<<The>> uncollected stories of Allan Gurganus

NPR Best Books of 2021 One of the best writers of our time (Ann Patchett) offers this hilarious yet haunting cycle of storiesall previously uncollected. Since the explosive publication of Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All , Allan Gurganus has dazzled readers as the most technically gifted and morally responsive writer of his generation (John Cheever). He has been praised as "one of Americas preeminent novelists, our prime conductor of electric sentences" (William Giraldi). Above all, Allan Gurganus is a seriously funny writer, an expert at evoking humor, especially in our troubled times. Now he offers nine classic talesnever before between covers. They attest to his mastery of the short story and the growing depth of his genius. Offering characters antic and tragic, Gurganus charts the human conditionmasked and unmaskedas we live it now. Once upon a time collides with the everyday. We meet a mortician whose dedication to his departed clients exceeds all legal limits. We encounter a seaside couple fighting to save their family dog from Maines fierce undertow. A virginal seventy-eight-year-old grammar school librarian has her sole erotic experience with a polyamorous snake farmer. A vicious tornado sends twin boys aloft, leaving only one of them alive. And, in an eerily prescient story, cholera strikes a rural village in 1849 and citizens come to blame their doomed young doctor who saved hundreds. These meticulously crafted parables recall William Faulkners scope and Flannery OConnors corrosive wit. Imbuing each story with charged drama, Gurganus, a sublime ventriloquist, again proves himself among our funniest writers and our wisest. One of "the best writers of our time" (Ann Patchett) offers this hilarious yet haunting cycle of stories#8212;all previously uncollected. Since the explosive publication of Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All, Allan Gurganus has dazzled readers as "the most technically gifted and morally responsive writer of his generation" (John Cheever). He has been praised as "one of America's preeminent novelists, our prime conductor of electric sentences" (William Giraldi). Above all, Allan Gurganus is a seriously funny writer, an expert at evoking humor, especially in our troubled times. Now he offers nine classic tales#8212;never before between covers. They attest to his mastery of the short story and the growing depth of his genius. Offering characters antic and tragic, Gurganus charts the human condition#8212;masked and unmasked#8212;as we live it now. "Once upon a time" collides with the everyday. We meet a mortician whose dedication to his departed clients exceeds all legal limits. We encounter a seaside couple fighting to save their family dog from Maine's fierce undertow. A virginal seventy-eight-year-old grammar school librarian has her sole erotic experience with a polyamorous snake farmer. A vicious tornado sends twin boys aloft, leaving only one of them alive. And, in an eerily prescient story, cholera strikes a rural village in 1849 and citizens come to blame their doomed young doctor who saved hundreds. These meticulously crafted parables recall William Faulkner's scope and Flannery O'Connor's corrosive wit. Imbuing each story with charged drama, Gurganus, a sublime ventriloquist, again proves himself among our funniest writers and our wisest "From one of "the best writers of our time" (Ann Patchett) comes a sparkling volume of previously uncollected short stories. For over three decades, Allan Gurganus has been heralded by readers and critics alike as "the most technically gifted and morally responsive writer of his generation" (John Cheever). Now, the beloved North Carolina author of such classics as Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All and White People has collected ten of his most powerful short stories-all of which have never appeared in a book and some of which have never before been published-into a volume that affirms his place as a quintessential Southern writer. In his characteristic style, Gurganus limns remarkable vignettes with unforgettable characters, such as Esther, the grammar school librarian who develops a relationship with a snake farmer in My Heart is a Snake Farmer, and the narrator of A Fool for Christmas, Vernon Ricketts, who is manager of Fin, Fur and Fun: "Third-busiest pet store in eastern North Carolina, so they tell me." Replete with descriptive prose that would remind one of none other than Melville, Uncollected Stories" celebrates one of the South's most iconic living authors and promises to create a new generation of Allan Gurganus readers for years to come"--Provided by publisher