Steps is a book by a Polish-American writer Jerzy Kosiński, released in 1968 by Random House. The work comprises scores of loosely connected vignettes or short stories, which explore themes of social control and alienation by depicting scenes rich in erotic and violent motives. It was Kosiński's second novel, a follow-up to his successful The Painted Bird released in 1965. Steps won the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction in 1969.
 First edition (US) | |
| Author | Jerzy Kosiński |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Random House (US) The Bodley Head (UK) |
Publication date | 1968 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Preceded by | The Painted Bird |
| Followed by | Being There |
Content
editSteps consists of a series of short stories, reminiscences, anecdotes and dialogues, loosely linked to each other or having no connection at all, written in the first person. The book does not name any characters or places where described situations take place.[1]
The book has been interpreted as being about "a Polish man's difficulties under the harsh Soviet regime at home played against his experiences as a new immigrant to the United States and its bizarre codes of capitalism."[2] The stories reflect upon control, power, domination and alienation, depicting scenes full of brutality or sexually explicit. Steps contains remarkable autobiographical elements[3] and numerous references to World War II.
Reception
editDespite its commercial failure, especially when compared to The Painted Bird, Steps met with generally positive critics' reviews[4] and eventually won the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction in 1969.[5] Canadian critic Hugh Kenner in his review of Steps in The New York Times compared it to the works by Louis-Ferdinand Céline and Franz Kafka.[6]
In 1975, a freelance writer Chuck Ross, in order to prove his theory that unknown authors always find their books rejected, sent out excerpts from Steps to four different publishers, using the pseudonym Erik Demos. All four did not accept the sample. In 1977, Ross sent out the entire book to ten publishers, including Random House, which had originally published the book,[7] and thirteen literary agents. Again, the book was rejected, also by Random House, having not been recognized, despite being an award-winning work.[8]
American novelist David Foster Wallace in 1999 named Steps one of "five direly underappreciated U.S. novels", describing it as a "collection of unbelievably creepy little allegorical tableaux done in a terse elegant voice that's like nothing else anywhere ever." He further praised that "only Kafka's fragments get anywhere close to where Kosinski goes in this book, which is better than everything else he ever did combined."[9]
Release history
edit| Year | Region | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | United States | Steps | Random House |
| 1968 | Netherlands | Stappen | De Bezige Bij |
| 1969 | United Kingdom | Steps | The Bodley Head |
| 1969 | France | Les Pas | Groupe Flammarion |
| 1970 | Germany | Aus den Feuern | Droemer Knaur |
| 1971 | Italy | Passi | Mondadori |
| 1971 | Turkey | Adımlar | E Yayınları |
| 1981 | Spain | Pasos | Argos Vergara |
| 1981 | Croatia | Koraci | CIP |
| 1985 | Sweden | Steg | Tiden |
| 1989 | Poland | Kroki | PIW |
| 1996 | Czech Republic | Kroky | Argo |
| 2009 | Thailand | สเตปส์ | ลายคราม |
References
edit- ^ Brian Rajski. "Jerzy Kosinski: Steps (1968)". voiceimitator.blogspot.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-07-19.
- ^ Edwin Turner (2010-08-22). "Steps — Jerzy Kosinski". biblioklept.org. Retrieved 2012-07-19.
- ^ "Kroki - Jerzy Kosiński" (in Polish). lubimyczytac.pl. Retrieved 2012-07-19.
- ^ Cahill, Daniel J. (1980). "Kosinski and His Critics". The North American Review. 265 (1). University of Northern Iowa: 66–68. ISSN 0029-2397. JSTOR 25125774. Retrieved 2020-10-03.
- ^ "1969 National Book Awards Winners and Finalists". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-03-28.
- ^ Rothstein, Mervyn (1991-05-04). "In Novels and Life, a Maverick and an Eccentric". The New York Times. p. 10. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-10-03.
- ^ Harold Augenbraum. "1969: Steps By Jerzy Kosinksi". www.nbafictionblog.org. Retrieved 2012-07-19.
- ^ Gloria T. Delamar. "Getting Rejected? Feeling Rejected?". www.delamar.org. Retrieved 2012-07-19.
- ^ David Foster Wallace (1999-04-12). "Overlooked". Salon. Retrieved 2010-03-19.