John Fante's Ask the Dust

This collection gathers a diverse set of critical, personal, and artistic reflections on the trials and epiphanies of Fante's bio-fictive hero, Arturo Bandini, as he makes his way through the dust and dread of 1939 Los Angeles. As his quest for love and compassion turns to ethnic questioning and scorn, Fante's protagonist comes alive for new audiences who see now what Fante saw then: the "sad flower in the sand" that resides within us all.