Landscape · Memory & Columbia University. Writing Division

Originally published: New York : Scribner, c1990

Amid the rubble of San Francisco's 1906 earthquake, Max Kosegarten, the

narrator of this lyrical first novel, becomes the inseparable boyhood

friend of Duncan Taqdir, son of a Persian sculptor and an English

archeologist. Set mainly in 1914-1916 and told in diary-like entries

interspersed with 36 brooding illustrations by the author, the story

follows the boys as they become lovers, ultimately separated by college

and a tragic accident. Together they explore California's woods, beaches

and mountains, and search for evidence of the earthquake that brought

them together. Their excavations as well as Max's reading of Ruskin and

Cicero, point to this sensitive novel's motif: how memory accretes into

character and shapes perception. Another theme is a teen's acceptance of

his homosexuality. Max's perky, self-absorbed mother, who is having an

affair with Duncan's father, is sharply drawn. Letters from Max's uncle,

serving on a hellish front in WW I, add period flavor.