mehastings
Active Member
Suggest a short story collection to read in January. Please post a description if possible so that other members will know what they are voting on. Thanks. Suggestions to end November 20th.
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Suggestions: January 2007 Book of the Month. **Short Story Collections Only**
- Thread starter mehastings
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-Carlos-
New Member
The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway The Finca Vigia Edition.
Hemingway is one of the great masters of the short- story. His short - stories are far superior to his novels, and among them are a handful of true masterpieces. The stories are written with a clean and precise language, the distinctive Hemingway style with its lack of flowery description, and its Biblical conjunction, and rhythm. "The war was always there but we did not go to it any more" is the beginning of one of his greatest stories " In Another Country." In another of his small masterpieces " A Clean- Well Lighted Place" he closes with 'Our nada who are in nada " nihilistic transformation of 'The Lord's Prayer". In another the soldier Krebs home from the war amongst people who cannot understand what he has gone through , replies to his mother's question as to whether he loves her, " No , Ma, I don't love anyone" .
The Hemingway language is condensed, striking, and has a poetic memorability .
The situations are often ones of test where the famous Hemingway definition of courage as ' grace under pressure" comes into play. Often there is disillusion and often death. And there are too, beginning with the Nick Adams' stories that very special Hemingway encounter with the natural world. "Big Two- Hearted River"
Hemingway's stories are by and large 'men's stories' and stories in which manhood is tried , tested, and often undermined. The world is one of threat, and one in which all the big words which express abstract concepts seem to be irrelevant and false. Concrete perceptions and direct and simple relation of them, dialogue which in itself is the action and moves too with a tension - and dramatic quality are at the heart of the stories.
The threat of breakdown, the fear of loss of control, the living by some kind of 'code' which enables the dealing with all of this- these too are elements in these very great stories
Hemingway is one of the great masters of the short- story. His short - stories are far superior to his novels, and among them are a handful of true masterpieces. The stories are written with a clean and precise language, the distinctive Hemingway style with its lack of flowery description, and its Biblical conjunction, and rhythm. "The war was always there but we did not go to it any more" is the beginning of one of his greatest stories " In Another Country." In another of his small masterpieces " A Clean- Well Lighted Place" he closes with 'Our nada who are in nada " nihilistic transformation of 'The Lord's Prayer". In another the soldier Krebs home from the war amongst people who cannot understand what he has gone through , replies to his mother's question as to whether he loves her, " No , Ma, I don't love anyone" .
The Hemingway language is condensed, striking, and has a poetic memorability .
The situations are often ones of test where the famous Hemingway definition of courage as ' grace under pressure" comes into play. Often there is disillusion and often death. And there are too, beginning with the Nick Adams' stories that very special Hemingway encounter with the natural world. "Big Two- Hearted River"
Hemingway's stories are by and large 'men's stories' and stories in which manhood is tried , tested, and often undermined. The world is one of threat, and one in which all the big words which express abstract concepts seem to be irrelevant and false. Concrete perceptions and direct and simple relation of them, dialogue which in itself is the action and moves too with a tension - and dramatic quality are at the heart of the stories.
The threat of breakdown, the fear of loss of control, the living by some kind of 'code' which enables the dealing with all of this- these too are elements in these very great stories
Thickney
kickbox
The Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Franz Kafka(Dover Thrift Editions)
"Superb collection by modern master explores the complexity, anxiety and futility of modern life. Excellent new English translations of the title story (considered by many critics Kafka’s most perfect work), plus "The Judgment," "In the Penal Colony," "A Country Doctor" and "A Report to an Academy."'
"Superb collection by modern master explores the complexity, anxiety and futility of modern life. Excellent new English translations of the title story (considered by many critics Kafka’s most perfect work), plus "The Judgment," "In the Penal Colony," "A Country Doctor" and "A Report to an Academy."'
unKeMPt
New Member
I suggest Raymond Carver's Where I'm Calling From
[quote="Amazon]
Amazon.com
The last story collection published during Carver's life (he died in 1988) contains most of his greatest hits from his earlier books, as well as seven stories that hadn't been collected up to that point. The breadth of the collection makes these 37 stories an extremely complete map of Carver territory, of a particular area of America and of the specific texture of the people Carver writes about -- their difficult attempts at survival in a world where happiness does not arrive wrapped up in neat packages but comes in far more peculiar parcels, if it comes at all.
From Publishers Weekly
The cool streamlined style of this modern master of the short story has spawned dozens of younger writers who seek to follow in Carver's footsteps. But where the Brat Pack frequently produces flat, unresonating fiction, Carver has the ability to render graceful prose from dreary, commonplace, scraping-the-bottom human misery. This collection consists of 30 stories selected from four previous volumes, and seven new tales. Appearing in order of original publication, they reflect Carver's developmentfrom 1963 to the present. We meet many of his characters just as something dear to them is slipping away. Jobs, cars, the affection of a spouse or child, the routine of lifeall can be lost. Even in the more upbeat stories, a narrator recalls a happy occasion that, in retrospect, marked a change for the worse, or a high point in a life since gone sour. In Carver's world, ashtrays overflow, wives are usually ex-, and drinkers are drunks. Seedy and dishonest characters are glimpsed in the process of once again doing the wrong thing. One of the new stories, "The Errand," which is in part an account of Chekhov's death, is offered as a tip of the hat to the great short story writer. Even here, with more affecting and finished prose than ever before, Carver's rendering gives us all the intimacy of a medical chart. Aptly named, he is a carver of flesh from the bone. Paperback rights to Vintage.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. [/quote]
I'd also like to mention that this work was nominated as one of the best pieces of fiction within the last twenty-five years by a New York Times-selected panel.
[quote="Amazon]
Amazon.com
The last story collection published during Carver's life (he died in 1988) contains most of his greatest hits from his earlier books, as well as seven stories that hadn't been collected up to that point. The breadth of the collection makes these 37 stories an extremely complete map of Carver territory, of a particular area of America and of the specific texture of the people Carver writes about -- their difficult attempts at survival in a world where happiness does not arrive wrapped up in neat packages but comes in far more peculiar parcels, if it comes at all.
From Publishers Weekly
The cool streamlined style of this modern master of the short story has spawned dozens of younger writers who seek to follow in Carver's footsteps. But where the Brat Pack frequently produces flat, unresonating fiction, Carver has the ability to render graceful prose from dreary, commonplace, scraping-the-bottom human misery. This collection consists of 30 stories selected from four previous volumes, and seven new tales. Appearing in order of original publication, they reflect Carver's developmentfrom 1963 to the present. We meet many of his characters just as something dear to them is slipping away. Jobs, cars, the affection of a spouse or child, the routine of lifeall can be lost. Even in the more upbeat stories, a narrator recalls a happy occasion that, in retrospect, marked a change for the worse, or a high point in a life since gone sour. In Carver's world, ashtrays overflow, wives are usually ex-, and drinkers are drunks. Seedy and dishonest characters are glimpsed in the process of once again doing the wrong thing. One of the new stories, "The Errand," which is in part an account of Chekhov's death, is offered as a tip of the hat to the great short story writer. Even here, with more affecting and finished prose than ever before, Carver's rendering gives us all the intimacy of a medical chart. Aptly named, he is a carver of flesh from the bone. Paperback rights to Vintage.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. [/quote]
I'd also like to mention that this work was nominated as one of the best pieces of fiction within the last twenty-five years by a New York Times-selected panel.
unKeMPt
New Member
The Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Franz Kafka(Dover Thrift Editions)
"Superb collection by modern master explores the complexity, anxiety and futility of modern life. Excellent new English translations of the title story (considered by many critics Kafka’s most perfect work), plus "The Judgment," "In the Penal Colony," "A Country Doctor" and "A Report to an Academy."'
While Kafka is completely worthy selection for this month (or, rather, because of it), I suggest that we instead look at "The Complete Stories," seen here:
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Stories-Franz-Kafka/dp/0805210555
I own the earlier-nominated work and was displeased with its translation. I think this work would likely provide a better and more thorough examination of Kafka's works.
mehastings
Active Member
Keeping this open for another couple days!!
tartan_skirt
New Member
Since it seems we're in need of suggestions I'm going to put forward Irwine Welsh's The Acid House. 
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