 First edition (US) | |
| Author | Jerzy Kosiński |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Random House (US) The Bodley Head (UK) |
Publication date | 1968 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Preceded by | The Painted Bird |
| Followed by | Being There |
Steps is a book by aPolish-American writerJerzy Kosiński, released in 1968 byRandom House. The work comprises scores of loosely connected vignettes orshort stories, which explore themes of social control and alienation by depicting scenes rich in erotic and violent motives. It was Kosiński's second novel, a follow-up to his successfulThe Painted Bird released in 1965.Steps won the U.S.National Book Award for Fiction in 1969.
Steps consists of a series of short stories, reminiscences, anecdotes and dialogues, loosely linked to each other or having no connection at all, written in the first person. The book does not name any characters or places where described situations take place.[1]
The book has been interpreted as being about "a Polish man's difficulties under the harshSoviet regime at home played against his experiences as a new immigrant to the United States and its bizarre codes of capitalism."[2] The stories reflect upon control, power, domination and alienation, depicting scenes full of brutality or sexually explicit.Steps contains remarkable autobiographical elements[3] and numerous references toWorld War II.
Despite its commercial failure, especially when compared toThe Painted Bird,Steps met with generally positive critics' reviews[4] and eventually won the U.S.National Book Award for Fiction in 1969.[5] Canadian criticHugh Kenner in his review ofSteps inThe New York Times compared it to the works byLouis-Ferdinand Céline andFranz Kafka.[6]
In 1975, a freelance writer Chuck Ross, in order to prove his theory that unknown authors always find their books rejected, sent out excerpts fromSteps to four different publishers, using the pseudonym Erik Demos. All four did not accept the sample. In 1977, Ross sent out the entire book to ten publishers, includingRandom House, which had originally published the book,[7] and thirteen literary agents. Again, the book was rejected, also by Random House, having not been recognized, despite being an award-winning work.[8]
American novelistDavid Foster Wallace in 1999 namedSteps one of "five direly underappreciated U.S. novels", describing it as a "collection of unbelievably creepy little allegorical tableaux done in a terse elegant voice that's like nothing else anywhere ever." He further praised that "only Kafka's fragments get anywhere close to where Kosinski goes in this book, which is better than everything else he ever did combined."[9]
| Year | Region | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | United States | Steps | Random House |
| 1968 | Netherlands | Stappen | De Bezige Bij |
| 1969 | United Kingdom | Steps | The Bodley Head |
| 1969 | France | Les Pas | Groupe Flammarion |
| 1970 | Germany | Aus den Feuern | Droemer Knaur |
| 1971 | Italy | Passi | Mondadori |
| 1971 | Turkey | Adımlar | E Yayınları |
| 1981 | Spain | Pasos | Argos Vergara |
| 1981 | Croatia | Koraci | CIP |
| 1985 | Sweden | Steg | Tiden |
| 1989 | Poland | Kroki | PIW |
| 1996 | Czech Republic | Kroky | Argo |
| 2009 | Thailand | สเตปส์ | ลายคราม |
