The Radiant Absurdity of Desire: Short Stories

By the end of poet Zinnes's (Lover) collection of brief, intensely wrought psychodramas, readers might consider it a miracle that men and women manage to communicate even on a superficial level. Through a series of romantic musical chairs, in which sophisticated, artistic men and women appear in different settings with different partners, Zinnes depicts a common modern-day malady--the near-impossibility of forming satisfying, enduring relationships. The larger puzzle, however, which pulsates beneath the overt jealousies and resentments voiced by both genders, is locating the point at which desire ebbs, becoming indifference or repulsion. As Rachel says in ""Philosopher's Stone,"" ""Indifference has no beginning--it is like time, slowly accumulating, slowly entering timelessness that is without feeling, without event... a kind of transcendence."" Never missing a chance for precise, sharp-witted insight into the characters' self-sabotaging behavior, Zinnes manages to maintain a compassionate tone throughout these open-ended conversations, in which mismatched expectations and betrayals are the common threads. (Sept.)