Disturbances in the Field

As powerful now as when first published in 1983, Lynne Sharon Schwartz's third novel established her as one of her generation's most assured writers. In this long–awaited reissue, readers can again warm to this acutely absorbing story.According to Lydia Rowe's friend George, a philosophizing psychotherapist, a "disturbance in the field" is anything that keeps us from realizing our needs. In the field of daily experiences, anything can stand in the way of our fulfillment, he explains—an interrupting phone call, an unanswered cry. But over time we adjust and new needs arise. But what if there's a disturbance you can't get past? In this look at a girl's, then a wife and mother's, coming of age, Schwartz explores the questions faced by all whose visions of a harmonious existence are jolted into disarray. The result is a novel of captivating realism and lasting grace.Lynne Sharon Schwartz is a celebrated author of novels, poems, short fiction, translations from Italian, and criticism. Her short fiction has appeared in the Best American Short Stories annual anthology series several times. The author of The Writing on the Wall, Disturbances in the Field, Referred Pain, Not Now, Voyager, and Two–Part Inventions, Schwartz lives in New York City and is currently a faculty member of the Bennington Writing Seminars.