by Ted with Shannon Ravenel--Eds. Solotaroff ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 24, 1978
Martha Foley, whose domain this was for 36 years, died last year; the editorship will henceforth change with each volume. Ted Solotaroff, late of the American Review, chose this round and offers a rather unusual ""confessions of an editor""-style introduction: 18 intelligent but superfluous pages of explanation, qualification, anxiety. The stories themselves? Rather tepid, single-mooded or single-idea'd pieces by Joyce Carol Oates, Natalie L. M. Petesch. John Gardner, Lynn Sharon Schwartz, Jane Bowles. Two fashionable ""how-to-do-manual-work"" stories by Tim McCarthy and Peter Marsh. (Also two sports stories, about this year's sport: tennis--by Robert T. Sorells and Jonathan Baumbach.) Harold Brodkey offers one of his intense focusings. Elizabeth Cullinan writes a finely measured, subtly straightforward accounting of three being a crowd. A trio of sour sociologies by Ian McEwen, L. Hluchan Sintetos, and Gilbert Sorrentino--and Mark Halprin's ubiquitous mountain-climbing effusion. Seven stories stand out. James Helprin's lucid account of boorishness among chess players; Peter Taylor's sedulous, resonant ""In the Miro District""--a story with an ethical layer few of its companion stories even try for; a rich, portentous, mysterious tapestry by Leslie Epstein of a Holocaust production of Macbeth; Stanley Elkin's risk-taking, virtuoso, but not (for a change) too manic tour of Heaven and Hell. And, finally, three that Chekhov would probably cotton to: poetic, lean, and oddly disturbing stories of the angles in the human heart by Joy Williams, Mary Ann Malinchak Rishel, and (best of all) Max Schott: ""Murphy Jones, Pearblossom, California""--a story so true to itself that it comes off like a secret you always knew you were destined to share.
Pub Date: Oct. 24, 1978
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: N/A
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1978
Categories: FICTION
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.