A critically acclaimed debut novel first published in 1980, Aransas recounts a young man’s attempt to find his place in the world as he navigates the moral dilemma of training an “exquisitely conscious being” to perform in a seaside dolphin circus. A resonant first novel. Beneath its genial surface, allusive undercurrents tug. ― New York Times Book Review The sureness and poise of this first novel are as remarkable as the sharpness, oddity, and clarity of its feelings . . . Aransas is an elegant debut. ― Newsweek Harrigan’s eye for locale and its effect is superb. ― Washington Post Book World Harrigan . . . has a sharp eye for observing man, beast, seashore, and town in a vividly drawn setting. ― Publishers Weekly An ardent and elegant book, beautiful in its language, mature in its perceptions, noble in its sentiments. ― San Francisco Chronicle A sensitive, enormously evocative first novel in a spare but warm prose style that immerses us in atmosphere as insistently as it does the plot . . . Harrigan is a splendid novelist. ― Houston Post Aransas has several surprises, including dramatic suspense, counterculture revisionism, and what must be considered dolphin revisionism. More, Harrigan has written an acute American regional novel. ― Village Voice A resonant first novel. Beneath its genial surface, allusive undercurrents tug. ― New York Times Book Review The sureness and poise of this first novel are as remarkable as the sharpness, oddity, and clarity of its feelings . . . Aransas is an elegant debut. ― Newsweek Harrigan’s eye for locale and its effect is superb. ― Washington Post Book World Harrigan . . . has a sharp eye for observing man, beast, seashore, and town in a vividly drawn setting. ― Publishers Weekly An ardent and elegant book, beautiful in its language, mature in its perceptions, noble in its sentiments. ― San Francisco Chronicle A sensitive, enormously evocative first novel in a spare but warm prose style that immerses us in atmosphere as insistently as it does the plot . . . Harrigan is a splendid novelist. ― Houston Post Aransas has several surprises, including dramatic suspense, counterculture revisionism, and what must be considered dolphin revisionism. More, Harrigan has written an acute American regional novel. ― Village Voice Stephen Harrigan is the author of several books of fiction and nonfiction, including the award-winning novels The Gates of the Alamo and Remember Ben Clayton , the critically acclaimed essay collection The Eye of the Mammoth , and Big Wonderful Thing: A History of Texas . He lives in Austin, Texas, where he is a writer-at-large for Texas Monthly and a faculty fellow at the University of Texas’s Michener Center for Writers.