Swimmer in the Secret Sea - Tapa blanda

This is a little book with the largest of themes: birth and death. To tell precisely what happens ... would be like paraphrasing a poem. Suffice it to say that Kotzwinkle projects powerful feelings of love and loss. 'Swimmer in the Secret Sea' appeared first in Redbook and was among the O. Henry Prize stories of 1975. It is good to see that it has achieved a life of its own. --New York Times Book Review

'During that time, we managed to agree on only one short novel . . . William Kotzwinkle's Swimmer in the Secret Sea. He thought it was beautifully formed, I thought it was wise and sad.' --Serena Frome - in Ian McEwan's Sweet Tooth

This novella tells the story of Johnny and Diane Laski, a sculptor and his wife, and their attempt to bring a new life into the world, set against the backdrop of a cold Maine winter deep in the country. In the language of a poet, Kotzwinkle tells the story of the couple's quiet night drive to the hospital, their long labour, and their ultimately unsuccessful breech birth. Unafraid of his subject, Kotzwinkle destroys any sentimental illusions about the 'beauty' of childbirth or the distance of birth from death; he reminds us of how closely the two are intertwined, of the frightening power of the life force, and of the unpredictability and uncanniness of death. And yet, his small book is not without hope.