The Fountains of Neptune

232 Pages·1997·22.181 MB·English

by  Rikki Ducornet

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ISBN 0-916583-96-1 $19.95
The Fountains of Neptune
Rikki Ducornet
Rikki Ducornet's third novel, The Fountains of
Neptune, is a haunting story of obsession and
memory, spanningbothworldwars. Init, adeadly
romantic triangle is revealed, whose torments
precipitate Nicolas, age nine, into a long, coma-
like sleep.
The story begins in a secluded spa in France in
the 1960s, where the adult Nicolas is under the
care of the brilliant psychoanalyst, Venus
Kaisertiege. Together they gradually reconstruct
We
Nicolas's past, one rich in event and emotion.
are taken back to a French seaport townjust prior
to World War I, to the illusory peace of Other
Mother'skitchen, andtothediversionsofthe Snail
and Shark and the Ghost Port Bar. Here, in the
steamy atmosphere of these raucous groggeries,
young Nicolas meets Toujours-La. The ruined
sailor and soaker weaves enigmatic and strangely
—
resonant tales tales fired by the memory of
Nicolas's dead mother Odille, whose beauty and
shameless ways brought about her murder seven
years earlier.
Rikki Ducornet skillfully conjures a world ot
dark and light, innocence and depravity. Sensual
and slyly comic. The Fountains of Neptune
investigates the effects of terror, the roots of
myth, and the wellsprings of memory. At the
novel's heart is a moving Story of personal
discovery. This is the first U.S. edition o
novel published in Canada in 1989.
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BOOKS BY RIKKI DUCORNET
FICTION
The Butcher's Tales (short fiction) 1980
The Stain (novel) 1984
Entering Fire (novel) 1986
The Fountains ofNeptune (novel) 1989
TheJade Cabinet (novel) 1993
POETRY
From the Star Chamber 1974
Wild Geraniums 1975
Weird Sisters 1976
Knife Notebook 1977
The Illustrated Universe 1979
The Cult ofSeizure 1989
CHILDREN'S BOOKS
The Blue Bird 1970
Shazira Shazam and the Devil 1972
THE
Fountains
ofNEPTUNE
A
novel by
DUCOKNET
RIKKI
Dalkey Archive Press
Originally published by McClelland & Stewart Inc., Canada
© 1989 Rikki Ducornet
All rights reserved
Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ducornet, Rikki, 1943-
The fountains ofNeptune / Rikki Ducornet.
PS3554.U279F64 1992 813'.54—dc20 91-33554
ISBN: 0-916583-96-1
First American Edition, 1992
Partially funded by a grant from The Illinois Arts Council.
Dalkey Archive Press
1817 North 79th Avenue
Elmwood Park, IL 60635 USA
Printedon permanent thimble acid-free papei and bound in tin- IUnited State*
For my father, Gerard DeGre, Emperor
ofd'Elir, and for Martin Provensen,
Keeper ofEden.
I wish to thank the Merrill Ingram Foundation and the Bun-
ting Institute for their generous support. I also wish to thank
Martha Cabral for taking me in when I had no place to go,
Richard Martin for das charybdische Sprudelbad, and Ellen
Seligman, Bernice Eisenstein, and Lee Davis Creal for their
loving assistance.
Oliver Sacks* Awakenings came to my attention shortly
after I conceived The Fountains ofNeptune, and ifI chose not
to make the book amedical history - having perceived it from
the start not as an historical novel but a work ofthe imagina-
tion - his beautiful book has informed my own.