William Maxwell: Early Novels and Stories
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.98 (501 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 159853016X |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 920 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2015-04-20 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
. His collected edition of William Maxwell's Þction, published to mark the writer's centenary, will be completed by a second volume, Later Novels and Stories, in fall 2008. CHRISTOPHER CARDUFF, editor, is a consulting editor at The Library of America
A valued and very strongly recommended addition Midwest Book Review The late William Maxwell (1908-2000) served for forty years as an editor at 'The New Yorker' magazine. An Illinois-boarn realist whose literary works provided his readers with 'windows' into small-town midwestern family life of the 1910 and 1920s, Maxwell's own mastery of American prose style was (and remains) unsurpassed by any of his contemporary including Eudora Welty, J. D. Slainger, John Updike, and Alice Munro (all of whom he was a first reader of their fiction in his professional capacity with 'The New Yorker'). Now his four early novels (Bright Cen. One of Our Great Writers, Collected The first book of Maxwell's I read, in my late teens, was "So Long, See You Tomorrow" [in the second volume of this series,, "Later Novels"]. It was so great, so moving, that I couldn't imagine at that time ever reading anything else by this author. Fortunately I went exploring eventually. "The Folded Leaf" and "Time Will Darken It" [in this volume] should be on any reader's shelf or in their mind. I recommend this volume of Maxwell's early novels and stories as well as the second volume of his later works. Money well spent on an American writer whose work. christopher wyecross said A well-kept secret. When someone asks me who or what I'm reading these days my response is usually William Maxwell. The next question is "Who?" I then go on to tell them about a writer who has entered my life like a whirlwind, and I tell them about this author. Perhaps I am the one who has not caught up with "A well-kept secret" according to christopher wyecross. When someone asks me who or what I'm reading these days my response is usually William Maxwell. The next question is "Who?" I then go on to tell them about a writer who has entered my life like a whirlwind, and I tell them about this author. Perhaps I am the one who has not caught up with 20th century fiction and yet I have read a plethora of writers in that era. My only excuse is that Maxwell lived from 1908 to 2000 and during his life time his actual fictional output was six novels (one of them a short one) and a number of short stories. What then was he. 0th century fiction and yet I have read a plethora of writers in that era. My only excuse is that Maxwell lived from 1908 to "A well-kept secret" according to christopher wyecross. When someone asks me who or what I'm reading these days my response is usually William Maxwell. The next question is "Who?" I then go on to tell them about a writer who has entered my life like a whirlwind, and I tell them about this author. Perhaps I am the one who has not caught up with 20th century fiction and yet I have read a plethora of writers in that era. My only excuse is that Maxwell lived from 1908 to 2000 and during his life time his actual fictional output was six novels (one of them a short one) and a number of short stories. What then was he. 000 and during his life time his actual fictional output was six novels (one of them a short one) and a number of short stories. What then was he
The Natural History of home All there, waiting for me to learn my trade and recognize instinctively what would make a story." With his second book, "They Came Like Swallows" (1937), Maxwell found his signature subject matter-the fragility of human happiness-as well as his voice, a quiet, cadenced Midwestern voice that John Updike has called one of the wisest and kindest in American ?ction. Together with these major works, this Library of America edition of Maxwell's early ?ction collects his lighthearted ?rst novel, "Bright Center of Heaven" (1934), out of print for nearly 70 years, and nine masterly short stories. Set against the background of the Spanish ?u epidemic of 1918, this short novel presents the loving character of Elizabeth Morison, a devoted wife and mother, through the eyes of those whom she is fated to leave decades before her time. My brothers. The look of things. "Time Will Darken It" (1948) is a drama of the mature: a good man's struggle to keep duty before desire and his family's needs before his own. Edmund Wilson described "The Folded Leaf" (1945) as "a quite unconventional study of adolescent relationships-between two boys, with a girl in the of?ng-in Chicago and in a Middle Western college: very much lived and very much seen." He praised this "drama of the immature" for the compassion Maxwell brings to his male protagonists, whose intensely felt, unarticulated bond is be
"I went back and reread the novels I had read before, together with "Time Will Darken It" and all the short stories I could find. I thought: If only I could go back and write again every single thing I have written." -Alice Munro . And I thought: So this is how it should be done