illustrations by Walter Jack Duncan and Frank Taylor, and a critical introduction by Ken Kalfus. Published on May 5, 1990, on the 100th anniversary of Morley's birth, Christopher Morley's Philadelphia brings together numerous essays that have been out of print for 50 years or longer. The book joins Fordham University Press's 1988 collection, Christopher Morley's New York, as a lasting contribution to the Morley oeuvre.

Christopher Morley was one of the most celebrated American authors of the 1920s and 1930s. Best known as the author of Parnassus on Wheels and Kitty Foyle, Morley wrote for a popular audience that keenly appreciated his style, his wit, and his exuberant championing of the written word. Morley wrote most of the pieces collected in this volume from 1918 to 1920, while a columnist for the Philadelphia Evening Ledger. His assignment: to "saunter" around town and the Philadelphia suburbs, and then – usually after a leisurely lunch – report back. The result was a series of lively essays that, read now, not only reveals a city's colorful past, but sheds light on its present: much of the Philadelphia Morley explored remains intact for the native or visitor with the eye and patience to discover it. Morley's best Philadelphia work, scattered among 12 volumes published during his lifetime, have been collected in this handsome new book, which includes period illustrations by Walter Jack Duncan and Frank Taylor, and a critical introduction by Ken Kalfus. Published on May 5, 1990, on the 100th anniversary of Morley's birth, Christopher Morley's Philadelphia brings together numerous essays that have been out of print for 50 years or longer. The book joins Fordham University Press's 1988 collection, Christopher Morley's New York, as a lasting contribution to the Morley oeuvre.

It is the turn of the twentieth century and a British astronomer, Thayer, high on Darwin and other progressive scientists of the age, arrives in Egypt to embark on the project of a lifetime: the excavation of a triangle in the desert, with sides hundreds of miles long, to be filled with petrol and set alight. The purpose: to send out a signal to life on Mars (for which he has evidence) that humans exist. But as work progresses, the huge task force of Egyptian workers is struck by disease and rebellion, and the success of Thayer''s project looks increasingly uncertain.

It is the turn of the twentieth century and a British astronomer, Thayer, high on Darwin and other progressive scientists of the age, arrives in Egypt to embark on the project of a lifetime: the excavation of a triangle in the desert, with sides hundreds of miles long, to be filled with petrol and set alight. The purpose: to send out a signal to life on Mars (for which he has evidence) that humans exist. But as work progresses, the huge task force of Egyptian workers is struck by disease and rebellion, and the success of Thayer's project looks increasingly uncertain.

A Library Journal Best Book of 2025A Lit Hub Most Anticipated Book of 2025A Kirkus Starred Review“A cunning writer with masterful timing and an outrageous sense of humor.”—Gary ShteyngartAn irreverent, darkly comic novel dissecting the misjudgments, hypocrisies, and occasional good motives that drive our politics and our journalism, as well as our most intimate personal relations. At his desk one day, prominent Washington commentator Adam Zweig receives a text message. “Btw want to give you a heads-up abt some breaking news,” it reads. “Call soonest.” These are the early rumblings of an eventual media storm generated by small-town reporter Valerie Iovine, who has gone public with her account of sexual harassment at the hands of esteemed editor and liberal icon Max Lieberthol. Twenty years have passed since the incident, and though Adam wasn’t directly involved, he quickly finds himself implicated and entangled, his career under imminent threat.Adam has never forgotten his history with Valerie: as former colleagues, their workplace collaboration had gradually tipped into a mutual romantic attraction. Or so he believed. Confronted by the claims against his former boss and a growing awareness of rampant sexism in his industry, Adam, who had always thought of himself as progressive, is forced to challenge his own assumptions over the years. What once seemed incidental becomes sinister; what once seemed like a blundering encounter helped derail a young woman’s promising career.Sly and ironic, A Hole in the Story explores one imperfect man’s dilemmas as he tries to keep his feet in a shifting moral landscape.

The explosive new collection by the celebrated author of Thirst and PEN/Faulkner Award finalist Pu-239 and Other Russian Fantasies, Coup de Foudre is the kind of groundbreaking work of literary invention Ken Kalfus''s fans have come to expect. The book is anchored by the full text of the provocatively topical title novella that appeared in Harper''s, a sometimes farcical, ultimately tragic story about the president of an international lending institution accused of sexually assaulting a housekeeper in a New York hotel. Recalling recent news events with irony and compassion, Kalfus skewers international political gridlock and the hypocrisies of acceptable sexual conduct. In “The Moment They Were Waiting For,” a murderer on death row casts a spell granting the inhabitants of his city the foreknowledge of the dates they will die. In “v. The Large Hadron Collider,” a judge distracted by the faint possibility of an adulterous affair must decide whether to throw out a nuisance lawsuit that raises the even fainter possibility that the entire Earth may be destroyed. “The Un-” is a nostalgic story of a young writer''s struggles as he tries to surmount the colossal, heavily guarded wall that apparently separates writers who have been published from those who have not. Varying boldly in theme, setting, and tone, the stories in Coup de Foudre share Kalfus''s distinctive humor and intellect, inextricably bound with high literary ambition.

Dans Coup de foudre, le célèbre auteur d''Un désordre américain (sélection 2006 du National Book Award), nous livre le genre d''œuvre explosive d''invention et de provocation littéraires que ses lecteurs attendent désormais de lui. Cette nouvelle provocatrice, d''actualité, est l''histoire tantôt farcesque, tantôt tragique, du président d''un établissement de prêt transnational accusé d''avoir violé une femme de chambre d''un hôtel new-yorkais. Evoquant l''actualité avec ironie et compassion, Kalfus jette un regard perçant sur les mécanismes politiques internationaux et l''hypocrisie des relations sexuelles.Mêlant intelligence, sens de l''humour distinctif et ambitions littéraires, Coup de foudre nous montre Kalfus en pleine possession de ses moyens.