Square Wave by Mark De Silva
A brilliant debut, ambitious with its ideas, extraordinary in their syntheses and execution, and its stylish prose lit up everywhere by a piercing intelligence.
Neel Mukherjee
Square Wave is, above all, just excellent. Mark de Silva s prose is simultaneously uncompromising and unassailable. The resulting work is kinetic with an almost wistful erudition that relentlessly but organically plumbs the intersections between art, politics, and our baser human qualities. Ultimately, the novel's defiance of easy categorization or explication charges the story with a compelling mental resonance that somehow feels instructive.
Sergio De La Pava
Carl Stagg, a writer researching imperial power struggles in 17th century Sri Lanka, ekes out a living as a watchman in a factionalized America where confidence in democracy has eroded. Along his nightly patrol, Stagg finds a beaten prostitute, one in a series of monstrous attacks. Suspicious of his supervisor's intentions, Stagg partners with a fellow part-time watchman, Ravan, to seek the truth. Ravan hails from a family developing storm-dispersal technologies, whose research is jointly funded by the Indian and American governments.
The watchmen's discoveries put a troubling complexion on Stagg's research, giving it new shape and impetus, just as the weather modification project begins to appear less about dispersing storms than weaponizing them.
By gracefully weaving a study of the psychological effects of a militarized state upon its citizenry with topics as diverse as microtonal music and cloud physics, Square Wave signals the triumphant arrival of a young writer certain to be considered one of the most ambitious and intelligent of his generation. Gatefold cover.
Mark de Silva holds a PhD in philosophy from the University of Cambridge. Having served for several years on the editorial staff of the New York Times's opinion pages, he now freelances for the paper's Sunday magazine. His writing has appeared in The New Inquiry, The Paris Review Daily, and the New York Times.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781937512392 |
| ISBN 10 | 1937512398 |
| Title | Square Wave |
| Author | Mark De Silva |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Two Dollar Radio |
| Year published | 2016-02-09 |
| Number of pages | 376 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |