- Paperback
- Publisher: Faber Inc (31 Dec 1981)
- ISBN-10: 0571120458
- ISBN-13: 978-0571120451
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Synopsis
Twenty-one stories depict Southern families of the thirties and forties struggling to adjust to their changing world.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.8 out of 5 stars
5 reviews
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Master's Masterpieces: Southern, thoughtful, modern, homey
7 July 1998
By A Customer
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
This is my favorite compilation of short stories. The best are Dean of Men, At the Drugstore, Miss Leonora When Last Seen, and First Heat, which is the best fictional representation of the political mind ever written. The stories represent the many faces of the shifts in the Southern and American cultures that have troubled and consumed us for most of the century. To know thyself, know Peter Taylor.
24 of 33 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
Caveat emptor
8 Aug 2003
By A Customer
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
There's no denying that Taylor is a very good writer of short stories, but this selection will not do, for the serious reader, scholar, or intrigued novice. There is no documentation whatsoever! One does not know, for example, when these stories were written, where they were first published, who made the selection and on what basis. The last complaint is made even more egregious by the misleading title: this book does not "collect" all of Taylor's stories. Certainly, a preface or introduction would have been helpful. And what's with the photo of a southern plantation on the cover? These stories are set in a post-bellum, mostly urban South. Peter Taylor deserves better than this shoddy, sloppy presentation. So do his readers.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A splendid introduction to Taylor's fiction.
25 April 2010
By Miles D. Moore
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I came shamefully late to the short stories of Peter Taylor, after years of hearing the praise of friends for Taylor's work and reading countless critical encomiums. A lot of reviewers on this page complain that this volume of collected stories doesn't contain one or more of their favorite Taylor stories (even though the back cover plainly states that this represents only the work Taylor published from 1940 to 1969, whereas he lived until 1994). Personally, I think this book is a wonderful introduction to Taylor's stories, and it whets my appetite to explore his work further.
The name of Chekhov is cited too often to praise the short-story writers who came after him, but Taylor is one of the very few who merits the comparison (the Canadian Alice Munro is another). Taylor has a remarkable ability to capture the nuances of human nature--particularly those which cause people to misunderstand each other completely--and record them in impeccably pellucid prose. His particular territory as a writer is the upper South in the days between the Depression and the Civil Rights Act, and he makes it as vivid as any in the history of American fiction. "Reservations" is a funny, bittersweet tale of a couple on their honeymoon, their wedding night foreshadowing the entire future path of their marriage. The title character of "The Fancy Woman" sets herself up for myriad humiliations as she clings to the hopeless expectation that her wealthy lover will marry her. "1939" depicts two college boys whose dreams of romance and literary glory come crashing down during one Thanksgiving weekend. Interspersed between these stories are the marvelous depictions of Southern culture in flux, including "A Wife of Nashville," "What You Hear From 'Em?" "Cookie," and "Venus, Cupid, Folly, and Time." This isn't the only book by Peter Taylor you'll ever need, but to those just coming to his work, it's a revelation.
The name of Chekhov is cited too often to praise the short-story writers who came after him, but Taylor is one of the very few who merits the comparison (the Canadian Alice Munro is another). Taylor has a remarkable ability to capture the nuances of human nature--particularly those which cause people to misunderstand each other completely--and record them in impeccably pellucid prose. His particular territory as a writer is the upper South in the days between the Depression and the Civil Rights Act, and he makes it as vivid as any in the history of American fiction. "Reservations" is a funny, bittersweet tale of a couple on their honeymoon, their wedding night foreshadowing the entire future path of their marriage. The title character of "The Fancy Woman" sets herself up for myriad humiliations as she clings to the hopeless expectation that her wealthy lover will marry her. "1939" depicts two college boys whose dreams of romance and literary glory come crashing down during one Thanksgiving weekend. Interspersed between these stories are the marvelous depictions of Southern culture in flux, including "A Wife of Nashville," "What You Hear From 'Em?" "Cookie," and "Venus, Cupid, Folly, and Time." This isn't the only book by Peter Taylor you'll ever need, but to those just coming to his work, it's a revelation.
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3.8 out of 5 stars
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