How do the bodies we inhabit affect our relationship with art? How does art affect our relationship to our bodies? T Fleischmann uses Felix Gonzáles-Torres’s artworks—piles of candy, stacks of paper, puzzles—as a path through questions of love and loss, violence and rejuvenation, gender and sexuality. From the back porches of Buffalo, to the galleries of New York and L.A., to farmhouses of rural Tennessee, the artworks act as still points, sites for reflection situated in lived experience. Fleischmann combines serious engagement with warmth and clarity of prose, reveling in the experiences and pleasures of art and the body, identity and community.

Reminiscent of Edmund White's Nocturne for the King of Naples Fleischmann has had notable essays in Best American Essays 2009 and 2010 Author is a nonfiction editor for DIAGRAM and deeply plugged into the lyric essay world Appeals to the same audience as Maggie Nelson's celebrated Bluets and features a very enthusiastic blurb from her (there's already bookseller excitement about this) Fleischmann may be picked up for a column on Bookslut, which is an ideal venue for bringing broader attention to his facility for the kind of smart, plainspoken criticism in Syzygy The book represents Sarabande's ongoing commitment to developing a creative nonfiction list of depth, innovation, and energy not found anywhere else