Almonds to Zhoof: Collected Stories (Triquarterly Books)

For decades, Richard Stern has been acclaimed as one of the American masters of the short story. Almonds to Zhoof: Collected Stories brings together for the first time forty-nine of Stern's best short works and novellas-from "Dr. Cahn's Visit," which The New Republic praised as "the very best very short story in the English language," to classics like "Teeth" and "Wanderers." Stern's stories-witty, moving, always full of energy-never sacrifice storytelling to mere elegance or wandering wisdom. This collection demonstrates Stern's astonishing ability to portray people from all walks of life, their flawed relationships to ideas, their sometimes bizarre relationships with lovers and friends, their often brilliant, if skewed, appraisals of themselves. The stories always reflect an abiding compassion for his characters whoever they are and whatever their origins. All exist within the politics and workplaces and bedrooms of the real world. All are incorrigibly human. The New York Times - Eric Weinberger In Stern's world, there is always forgiveness for the often sad state of being a man. As he writes in ''Zhoof'' of a German desk clerk who could -- one imagines -- have been involved in terrible things: ''If, like all men, he'd done bad things, he was not doing them now.'' CONTENTS......Page 10 Author’s Note......Page 12 The Illegibility of This World......Page 16 Good Morrow, Swine......Page 36 Mail......Page 39 Teeth......Page 50 The Anaximander Fragment......Page 65 Wanderers......Page 76 Dr. Cahn’s Visit......Page 87 Troubles......Page 92 Lesson for the Day......Page 105 The Girl Who Loves Schubert......Page 114 A Short History of Love......Page 124 Orvieto Dominos, Bolsena Eels......Page 127 Veni, Vidi ... Wendt......Page 140 Story Making......Page 205 My Ex, the Moral Philosopher......Page 212 The Ideal Address......Page 222 A Counterfactual Proposition......Page 230 Ins and Outs......Page 238 Nine Letters, Twenty Days......Page 250 In a Word, Trowbridge......Page 263 Cooley’s Version......Page 270 Assessment of an Amateur......Page 280 Dying......Page 289 Losing Color......Page 300 Gaps......Page 302 The Degradation of Tenderness......Page 313 Wissler Remembers......Page 331 La Pourriture Noble......Page 341 Riordan’s Fiftieth......Page 361 Zhoof......Page 370 Milius and Melanie......Page 383 Arrangements at the Gulf......Page 402 Gardiner’s Legacy......Page 409 A Recital for the Pope......Page 414 Idylls of Dugan and Strunk......Page 425 Double Charley......Page 461 In the Dock......Page 470 Sylvan and Agnes......Page 484 Wool......Page 494 Oscar and Hypatia......Page 506 Almonds......Page 519 The Sorrows of Captain Schreiber......Page 543 East, West ... Midwest......Page 558 The Good European......Page 572 Chicago, in the Depths of Feeling......Page 584 Gifts......Page 591 Introductory......Page 598 In Return......Page 601 Packages......Page 613 Acknowledgments......Page 622 For decades, Richard Stern has been acclaimed as an American master of the short story. Almonds to Zhoof brings together for the first time forty-nine of his best short fictions, from "Dr. Cahn's Visit," which the New Republic praised as the "very best very short story in the English language," to the powerful novella "Veni, Vidi... Wendt."Stern's stories-witty, moving, charged with narrative energy-never sacrifice storytelling to mere elegance or bursts of essayistic wisdom. This collection demonstrates Stern's remarkable ability to portray people's flawed relationships to ideas, their sometimes bizarre relationships with lovers and friends, their often brilliant, if skewed, appraisals of themselves. The stories reflect Stern's compassion for his characters, whoever they are and whatever their origins.