European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 19, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Is author creates fatal attraction by Mervyn r0thste1n the new York times. Lie Book is called damage. It s a first i novel a trim Little volume 198 smallish i pages that Tell a tale of sexual of bsds a Sion. A v an Lipper crust British member of parliament a decent Loyal and devoted but passionless. Family Man develops a very tragic very. Fatal attraction for a mysterious woman in Black his son s Fiancee who creates sexual disaster wherever she goes. A. Sonny Mehta the head of Alfred a. Knopf the books publisher sent out Advance copies a couple of months ago arid along with them he sent a  a the Book he said arrived As a i manuscript Early Ime evening in june 1990. He finished it in one Silling that evening. The next Day he showed it la colleagues a a a and we were All agreed that it was the most shocking haunting and erotic novel we had read All the More remarkable for Heing the Story of a doomed Man told in his voice by a woman.�?�. 7\n intense promotion and advertising Campaign followed and damage by Josephine Hart is now solidly ensconced on the new York times fiction Best seller list. The novel has received mixed reviews. One in the new York times Book review for example said a Quot after its first few quietly menacing Chap. Tors. Damage goes Over the top All the time but  stuck Between the  the  reviews however do riot necessarily create Best Sellers. Mart a self described "40-something&Quot years old is a Convent educated native of the Small town of Mullingar Ireland about 50 Miles West of Dublin. She also happens to be a British theatrical pro Ducer a woman with a penchant for quoting . Eliot and Gustave Flaubert for staging poetry readings of Elliot s quartets in the West end and for putting on plays like Federico Garcia Lorca a Josephine. Hart Auther of a damage. House of a Elnurda Alba with Glenda Jackson. Noel cowards Little performed tragedy the vortex Lind Iris Murdoch a Black Prince. And Mart is also married in Mauric Saatchi. Chairman of the huge Saatchi amp Saatchi co., the worlds second largest advertising services concern.  Hart Tell it. Though the Saatchi Connee Tion was an Albatross rather than an Aid to her fledgling literary career. It was quite the opposite of an  she says sit Ting on a sofa in her tres Mode inc tres Chic Penthouse suite Al the Regency hotel on Park Avenue. A a a a a. A Quot it was a problem for me in England. In fact there was one very Well known publisher who turned the Book Down specifically for that reason. He said he liked the Bixik but that he was not prepared to Deal with the difficulties of me being married to  a a. A Hart is trim Well dressed Well coiffed and Well jewelled she has about her the Case and the politeness of the very Rich and she also has in her Possession a pair of striking  that give her a look of otherworldly Charr ii. It is As if miniature Friendly flying saucers from Mars had landed m her Eye s. A a a a. A. A a in the mid-80s/she started producing for the theater. She also began writing damage. But then she put it away for three or four years Quot i had some terrible harrier and i  new York times. Crash through it a she says. A but eventually it became More Lerr Ihle not to write than to  Hart says that the idea for the Book had been in her head for a Long time but that she does not know where it came from. A Flaubert said that we do not choose our subjects they choose us a she says. A Well people have asked me if it was Dif Lisull to write As a Man and my answer  Al  a i was always interested when i studied theology in Schtoil in the idea of whether it was acceptable to be morally Good with a cold  she says. A and that is  Man is. He a a Good Man its the difference Between the selfless act and what is really going on in your heart. Because for me there is no tragedy in the fall of a Rake of Coli so it is very sad when somebody who has been careless morally finally pays a terrible Price for it but the real tragedy is when a Good Man is destroyed by things inside  the cause of her protagonist s destruction is an erotic obsession she adds Quot and i wanted to examine the profound difference Between lust and erotic  Quot lust is driven by the Eye Quot she says Quot and it s driven toward pleasure. Erotic obsession is psychological. It s a Force that is driving you to a total Unity with another person a Force that drives you to be consumed by them. It verges in a death wish.�?�. Reviews Why Black people tend to shout cold fact and wry views from a Black Many a world by Ralph Wiley Carol publishing $15.95. It is not easy to express How it feels to be a Black Man in the �?T90s. Sports illustrated writer Ralph Wiley is one of the few who have been Able to find just the right tone. He skilfully marshals his anger into prose that achieves Power through. Understatement. Wiley sometimes succumbs to a blinding cynicism implying that novelist Toni Morrison would have won the National Book award for instance if Only she like writer Alice Walker had included stereotypical portrayals of a abusive Black men who beat their of n  yet this is but a slight flutter in an original new voice. Alex Raksin. A new York times Springs of living water by Karen Lawrence. Ballantine $4.95. Min. A photographer w Hose latest obsession is taking pictures of hot Springs leaves California for an uncomfortable encounter with the Small Canadian Hometown she keeps trying to escape. As she ponders her past the books characters Spring to Luminous life. Indeed Lawrence. Retraces minds childhood with such tender intensity that each the banality of the suburbs takes on heightened meaning. Mark Childress a new York times the things they. Carried by Tim o Brien. Penguin $8.95. In a1 series of intertwined stories. About Vietnam a Semi fictional. Character named Tim of Brien. Reflects on How memory and imagination magnify and distort the stories we Tell ourselves about War. The author whose 1978 novel going after cacciato won a National Book award adds his second title to the a a Short list of essential fiction about Vietnam. It. Robert r. Harris. A new York times his Little women by Judith Rossner. Pocket books $5.95. The daughter of a Hollywood producer writes a novel based on the racy jives of her three Sisters. His Little women is As crowded and wide ranging As vanity fair if you can imagine Thackeray Clear eyed As Ever but hipper taking on Hollywood multiple marriages the effect of divorce on children the women a movement cosmetic surgery Playboy and. Is. Magazines Cyra of a Fae Qew a. A new York times. All books available at stars and stripes bookstores. 1 Judith Russ nor flu. 1 v 7 7page 8 a sunday May 19. 1991