Tree of Smoke

Tree of Smoke PDF

Author: Denis Johnson

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2007-09-04

Total Pages: 638

ISBN-13: 9780374279127

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Once upon a time there was a war . . . and a young American who thought of himself as the Quiet American and the Ugly American, and who wished to be neither, who wanted instead to be the Wise American, or the Good American, but who eventually came to witness himself as the Real American and finally as simply the Fucking American. That’s me. This is the story of Skip Sands—spy-in-training, engaged in Psychological Operations against the Vietcong—and the disasters that befall him thanks to his famous uncle, a war hero known in intelligence circles simply as the Colonel. This is also the story of the Houston brothers, Bill and James, young men who drift out of the Arizona desert into a war in which the line between disinformation and delusion has blurred away. In its vision of human folly, and its gritty, sympathetic portraits of men and women desperate for an end to their loneliness, whether in sex or death or by the grace of God, this is a story like nothing in our literature. Tree of Smoke is Denis Johnson’s first full-length novel in nine years, and his most gripping, beautiful, and powerful work to date. Tree of Smoke is the 2007 National Book Award Winner for Fiction.

The Penguin Book of the Modern American Short Story

The Penguin Book of the Modern American Short Story PDF

Author: John Freeman

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2022-05-03

Total Pages: 497

ISBN-13: 1984877828

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A selection of the best and most representative contemporary American short fiction from 1970 to 2020, including such authors as Ursula K. LeGuin, Toni Cade Bambara, Jhumpa Lahiri, Sandra Cisneros, and Ted Chiang, hand-selected by celebrated editor and anthologist John Freeman In the past fifty years, the American short story has changed dramatically. New voices, forms, and mixtures of styles have brought this unique genre a thrilling burst of energy. The Penguin Book of the Modern American Short Story celebrates this avalanche of talent. This rich anthology begins in 1970 and brings together a half century of powerful American short stories from all genres, including—for the first time in a collection of this scale—science fiction, horror, and fantasy, placing writers such as Ursula K. Le Guin, Ken Liu, and Stephen King next to some beloved greats of the literary form: Raymond Carver, Grace Paley, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Denis Johnson. Culling widely, John Freeman, the former editor of Granta and now editor of his own literary annual, brings forward some astonishing work to be regarded in a new light. Often overlooked tales by Dorothy Allison, Percival Everett, and Charles Johnson will recast the shape and texture of today’s enlarging atmosphere of literary dialogue. Stories by Lauren Groff and Ted Chiang raise the specter of engagement in ecocidal times. Short tales by Tobias Wolff, George Saunders, and Lydia Davis rub shoulders with near novellas by Susan Sontag and Andrew Holleran. This book will be a treasure trove for readers, writers, and teachers alike.

Hard to Be Good

Hard to Be Good PDF

Author: Bill Barich

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 1999-10

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 0374526273

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The first short story collection from the acclaimed non-fiction writer contains eight stories, six of which were originally published in the New Yorker. From a mildly troubled adolescent who moves from innocence to experience over the course of a summer with his estranged mother ("Hard to Be Good") to a former rock musician protecting himself against the bitterness of a failed romance ("Too Much Elecrticity"), Barich treats his characters with loving empathy and gentle humor. His eye for the specific and the delightful ease of his prose style allow him to find the extraordinary in the lives of ordinary Americans.

The Best American Short Stories of the Century

The Best American Short Stories of the Century PDF

Author: John Updike

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 868

ISBN-13: 9780395843673

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Including one new story and an Index by author of every story that has ever appeared in the series, this new volume offers a "spectacular tapestry of fictional achievement" ("Entertainment Weekly").

The Stories of John Cheever

The Stories of John Cheever PDF

Author: John Cheever

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2011-04-20

Total Pages: 1093

ISBN-13: 0307743985

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PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A seminal collection from one of the true masters of the short story. Spanning the duration of Cheever’s long and distinguished career, these sixty-one stories chronicle and encapsulate the lives of what has been called “the greatest generation.” From the early wonder and disillusionment of city life in “The Enormous Radio” to the surprising discoveries and common mysteries of suburbia in “The Housebreaker of Shady Hill” and “The Swimmer,” these are tales that have helped define the form. Featuring a preface by the Pulizter Prize-winning author, The Stories of John Cheever brings together some of the finest short stories ever written. "Cheever’s crowning achievement is the ability to be simultaneously generous and cynical, to see that the absurd and the profound can reside in the same moment, and to acknowledge both at the detriment of neither." —The Guardian

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