In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway
I am usually all ERNEST, Light of my life, fire of my loins, etc. This collection of short stories left me more ERNEST, get me a sandwich and hand me the remote control. This was his first published collection of short stories, so it was his major reveal as The Author Who Uses All The Declarative Sentences, [stop]. They're all thematically about World War I, so there's that. Chalk this collection up as Very Important because it was Hemingway's debut-ish, but it wasn't his debut to ME and therefore I am underwhelmed. But I can see how America was a bit LOOK AT YOUR LACK OF SEMI-COLONS, COME INTO MY BOSOM. A good read if you're the kind of person who wants to read all of your favorite authors' works, but otherwise unnecessary.
(three stars out of your mom)
A Curtain of Green and Other Stories by Eudora Welty*
Yes, MOAR THIS! I have a weakness for Southern Lady Writers and Eudora! You are my poppet. A Curtain of Green was her first collection of stories, but it lacks that "author's first work" taste. This woman has that magical ability to be both Very Literary and Very Entertaining (a dual set of talents that so many Serious Authors seem to lack). The tales are unpretentious, hopeful, realistic and totally Southern. Eudora is quoted in the introduction as saying "I haven't a literary life at all...But I do feel that the people and things I love are of a true and human world, and there is no clutter about them...I would not understand a literary life." Essentially, this is a nice (genius) lady, observing the world and writing (geniusly [not a word]) about it. Like, there's J. Franzen on one end of the Pretentious Literary Fiction spectrum, and then there's Eudora Welty and her work on the other end. Which is located on a different planet. Anywoot, I was especially fond of "Why I Live at the P.O.,""A Curtain of Green," and "Clytie."
(five stars out of your mom)
*I'll have you know that the "and Other Stories" bit is very small on my copy, so I didn't see it and therefore didn't know it was short stories.
Very good.
ReplyDeleteSince I am one that must read all the Hemingway, ever, I will eventually get around to In Our Time.
ReplyDeleteI read my first Eudora Welty last year (The Optimist's Daughter) and while I was like meh, perhaps her short stories would be a better way to experience her work.
Oy! That video clip is too creepy! Reminds me of an Aphex Twin music video that I still can't talk about...
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip about Eudora!
All Aphex Twin music videos have this effect on me.
DeleteLove me some Eudora.
ReplyDeleteI'm amazed how such a sweet southern lady can turn out a story like "Where is the Voice Coming From?". You can listen to that one for free on the New Yorker's site here:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/2009/03/16/090316on_audio_oates
It'll blow your freaking mind.
I'm a fan of short stories, so I'm glad these books tricked you into reading them. Early stuff from famous writers is always so hit or miss. I'm glad Eudora Welty's collection impressed.
ReplyDeleteHave you read Hemingway's Men Without Women? It's a collection of short stories that I thought was amazing.
ReplyDeleteThe appropriateness of that gif to the subject deserves the most sincere of slow claps.
ReplyDelete*claps, so slowly*
I haven't read any Eudora Welty (for shame!), but this collection of short stories sounds charming.
ReplyDeleteThe only book by Welty that I've read is The Optimist's Daughter, and I was pretty underwhelmed. I typically like Southern female writers, and I'll have to give this collection a shot.
ReplyDeleteAny other books by her you'd suggest??
I haven't read anything else by her, actually. I was thinking of doing The Optimist's Daughter next...
DeleteThis is what I thought: http://natramm.wordpress.com/2011/09/01/the-optimists-daughter/
DeleteAmanda, I love everything you post. It's getting a bit ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteI love why I live at the p.o. Welty's writing is fresh and sharp no matter how many times I read her.
ReplyDelete