“Eisenberg forces us to ask the tough questions, yet she is careful not to harp; each of her stories examines an ethical maxim, yet they all poke fun rather than come across as pedantic.”

  —Tiffany Lee-Youngren, The San Diego Union-Tribune

  “A short-story superstar whose work ranks with that of Alice Munro … Completely absorbing.”

  —Vick Boughton, People

  “Twilight of the Superheroes is the most successful work of fiction so far to marry a literary imagination to a liberal critique of what has happened to America since September 11, 2001.”

  —The Telegraph (U.K.)

  “These are punky, cleverly wrought stories about 9/11, terminal illness, mental illness, and growing old whose ironic characters and surface flippancy belie their emotional seriousness … . Eisenberg’s bold prose and observation makes this collection a dizzying experience.”

  —Claire Allfree, Metro (London)

  ALSO BY DEBORAH EISENBERG

  Pastorale

  Transactions in a Foreign Currency

  Under the 82nd Airborne

  Air: 24 Hours: Jennifer Bartlett

  The Stories (So Far) of Deborah Eisenberg

  All Around Atlantis

  Deborah Eisenberg is the author of three previous collections of stories. The recipient of many awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Lannan Foundation Fellowship, a Rea Award, and a Whiting Writers’ Award, she lives in New York City and teaches at the University of Virginia.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Incalculable thanks to Elizabeth Richebourg Rea and the late Michael Rea of the Dungannon Foundation, champions and connoisseurs of the short story; to Verena Nolte and the Villa Waldberta; and to the Lannan Foundation—all the people there, and in Marfa, who were so kind to me!

  TWILIGHT OF THE SUPERHEROES. Copyright © 2006 by Deborah Eisenberg. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address Picador, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

  www.picadorusa.com

  Picador® is a U.S. registered trademark and is used by Farrar, Straus and Giroux under license from Pan Books Limited.

  For information on Picador Reading Group Guides, as well as ordering, please contact Picador.

  Phone: 646-307-5629

  Fax: 212-253-9627

  E-mail: readinggroupguides@picadorusa.com

  Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following publications, in which these stories originally appeared: “Twilight of the Superheroes” in Final Edition; “Some Other, Better Otto” in The Yale Review; “Like It or Not” in The Threepenny Review; “Window” and “Revenge of the Dinosaurs” in Tin House; and “The Flaw in the Design” in The Virginia Quarterly Review.

  First published in the United States by Farrar, Straus and Giroux

  Designed by Jonathan D. Lippincott

  eISBN 9780374707750

  First eBook Edition : April 2011

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Eisenberg, Deborah.

  Twilight of the superheroes / Deborah Eisenberg. p. cm.

  Contents: Twilight of the superheroes—Some other, better Otto—Like it or not—Window—Revenge of the dinosaurs—The flaw in the design.

  ISBN-13: 978-0-312-42593-7

  ISBN-10: 0-312-42593-7

  1. New York (N.Y.)—Social life and customs—Fiction. I. Title.

  PS3555.1793T87 2006

  813’.54—dc22

  2005042659

  First Picador Edition: February 2007

 

 

  Deborah Eisenberg, Twilight of the Superheroes

 

 

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