What a Piece of Work I Am (A Confabulation)
by Eric Kraft, as Peter Leroy

Dedication
 
 

For Mad 




 

Paperback Cover

Epigraphs
 
Let not the reader be scandalized by this gravity amid the frivolous; let him rather recall that there is a grandeur in all follies, an energy in all excess. 
Charles Baudelaire 

"The Painter of Modern Life

(translated by Jonathan Mayne) 

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat went to sea 
In a beautiful pea-green boat; . . . 
They sailed away, for a year and a day, 
To the land where the bong-tree grows; . . . 
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand, 
They danced by the light of the moon, 
The moon, 
The moon, 
They danced by the light of the moon. 
Edward Lear 

"The Owl and the Pussy-Cat

Each cell is an island: -- the inhabitants, shipwrecked mariners, cast ashore upon it by the adverse blasts of fortune: partners in affliction, indebted to each other for whatever share they are permitted to enjoy of society, the greatest of all comforts. 
Jeremy Bentham 

Panopticon; or, the Inspection-house; Postscript, Part I

The soul selects her own society, 
Then shuts the door; 
On her divine majority 
Obtrude no more. 
Here I inhale profounder strength 
And as I am, I speak and move 
And things are as I think they are 
And say they are on the blue guitar. 
Wallace Stevens 

"The Man with the Blue Guitar


Poignant, Dizzying
Karen Karbo, New York Times Book Review
Kraft Cooks Up Another Treat
Timothy Hunter, The Cleveland Plain Dealer

DO YOU HAVE YOUR COPY?

What a Piece of Work I Am is published in paperback by Picador, a division of St. Martin’s Press, at $11.00. 

You should be able to find What a Piece of Work I Amat your local bookstore, but you can also order it by phone from: 

Bookbound at 1-800-959-7323 
Book Call at 1-800-255-2665 (worldwide 1-203-966-5470) 
You can order it on the Web from Amazon.com Books

Libros en Español: What a Piece of Work I Am is also available in Spanish from Ediciones Destino

Paperback Cover
Copyright © 1994 by Eric Kraft

What Piece of Work I Am is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, dialogues, settings, and businesses portrayed in it are products of the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. 

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. 

First published by Crown Publishers, Inc., 201 East 50th Street, New York, New York 10022. Member of the Crown Publishing Group. 

Now available in paperback from Picador USA, a division of St. Martin's Press. 



[an error occurred while processing this directive]