Black Swans: Stories [Paperback]

On the page, Babitz is pure pleasure—a perpetual-motion machine of no-stakes elation and champagne fizz. —The New Yorker

Babitz’s talent for the brilliant line, honed to a point, never interferes with her feel for languid pleasures. —The New York Times Book Review

A new reissue of Babitz’s collection of nine stories that look back on Los Angeles during the 1980s and early 1990s—decades of dreams, drink, and glimpses of a changing world. Black Swans further celebrates the phenomenon of Eve Babitz, cementing her reputation as the voice of a generation.

This edition includes an introduction by Stephanie Danler, bestselling author of Sweetbitter.
Babitz’s talent for the brilliant line, honed to a point, never interferes with her feel for languid pleasures. —The New York Times Book Review

On the page, Babitz is pure pleasure—a perpetual–motion machine of no–stakes elation and champagne fizz. —The New Yorker

She’s a natural. Or gives every appearance of being one, her writing elevated yet slangy, bright, bouncy, cheerfully hedonistic—L.A. in it purest, most idealized form. —Vanity Fair

[A] true original. —The Boston Globe

Black Swans, originally out in 1993 and reissued this year, is the best example of what makes her writing so essential. The discursive nature of her short stories allows her narratives to move in tandem with the sociopolitical issues she is constantly and effectively addressing. It’s a model for writing fiction that addresses polilC&