Referred Pain

Everyone has a face that they show to the outside worldbut our thoughts fears and perversions lie just beneathReferred pain describes the sensation of pain not at the actual point of injury but somewhere else in the body. This disorientation of the senses is felt in one way or another by many of the characters in this collection from Lynne Sharon Schwartz one of Americas foremost chroniclers of contemporary life.In the title novella a son of Holocaust survivors circumvents his discomfort over his parents history through a Kafkaesque series of dental procedures. In another story a professors sexual attraction to one of his students leads him down a twisted path of misplaced identity. Laced with Schwartzs satirical acidly intelligent wit Referred Pain displays the peak of her ability.