Tiger lilies

the long version

A resonant memoir of childhood and adolescence in small-town America, *Tiger Lilies* evokes with haunting clarity the home front during the years of World War II, just before, and just after. Jump-cutting... Dawson replicates the rhythm of memory itself. His keen recall of the synesthesia of a child's consciousness is universally familiar... the small details at child's eye level; the up-from-under view of the ludicrous behavior of adults. *Tiger Lilies* is a worthy companion to Dawson's other autobiographical books, *An Emotional Memoir of Franz Kline* and *The Black Mountain Book*, and is among the very best of the work of this much-admired Postmodern stylist. Fielding Dawson's ear as a writer, and his eye as a painter/writer, both function within the great tradition William Carlos Williams called 'the American idiom' while being absolutely contemporary. -- Anselm Hollo Dawson is a splendid writer, our best prosaist since Henry Miller. His new book--let's celebrate it! The hottest commodity since our American culture-exchange has had in years. -- Hayden Carruth