Ask the Dust is a virtuoso performance by an influential master of the twentieth-century American novel. It is the story of Arturo Bandini, a young writer in 1930s Los Angeles who falls hard for the elusive, mocking, unstable Camilla Lopez, a Mexican waitress. Struggling to survive, he perseveres un[...]

Arturo Bandini arrives in Los Angeles with big dreams but is faced with the grim reality of poverty. When he makes a small fortune from the publication of a short story, he embarks upon a reinvention, indulging in expensive clothes, fine food and downtown strip clubs. But Bandini's delusions take a [...]

He came along, kicking the snow. Here was a disgusted man. His name was Svevo Bandini, and he lived three blocks down that street. He was cold and there were holes in his shoes. That morning he had patched the holes on the inside with pieces of cardboard from a macaroni box. The macaroni in that box[...]

I had a lot of jobs in Los Angeles Harbor because our family was poor and my father was dead. My first job was ditchdigging a short time after I graduated from high school. Every night I couldn't sleep from the pain in my back. We were digging an excavation in an empty lot, there wasn't any shade, t[...]

Tells the stories of a struggling screenwriter who takes in a stray dog, and a young boy who becomes disillusioned by his father's atheist co-worker.[...]

Henry Molise, a 50 year old, successful writer, returns to the family home to help with the latest drama; his aging parents want to divorce. Henry's tyrannical, brick laying father, Nick, though weak and alcoholic, can still strike fear into the hearts of his sons. His mother, though ill and devout [...]

Henry Molise, a fifty-year-old successful writer, returns to the family home to help with the latest drama; his elderly parents want to divorce. Henry's tyrannical, bricklaying father, Nick, despite being weakened by age and alcoholism, can still strike fear into the hearts of his sons.[...]

In the definitive biography of John Fante, English and film studies professor Stephen Cooper explores the life of a man whose muse was Los Angeles. If ever a writer presented an enigma to the literary world, it was Fante who grappled at once with brilliance and cruelty, yet presented a talent that h[...]

Arturo Bandini er usympatisk, nedlatende mot alt og alle, og han lyver og stjeler med største selvfølge. Og hvorfor skal han ha en triviell jobb ... det er nemlig forfatter han skal bli. Den absolutte instruksen han gir seg selv er: Les og les! Han kjemper seg gjennom filosofiske tekster inn til h[...]

Året er 1934. Arturo er blitt 21 år gammel og holder stadig liv i forfatterdrømmen. Han har endog fått en novelle på trykk. Arturo grubler og drømmer og jakter på meningen med livet og, for all del, kvinnene, fra det spartanske rommet i Bunker Hill. Han skriver, kaster og filer på tekst; skr[...]

Arturo är en 18-åring som läser böcker av Nietzsche och känner igen sig som en av dennes övermänniskor. Han föraktar den kristna tron och har kommit fram till att han själv är en ypperlig författarbegåvning. Arturo bor tillsammans med sin mor och syster och ett antal papperskvinnor, klip[...]