The Literary Traveler: An Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140171630 ISBN 13: 9780140171631

Publisher: Penguin Books, 1996

Synopsis

A collection of nineteen stories brings together the works of Paul Theroux, Sue Miller, Alice Munro, William Trevor, and others, and follows a theme about new places and perspectives as brought on by travel. By the compiler of The Literary Lover. 15,000 first printing.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly

At the heart of each of these 19 short stories about the passion and purpose of travel is the emotional baggage a character carries. In Paul Theroux's "Portrait of a Lady," a Harvard Business School graduate cannot enjoy the romance of Paris because of his mission as a courier. In the late Maria Thomas's "Summer Opportunity," a bookish and overweight African American student suddenly finds herself a sex goddess in Nigeria. The best stories here present views of change: William Maxwell's "The Gardens of Mont-Saint-Michel" concerns a husband and wife who encounter disappointment when, 18 years after a paradisiacal visit to the abbey of the title, they return there with their family; elsewhere, the late Allen Barnett's "Succor" finds an HIV-positive man returning to Rome after spending years as a care-partner. Although Dark (The Literary Lover) has assembled only traditionally constructed short stories, several are superbly crafted, including Alice Munro's "Hold Me Fast, Don't Let Me Pass," about a woman uncovering her late husband's past in Scotland, and Lorrie Moore's "Which Is More Than I Can Say About Some People," concerning a visit by a woman and her mother to the Blarney Stone. A few stories disappoint, particularly Fay Weldon's "Wasted Lives," with its flat, nameless city, and the speculative construct of Steven Millhauser's "The Sepia Postcard." But in these tales, too, characters find a deeper understanding of themselves away from home. As a woman fighting illness in Kate Braverman's "Virgin of Tenderness" notes, "You can know yourself absolutely in any ancient ruin."
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In this anthology, Dark turns the editing skills he used in The Literary Lover (Viking, 1993) to travel. He has compiled pieces by accomplished short story writers that have a travel theme; for example, travel as liberation, as in Maria Thomas's "Summer Opportunity," or confinement, as in Paul Theroux's "Portrait of a Lady." Such well-known authors as John Updike, Fay Weldon, and Diane Johnson are represented here. Dark's introductory essay explains how the stories illustrate age-old travel themes like unrealized (or realized) expectations or such new developments as the spread of American culture to former Communist countries. By careful selection of stories and authors who are experienced in the art of short story writing, Dark has created a winner for short story collections. Brief biographies of the contributors are included at the end. A good choice for public libraries.
Ann Parker, Dept. of Water Resources Law Lib., Sacramento, Cal.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0140171630
• ISBN 13: 9780140171631
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 368
• Editor: Larry Dark