Norman Rush is an American novelist whose introspective works are set in 1980s Botswana. His prose often delves into themes of human connection, cultural encounters, and the search for identity within an exotic landscape. Rush's style is characterized by meticulous attention to detail and profound psychological insight into his characters. Drawing from his experiences with the Peace Corps in Botswana, he authentically portrays both the frustrations and the beauty of life on the fringes.
'Mortals' constitutes the final element in Norman Rush's trilogy on the Western presence in contemporary southern Africa. Set in Botswana in the 1990s, it is a political adventure, a social comedy and a passionate love story.
An award-winning novel with a cult following since its original publication in 1991, Mating is a life-affirming comedy of manners as well as a deeply serious investigation of the politics of desire
Ned and Nina are trying to conceive, so when Ned jets off with no notice to the funeral of Douglas, a mysterious friend from his student days, Nina follows him so they can have sex on time. Douglas was the ringleader of a fellowship of chums at NYU and Nina is baffled by the extraordinary hold the group - and Douglas in particular - have on Ned. The novel explores the reconfiguring and reappraisal of the clique following Douglas's tragic death. 'Subtle Bodies' asks why we make the friends we do, why we keep them and how we make sense of our personal histories. It is a wise, funny and keenly observed portrayal of shifting relationships and new truths emerging from old certainties.