Mortal Leap

MacDonald Harris was the pseudonym of Donald Heiney. As Harris, he wrote 17 novels and a nonfiction book on sailing, including The Balloonist, which was nominated for the National Book Award in 1977. He taught for many years at the University of California Irvine and published scholarly books on comparative literature. In 1982 he received the Award in Literature of the American Academy and Institute for Arts and Sciences. He died in 1993.Jonathan Coe's novels include What a Carve Up!, The Rotter's Club, Expo 58, Number 11, and Bournville. His biography of B. S. Johnson, Like a Fiery Elephant, won the Samuel Johnson Prize as the best nonfiction book of 2004.Steven G. Kellman is a professor of comparative literature at the University of Texas at San Antonio. His books include The Self-Begetting Novel, The Translingual Imagination, Redemption: The Life of Henry Roth, and Rambling Prose: Essays.

"Written with a terse fierceness, a pitiless kind of book that forces one to read in the intense spirit in which it is written." -- Books and Bookmen"Up there with the best of Conrad." -- R. V. Cassill"Mortal Leap is a book so far beyond 'good' that its greatness can only be experienced." -- Wesley Minter, Third Place Books