Hypnotic, fantastical, and irreverent, The Edge of Night takes us beyond autobiography. In this soulful confession, Frank Lentricchia, one of the most controversial figures in America's literary establishment, explores his erotic and meditative relationship with language, family, and middle-aged manhood.

From a childhood spent in an old-world household in Utica, New York, through his ascent to intellectual infamy at Duke University, Lentricchia - once described by the New York Times as "the Dirty Harry of contemporary literary theory" - strips away the usual veneer of memoir. As he writes, "I take my liberation where I find it.

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Lentricchia transports us to scenes large and small from his singular journey. Whether sipping espresso in a Little Italy cafe, obsessed with the cruelty embedded in the face of a nearby Mafia patron, escaping, inevitably it almost seems, to a Trappist monastery, or realizing the fragility and violence of love amid a simple jumping game with two young daughters, Lentricchia captivates us with piercing observations about himself and his intimate relationships.

Pushing expository writing to its limits and sometimes beyond, he reveals a passion for art and life as disarming as it is profound.