Random Stories

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Laughlin--poet, essayist, founder of New Directions--shows himself as a master of the situational slice of life in these 12 stories. In "This Is My Blood," the clipped dialogue and antiseptic style increase the visceral impact, giving this story of a steelworker's visit to his dying father a universal import. "What the Butler Heard" is a droll portrait of an eavesdropping butler, a petty thief with a hopeless crush on his boss's daughter. Many situations are left unresolved: a fashionable Parisian man of letters feels stifled by his overprotective mother and his bullying girlfriend ("'Partial Eclipse"); a world-class skierper big Web , his career derailed by an accident, reminisces in a hospital bed ("Looking Across at the Silvretta").sp ok The dated "A Natural History," first published in the Harvard Advocate in the 1930s, describes a party on a Florida beach that ends with turtle eggs and racial insults being hurled at residents of "Blackland"; contemporary readers will find its social criticism muted and weak. Laughlin is a word-pointillist, assembling seemingly casual details into authentic, if somewhat narrow canvases.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A companion piece to the author's Random Essays ( LJ 8/89), this volume reminds us that the founder of vanguard publishing house New Directions--which brought to light works by such pioneering moderns as William Carlos Williams, Henry Miller, Ezra Pound, and James Joyce--is himself a fine writer. Many of these pieces originally appeared during the 1930s in the Harvard Advocate , Story , and elsewhere. The charming "A Visit" tells of a publisher who comes to patch up an old quarrel with an aging poet and finds it has been forgiven. "Partial Eclipse" paints an ironic portrait of a French writer who betrays his friendship with an artist to gain popularity. In all the stories, the narrator's fundamental warmth and decency shine through. As Laughlin says in his rambling introduction, "My stories had some content but never any plot." With their European settings, nostalgic tone, and autobiographical air, they convey the graceful elegance of a masterly man of letters and a gentle scholar.
- Mary Soete, San Diego P.L.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.