Cadenza

A pioneering work of autofiction, Ralph Cusack's genre-defining masterpiece Cadenza tackles time and memory, the past and the present, life and death--all wrapped up in his precise yet melancholic prose.

Drifting in and out of consciousness in his dentist's chair--this is where we meet Desmond, the narrator of Cadenza. Taking part almost entirely in a train cabin the narrative moves back and forth in time, without Desmond needing to leave his cabin. Whether it is the faulty memories of Mrs. N or romances of times past, Cusack's swift prose carries the reader from one movement to the next--at times utterly specific and descriptive, at others fleeting and atmospheric.

Through small vignettes tied together in Cusack's unmistakable style, we explore every corner of Desmond's mind--from pre-war hills of his childhood to the dreariness of a dentist's office in the 40s. Interwoven temporalities fight for our attention in the second ever title to be published from Dalkey Archive Press, written--as Gilbert Sorrentino says--"with an Anglo-Irish arrogance worthy of Beckett." Dismissed as an autobiography when first published, Cadenza is a pioneering work of Irish autofiction. Toeing the line between what is real and imagined, Cusack's stream of consciousness prose begs to be followed to the very last page.