Synopses & Reviews
HE DISMOUNTED at the dead end of the canyon, took a shovel and walked to a spot near a cottonwood and began to dig. When he was knee deep in the hole an arrow passed behind his head. He felt the air move and thought it a daring bird. The second arrow found its mark in his neck and the life seeped from him and he folded, inches from some letters and a lock of hair. andldquo;May [these stories] last a thousand years and be chiseled in stone.andrdquo; andmdash;Jonathan Lethem
and#160;andldquo;Lou Beach uses words with no sympathy for the reader. He beats us senseless with his brilliance.andrdquo; andmdash;Terry Gilliam
and#160;andldquo;Bizarre and awesome.andrdquo;andmdash;Bookslut
and#160;Acclaimed artist and illustrator Lou Beach began his writing career by updating his Facebook status, every day, with a new stand-alone story no more than 420 characters long. These narrative gems soon appeared on his website, and then arrived in the literary world. Alternately surreal, funny, ominous, and lyrical,420 Charactersoffers an experience as dazzling as any in contemporary fiction, revealing worlds of meaning in single paragraphs. Beachandrsquo;s work has found admirers in Jonathan Lethem, Terry Gilliam, J. Robert Lennon, and others. The collection features original collages by the author.
Review
“Among the true originals of contemporary American short fiction.” —
San Francisco Chronicle “Davis is a magician of self-consciousness. Few writers now working make the words on the page matter more.” —JONATHAN FRANZEN
“All who know [Daviss] work probably remember their first time reading it . . . Blows the roof off of so many of our assumptions about what constitutes short fiction.” —DAVE EGGERS, McSweeneys
“Sharp, deft, ironic, understated, and consistently surprising.” —JOYCE CAROL OATES
“The best prose stylist in America.” —RICK MOODY
Review
"Smooth, reflective prose... Drabble's fans will savor these bite-sized examples of her humane intelligence."-Kirkus Reviews
Synopsis
Lydia Davis is one of our most original and influential writers. She has been called "an American virtuoso of the short story form" (
Salon) and "one of the quiet giants...of American fiction" (
Los Angeles Times Book Review).
Now, for the first time, Davis's short stories will be collected in one volume, from the groundbreaking "Break It Down "(1986) to the 2007 National Book Award nominee "Varieties of Disturbance."
The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis is an event in American letters.
Synopsis
Lydia Davis is one of our most original and influential writers. She has been called an American virtuoso of the short story form” (
Salon) and one of the quiet giants . . . of American fiction” (
Los Angeles Times Book Review). Now, for the first time, Daviss short stories will be collected in one volume, from the groundbreaking
Break It Down (1986) to the 2007 National Book Award nominee
Varieties of Disturbance.
The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis is an event in American letters.
Lydia Davis is the author of one novel and seven story collections, the most recent of which was a finalist for the 2007 National Book Award. She is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and was named a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government for her fiction and her translations of modern writers including Maurice Blanchot, Michel Leiris, and Marcel Proust. Lydia Davis is one of our most original and influential writers, a storyteller celebrated for her inventiveness, and her ability to capture the mind in overdrive. She has been called "an American virtuoso of the short story form" (Salon) and "one of the quiet giants . . . of American fiction" (Los Angeles Times Book Review). This volume contains all her stories to date, from the acclaimed Break It Down to the 2007 National book Award finalist Varieties of Disturbance.
Synopsis
Margaret Drabbles novels have illuminated the past fifty years, especially the changing lives of women, like no others. Yet her short fiction has its own unique brilliance. Her penetrating evocations of character and place, her wide-ranging curiosity, her sense of irony—all are on display here, in stories that explore marriage, female friendships, the English tourist abroad, love affairs with houses, peace demonstrations, gin and tonics, cultural TV programs; in stories that are perceptive, sharp, and funny. An introduction by the Spanish academic José Fernández places the stories in the context of her life and her novels. This collection is a wonderful recapitulation of a masterly career.
Synopsis
A
NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE
A LOS ANGELES TIMES FICTION FAVORITE FOR 2009
A SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE BEST BOOK OF 2009
Lydia Davis is one of our most original and influential writers, a storyteller celebrated for her emotional acuity, her formal inventiveness, and her ability to capture the mind in overdrive. She has been called “an American virtuoso of the short story form” (Salon.com) and “one of the quiet giants . . . of American fiction” (Los Angeles Times Book Review). This volume contains all her stories to date, from the acclaimed Break It Down (1986) to the 2007 National Book Award nominee Varieties of Disturbance.
The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis is an event in American letters.
Synopsis
A collection of the famed UK novelist Margaret Drabble's complete short stories.
About the Author
Lydia Davis is the author of one novel and seven story collections, the most recent of which was a finalist for the 2007 National Book Award. She is the recipient of a MacArthur fellowship and was named a Chevalier of the Order of the Arts and Letters by the French government for her fiction and her translations of modern writers, including Maurice Blanchot, Michel Leiris, and Marcel Proust. She is at work on a translation of
Madame Bovary.
Table of Contents
Contents
Introduction ix
Note on the Present Edition xxi
Les Liaisons Dangereuses 1
Hassan’s Tower 7
A Voyage to Cythera 23
Faithful Lovers 41
A Pyrrhic Victory 53
Crossing the Alps 63
The Gifts of War 85
A Success Story 103
A Day in the Life of a Smiling Woman 115
Homework 141
The Merry Widow 151
The Dower House at Kellynch:
A Somerset Romance 169
The Caves of God 193
Stepping Westward:
A Topographical Tale 207