CYNICAL STORIES OF LOVE

Press, 29 March 1980, Page 17

CYNICAL STORIES OF LOVE

Sleeps Six~ahd Other Stories. By Frederic Raphael. Jonathan Cape, 1979. 127 pp. $11.25.

The exploration of the. ‘ many different facets of that human emotion called love has, for so long, provided the basic material for so many short Stories writers (as for artists in many different genres) that one might; justifiably fear it would be difficult to Write any fresh or vivid story on that hackneyed theme, “Sleeps Six” soon sets this fear to rest, for in it Frederic Raphael provides a collection of 17 Short stories, most of which startle the readers with their vivid insight and lheir deftness of touch. There is some uneveness in quality jmd a few of the stories are disappointing, but in the main this is

an interesting hew collection from a writer who has already made a name for himself with his witty, graceful style and his unusual imagery. Here he examines such manifestations of love as the tenuous affair which snaps at the sight of the loved one’s chaotic kitchen, the financial, sexual and jealousy of ' the nouveau riche, the flash of unexpected desire between Strangers in a railway compartment. It is clever, stylish probing of emotion, whim and fantasy, but the reader will find here no suggestion of amoving and lasting relationship. A rereading of Burns’s poem “John Anderson, my Jo” would provide a good antidote to this amusing, acute, but rather cynical book. — Margaret Quigley.