It's an excellent example of writing to show rather than just tell.Ĭollected Stories of Wallace Stegner is a large collection of short stories that largely concentrate on the American West in the first half of the 20th century. I also really liked "Volcano," a very short piece that takes place in Mexico. "Grandma's mind was a terrified little animal trembling in a dark hole while danger walked outside." Stegner lets us see how difficult it is for everyone when a loved one is losing mental faculties, and how frightening life becomes for the one with dementia. But the mother has dementia, and all their love and good intentions may not be enough to keep her safe and keep themselves from falling apart. "Double Corner" is about a little family of California fruit growers who try to take on the task of caring for the husband's mother rather than placing her in an old folks' home. If you read no other stories in this book, at least read this one. I think the most perfect story in the collection is "Double Corner." It showcases Stegner's talent for creating a powerful sense of place, as well as his ability to express the beautiful and heartbreaking impulses that make us human. The stories cover a variety of historical topics: the 1918 influenza epidemic, WWII wives waiting for letters from their soldier husbands, ranching life on the plains of Saskatchewan, and Prohibition days in Salt Lake City. It covers so many time periods and lifestyles that are forever gone, preserved in literary amber by one who actually lived through those bygone eras. Yes! This is what makes the collection worth reading. "I lived them, either as a participant or spectator or auditor, before I made fictions of them.and because the world and I were changing at an ever accelerating rate, some stories reflect events, social attitudes, and even diction that now seem dated." In the Foreword, Stegner says about the stories: He clearly knew his best writing, because the better stories are in the first 1/2 to 2/3 of the book. Stegner himself chose the stories for inclusion, as well as their arrangement in the collection. Naturally, the subject matter and quality varies. There are 31 stories in this collection, written over a period of about 50 years.
Something spurious from the Mindanao Deep. Each of the thirty-one stories contained in this volume embody some of the best virtues and values to be found in contemporary fiction, demonstrating why the author is acclaimed as one of America's master storytellers. In a literary career spanning more than fifty years, Wallace Stegner created a remarkable record of the history and culture of twentieth-century America.
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