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The details “grisly”, the people “lunatic”, the results, “magnetic”. |
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It Happened in Boston? © 1968 Russell H. Greenan
Introduction © 2003 Jonathan Lethem
Afterword © 2003 Russell H. Greenan
The Modern Library- 20th Century Rediscovery edition was published by Random House in 2003 with an introduction by Jonathan Letham and an afterword by the author. The publisher’s site includes a reading group guide.
Cover design: Gabrielle Bordwin Cover photograph: ©Justin Hutchinson/Photonica
ISBN 0-8129-7066-7
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From the Afterword
“Another neat attraction loomed just beyond the stable: the Third Avenue el, which cut through the middle of the block in order to meet the Harlem River bridge to Manhattan. Because of their proximity, these trains were difficult to ignore. Aside from the loud rumble and the screech of the brakes as the cars entered the 143rd Street station—particularly harrowing at night when you were trying to sleep—the constant vibrations seemed to threaten our wood-framed house with imminent collapse. An empty tenement around the corner gave the local kids a nice venue in which to play hide-and-seek, until one day two classmates of mine found an unfortunate man hanging from a gaslight fixture over a flight of stairs. Afterward the house was considered haunted and we never entered the place again. Littleboy’s suicide had its origin in the memory of that incident.” |
