{"id":826,"date":"2024-02-16T10:28:24","date_gmt":"2024-02-16T16:28:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rainmountainpress.com\/wordpress\/?post_type=product&#038;p=826"},"modified":"2025-09-05T12:49:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T17:49:07","slug":"the-absent","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/rainmountainpress.com\/wordpress\/product\/the-absent","title":{"rendered":"The Absent"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>by\u00a0Rosalind Palermo Stevenson<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<style>\r\n\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t#tab_container_825 {\r\n\toverflow:hidden;\r\n\tdisplay:block;\r\n\twidth:100%;\r\n\tborder:0px solid #ddd;\r\n\tmargin-bottom:30px;\r\n\t}\r\n\r\n#tab_container_825 .tab-content{\r\n\tpadding:20px;\r\n\tborder: 1px solid #e6e2cc !important;\r\n\tmargin-top: 0px;\r\n\tbackground-color:#fffbe5 !important;\r\n\tcolor: #000000 !important;\r\n\tfont-size:16px !important;\r\n\tfont-family: Open Sans !important;\r\n\t\r\n\t\tborder: 1px solid #e6e2cc !important;\r\n\t}\r\n#tab_container_825 .wpsm_nav-tabs {\r\n    border-bottom: 0px solid #ddd;\r\n}\r\n#tab_container_825 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li.active > a, #tab_container_825 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li.active > a:hover, #tab_container_825 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li.active > a:focus {\r\n\tcolor: #000000 !important;\r\n\tcursor: default;\r\n\tbackground-color: #fffbe5 !important;\r\n\tborder: 1px solid #e6e2cc !important;\r\n}\r\n\r\n#tab_container_825 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li > a {\r\n    margin-right: 0px !important; \r\n    line-height: 1.42857143 !important;\r\n    border: 1px solid #ece8d2 !important;\r\n    border-radius: 0px 0px 0 0 !important; \r\n\tbackground-color: #fffbe5 !important;\r\n\tcolor: #000000 !important;\r\n\tpadding: 15px 18px 15px 18px !important;\r\n\ttext-decoration: none !important;\r\n\tfont-size: 14px !important;\r\n\ttext-align:center !important;\r\n\tfont-family: Open Sans !important;\r\n}\r\n#tab_container_825 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li > a:focus {\r\noutline: 0px !important;\r\n}\r\n\r\n#tab_container_825 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li > a:before {\r\n\tdisplay:none !important;\r\n}\r\n#tab_container_825 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li > a:after {\r\n\tdisplay:none !important ;\r\n}\r\n#tab_container_825 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li{\r\npadding:0px !important ;\r\nmargin:0px;\r\n}\r\n\r\n#tab_container_825 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li > a:hover , #tab_container_825 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li > a:focus {\r\n    color: #000000 !important;\r\n    background-color: #fffbe5 !important;\r\n\tborder: 1px solid #ece8d2 !important;\r\n\t\r\n}\r\n#tab_container_825 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li > a .fa{\r\n\r\nmargin-right:5px !important;\r\n\r\nmargin-left:5px !important;\r\n\r\n\r\n}\r\n\r\n\t\t#tab_container_825 .wpsm_nav-tabs a{\r\n\t\t\tbackground-image: none;\r\n\t\t\tbackground-position: 0 0;\r\n\t\t\tbackground-repeat: repeat-x;\r\n\t\t}\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\r\n\r\n#tab_container_825 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li {\r\n    float: left;\r\n    margin-bottom: -1px !important;\r\n\tmargin-right:0px !important; \r\n}\r\n\r\n\r\n#tab_container_825 .tab-content{\r\noverflow:hidden !important;\r\n}\r\n\r\n\r\n@media (min-width: 769px) {\r\n\r\n\t#tab_container_825 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li{\r\n\t\tfloat:left !important ;\r\n\t\t\t\tmargin-right:-1px !important;\r\n\t\t\t\t\t}\r\n\t#tab_container_825 .wpsm_nav-tabs{\r\n\t\tfloat:none !important;\r\n\t\tmargin:0px !important;\r\n\t}\r\n\r\n\t#tab_container_825 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li {\r\n\t\t\t\t\r\n\t}\r\n\t#tab_container_825 .wpsm_nav{\r\n\t\t\t}\r\n\r\n}\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n@media (max-width: 768px) {\r\n\t#tab_container_825 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li {\r\n\t\t\t\t\r\n\t}\r\n\t#tab_container_825 .wpsm_nav{\r\n\t\t\t}\r\n}\r\n\r\n\r\n\t.wpsm_nav-tabs li:before{\r\n\t\tdisplay:none !important;\r\n\t}\r\n\r\n\t@media (max-width: 768px) {\r\n\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t.wpsm_nav-tabs{\r\n\t\t\tmargin-left:0px !important;\r\n\t\t\tmargin-right:0px !important; \r\n\t\t\t\r\n\t\t}\r\n\t\t\t\t#tab_container_825 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li{\r\n\t\t\tfloat:none !important;\r\n\t\t}\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\t}\t\t\t\t<\/style>\r\n\t\t\t\t<div id=\"tab_container_825\" >\r\n\t \r\n\t\t\t\t\t<ul class=\"wpsm_nav wpsm_nav-tabs\" role=\"tablist\" id=\"myTab_825\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li role=\"presentation\"  class=\"active\"  onclick=\"do_resize()\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"#tabs_desc_825_1\" aria-controls=\"tabs_desc_825_1\" role=\"tab\" data-toggle=\"tab\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span>Overview<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li role=\"presentation\"  onclick=\"do_resize()\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"#tabs_desc_825_2\" aria-controls=\"tabs_desc_825_2\" role=\"tab\" data-toggle=\"tab\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span>Excerpt<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/ul>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t  <!-- Tab panes -->\r\n\t\t\t\t\t  <div class=\"tab-content\" id=\"tab-content_825\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div role=\"tabpanel\" class=\"tab-pane  in active \" id=\"tabs_desc_825_1\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"sm_text\" style=\"text-align: left\"><em>\"The Absent<\/em>\u2019s themes are one and many, connecting as they are layered: early photography, 19th century Philadelphia, the resonant voices of women, the fusion of landscape and man, westward expansion, grief and mourning, memento mori. Rosalind Palermo Stevenson\u2019s poetic prose narrative is a meditation that travels between east and west and interior and exterior; a meditation driven by the narrator\u2019s desire to render, with his mind and with his camera, what is absent present.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"sm_text\" style=\"text-align: left\">\"An astonishing combination of dreaminess and precision.\"<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: right\">\u2014Mary Gordon,\u00a0<em>The Liar\u2019s Wife<\/em>;\u00a0<em>Pearl<\/em>;\u00a0<em>Final Payments<\/em><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"sm_text\" style=\"text-align: left\">\"What is perhaps most extraordinary of <em>The Absent's<\/em> many achievements is its egalitarian voice.\u00a0Its singular lyricism evokes a hallucinatory vision in which every element of the interior self finds an exterior and crystalline lucidity. The texture and contours of consciousness, what we recognize as the images of our obsessions, quotidian objects replete with their psychic claims, ambient light and dust-- Palermo Stevenson is attentive to the urgency of each. Every sentence offers evidence of the intricacies of our personal fugue.\"<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: right\">\u2014Lloyd Lynford,\u00a0<em>The Quality of the Affection<\/em><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"sm_text\" style=\"text-align: left\">\"Its delicacy and indirection evoke the tenderness of love and the sense of being\r\nsuspended among distinct and barely detectable states of being. It belongs so\r\nmuch to the moment it evokes. Joseph Roth, TS Eliot, Thomas Mann all passed by\r\nmy chair as I was reading.\"<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: right\">\u2014Robert Viscusi, ellis island; Buried Caesars; Astoria\r\n(about Rosalind Palermo Stevenson's <em>Kafka At Rudolf Steiner\u2019s<\/em>}<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"sm_text\" style=\"text-align: left\">\"\u2026Palermo Stevenson\u2019s spare and poetic prose \u2014 \u2018I have put up the oars so we\r\ncan drift, we are the only boaters on the lake, drifting; imperceptible movement\u2026\r\n\u201d \u2014 her masterful use of sentence fragments, and her wonderful descriptions \u2014 a\r\nfolded shawl, oars that sit stiffly at the bottom of a boat \u2014 swept me up in this\r\nstory and kept me there to the end.\"<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: right\">\u2014Russell Reece, <em>Fox Chase Review<\/em>\r\n(about <em>Kafka At Rudolf Steiner\u2019s<\/em>)<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><strong><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-1145 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/rainmountainpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Rosalind-Palermo-Stevenson-headshot-draft-2.jpg\" alt=\"Rosalind Palermo Stevenson\" width=\"200\" height=\"250\" \/>Rosalind Palermo Stevenson<\/strong> is the author of the books\u00a0<em>Kafka At Rudolf Steiner\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0<em>Insect Dreams. Insect Dreams<\/em>\u00a0has also been published in the anthologies:\u00a0<em>Poe\u2019s Children<\/em>\u00a0(edited by Peter Straub) and\u00a0<em>Trampoline<\/em>\u00a0(edited by Kelly Link). Her short fiction and prose poems have appeared in literary journals, including: D<em>runken Boat<\/em>;\u00a0<em>Web Conjunctions<\/em>;\u00a0<em>Skidrow Penthouse; Spinning Jenny<\/em>;\u00a0<em>First Intensity<\/em>;\u00a0<em>Washington Square<\/em>;\u00a0<em>Works [of fiction] In Progress<\/em>;\u00a0<em>River City<\/em>;\u00a0<em>Literal Latte<\/em>;\u00a0<em>Italian Americana<\/em>;\u00a0<em>Quick Fiction<\/em>;\u00a0<em>No Roses Review<\/em>; and\u00a0<em>Reflections<\/em>. She lives in New York City.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div role=\"tabpanel\" class=\"tab-pane \" id=\"tabs_desc_825_2\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<P style=\"text-align: justify\">I had a dream last night of taxidermy. In some strange corner of my mother\u2019s house; that is, my mother\u2019s and my aunt\u2019s house\u2014the two of them absent. But Lucie Beale was with me in the dream. We were on the floor sitting talking like Indians, as though we were children playing, the way as a child I used to play on the floor beneath the dining room table. There was a wolf with us on the floor, or was it a fox, if a fox a large one, although remembering the dream it looked more like a wolf. Sprawled on its side like a dog sleeping, but it was a wolf that had been skinned and stuffed. I began petting it in the dream, though Lucie Beale refused to pet it, and as I was petting it,<\/P>\r\n<P style=\"text-align: justify\">it came back to life and leapt up and ran away.<\/P>\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t \r\n\t\t\t\t <\/div>\r\n <script>\r\n\t\tjQuery(function () {\r\n\t\t\tjQuery('#myTab_825 a:first').tab('show')\r\n\t\t});\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\tjQuery(function(){\r\n\t\t\tvar b=\"fadeIn\";\r\n\t\t\tvar c;\r\n\t\t\tvar a;\r\n\t\t\td(jQuery(\"#myTab_825 a\"),jQuery(\"#tab-content_825\"));function d(e,f,g){\r\n\t\t\t\te.click(function(i){\r\n\t\t\t\t\ti.preventDefault();\r\n\t\t\t\t\tjQuery(this).tab(\"show\");\r\n\t\t\t\t\tvar h=jQuery(this).data(\"easein\");\r\n\t\t\t\t\tif(c){c.removeClass(a);}\r\n\t\t\t\t\tif(h){f.find(\"div.active\").addClass(\"animated \"+h);a=h;}\r\n\t\t\t\t\telse{if(g){f.find(\"div.active\").addClass(\"animated \"+g);a=g;}else{f.find(\"div.active\").addClass(\"animated \"+b);a=b;}}c=f.find(\"div.active\");\r\n\t\t\t\t});\r\n\t\t\t}\r\n\t\t});\r\n\t\t\r\n\r\n\t\tfunction do_resize(){\r\n\r\n\t\t\tvar width=jQuery( '.tab-content .tab-pane iframe' ).width();\r\n\t\t\tvar height=jQuery( '.tab-content .tab-pane iframe' ).height();\r\n\r\n\t\t\tvar toggleSize = true;\r\n\t\t\tjQuery('iframe').animate({\r\n\t\t\t    width: toggleSize ? width : 640,\r\n\t\t\t    height: toggleSize ? height : 360\r\n\t\t\t  }, 250);\r\n\r\n\t\t\t  toggleSize = !toggleSize;\r\n\t\t}\r\n\r\n\r\n\t<\/script>\r\n\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by\u00a0Rosalind Palermo Stevenson<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":856,"template":"","meta":[],"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[29],"product_tag":[45],"class_list":{"0":"post-826","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-fiction","7":"product_tag-rosalind-palermo-stevenson","9":"first","10":"instock","11":"shipping-taxable","12":"purchasable","13":"product-type-simple"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rainmountainpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rainmountainpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rainmountainpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rainmountainpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rainmountainpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rainmountainpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=826"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rainmountainpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=826"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rainmountainpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}