Twice upon a time

Twice Upon a Time is author Daniel Stern's second literary adventure in weaving fresh modern tales from the thematic threads of great texts of the past. His new collection focuses on some classic favorites - "Bartleby the Scrivener" by Herman Melville and "A Hunger Artist" by Franz Kafka - and turns them upside down with enchanting results. Pushing the boundaries even further, two famous poems by Wallace Stevens, "Sunday Morning" and "The Man with the Blue Guitar," draw. Forth stories both rueful and comic. And, as Eastern Europe was crumbling, Stern was inspired to write a novella of youth and lost illusions called "A Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels." Several years ago, Daniel Stern began this brilliantly inventive literary journey with the acclaimed Twice Told Tales. Now, these new, half-dozen, bold and witty variations prove once again that there are no real boundaries where books, ideas, lives, and loves are. Concerned.