Research Catalog

Title

The stories of Frederick Busch / edited and with an introduction by Elizabeth Strout.

Author

Busch, Frederick, 1941-2006

Publication

New York : W.W. Norton & Company, [2014]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Additional Authors

Strout, Elizabeth

Description

viii, 493 pages; 25 cm

Summary

A contemporary of Ann Beattie and Tobias Wolff, Frederick Busch was a master craftsman of the form; his subjects were single-event moments in so-called ordinary life. The stories in this volume, selected by Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout, are tales of families trying to heal their wounds, save their marriages, and rescue their children. In "Ralph the Duck," a security guard struggles to hang on to his marriage. In "Name the Name," a traveling teacher attends to students outside the school, including his own son, locked in a country jail. In Busch's work, we are reminded that we have no idea what goes on behind closed doors or in the mind of another. In the words of Raymond Carver, "With astonishing felicity of detail, Busch presents us with a world where real things are at stake--and sometimes, as in the real world, everything is risked." From his first volume, Hardwater Country (1974), to his most recent, Rescue Missions (2006), this volume selects thirty stories from an "American master" (Dan Cryer, Newsday), showcasing a body of work that is sure to shape American fiction for generations to come.

Uniform Title

Short stories. Selections

Alternative Title

Short stories.

Subjects

• Short stories
• Amerikanisches Englisch
• Kurzgeschichte
• Short stories, American

Genre/Form

Short stories

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Hardwater country (1974, 1979). Widow water -- The lesson of the Hôtel Lotti -- Family circle -- What you might as well call love -- Too late American boyhood blues (1984). The settlement of Mars -- Rise and fall -- Absent friends (1985). Ralph the Duck -- Orbits -- Naked -- Dog song -- Reruns -- Name the name -- To the hoop -- The children in the woods (1994). Dream abuse -- The page -- Don't tell anyone (2000). Heads -- Bob's your uncle -- Joy of cooking -- The Ninth, in e minor -- Vespers -- Timberline -- Still the same old story -- Are we pleasing you tonight? -- The baby in the box -- Domicile -- Rescue missions (2006). Good to go -- The small salvation -- The bottom of the glass -- Metal fatigue -- Patrols.

ISBN

• 9780393239546 (hbk.)
• 0393239543 (hbk.)

LCCN

^^2013041070

OCLC

829738427

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library