- Assia

21. - Robert

22. - Assia

23. - Ted

LITTLE FUGUE

A Conversation with Robert Anderson

Reading Group Questions and Topics for Discussion

About the Author

Copyright Page

For my parents,
G. L. and JoAnn Anderson

After the first death, there is no other.

—DYLAN THOMAS

Praise for Little Fugue

“Highly charged.”

—The New York Times

“Inventive and powerful . . . a compelling first novel . . . As the characters’ lives intersect through cultural uncertainties and some of the most dramatic social upheavals of the past decades, Little Fugue offers a fresh interpretation of the Plath-Hughes drama.”

—Pages (recommended selection)

“A daring, inventive work that blends the imagination of the writer with the story of one of the darkest literary episodes of the 20th century.”

—Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

“Blade-sharp, hypnotic and brilliant . . . Anderson has written an innovative, hugely interesting first novel that is successful in all the right places.”

—The Oregonian

“Masterful . . . [a] hypnotic and provocative novel . . . This is a fiercely imaginative effort, in which Anderson connects the intricate psychology of his characters with their art and the world around them. . . . Anderson’s writing is electric.”

—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Little Fugue finds the truth of Sylvia Plath where no biography has looked—deep in the character of her times and in the souls of those close to her, and most thrillingly in the heart of a young reader coping in the wild corridors of New York City as the legend’s life comes crashing down. Robert Anderson is an original, a new master with new tools: poignant wit, precarious structure, controlled obsession, mysterious clarity, a certain cynical warmth. He can tell a story, too, and this one—a love story without parallel—will lay you flat.”

—BILL ROORBACH, author of Big Bend and The Smallest Color

“Drizzled with dark humor, Little Fugue is an eerie examination of lives defined by death.”

—Booklist

“A singular book about a singular woman, and the way her life and death rippled through the lives of those around her. Anderson imagines us a Plath every bit as real, desperate, and turbulent as Michael Cunningham’s Virginia Woolf; and, if anything, Little Fugue digs even deeper than The Hours to unearth the poetic truth about the characters who inhabit it.”

—D.B. WEISS, author of Lucky Wander Boy

“A serious book rich with writing and imaginative power. In this book about love and desire, Anderson confronts the complexities that lie within his characters.”

—GEORGE BRAZILLER

“Little Fugue, with its brilliantly modest title, is a rare, enduring book of a generation.