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Title: Paris Stories (New York Review Books Classics) by Mavis Gallant, Michael Ondaatje ISBN: 1-59017-022-9 Publisher: New York Review of Books Pub. Date: November, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (3 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Varieties of Exile
Comment: I was delighted to see that Mavis Gallant is back in print. I have loved her work for many years, and always eager to buy the NYer when one of her stories was featured. The only drawback to much of her writing (not present in any of the stories in this collection, though) is that much of what she writes are satirical sketches of French intellectual or expatriate life (for example, the "Grippes and Poche" stories in Paris Stories) which would be totally lost on people who have not visited or lived there. The best of her stories are however profound meditations on loneliness and rootlessness. In this I believe she is an archtypal modern writer who can describe the almost universal experience of being an immigrant, refugee, or escapee from some previous stultifying existence. I think this is why so many people respond to her writing. She is, of course, also a master prose stylist. I urge any aspiring fiction writers to read Mavis Gallant. Contrary to what the above reviewer quoted, I think she can be very instructive and inspiring.
Rating: 5
Summary: Paris Stories
Comment: I was delighted to see that Mavis Gallant is back in print. I have loved her work for many years, and always eager to buy the NYer when one of her stories was featured. The only drawback to much of her writing (not present in any of the stories in this collection, though) is that much of what she writes are satirical sketches of French intellectual or expatriate life (for example, the "Grippes and Poche" stories) which would be totally lost on people who have not visited or lived there. The best of her stories are however profound meditations on loneliness and rootlessness. In this I believe she is an archtypal modern writer who can describe the almost universal experience of being an immigrant, refugee, or escapee from some previous stultifying existence. I think this is why so many people respond to her writing. She is, of course, also a master prose stylist. I urge any aspiring fiction writers to read Mavis Gallant. Contrary to what the above reviewer quoted, I think she can be very instructive and inspiring.
Rating: 5
Summary: A master class in short story writing
Comment: I read this book based on an excellent review of it (a good primer for Mavis Gallant newbies, btw) in the April (or May?) Harper's (a great store room for hidden gems.) I had never heard of Ms. Galant before I read the review and her book, but after reading Paris Stories, all I gotta say is, Where the hell have I been since she's been writing for the past 30+ years? Actually I'm only 30, but still. Her writing is magical on so many levels that I'll only mention a couple of them: the consistency and the sublime richness of her prose - it's like really rich fudge, a phrase or two of one of the 15+ stories is often enough for one sitting; the hauntingly subtle rendering of European life; the authority and command of her voice - there is no doubt in my mind that Mavis Gallant was put on this earth to write fiction as her job, and she writes like she knows it. I love that.
2 recommendations: read Michael Ondaajte's intro (in it he mentions that he knows other writers who intentionally refrain from reading Mavis Gallant when they are writing themselves, so they don't lose confidence in themselves); read the afterward, written by the auther herself (in it she makes the wise suggestion to the reader NOT read the stories in the book back to back, but to take one's time and savor every morsal - I concur. Read this book very slowly pausing to read other stuff perhaps - you don't want to miss a word, it's that good.)
Lovers of sublime artwork in literature, read Mavis Gallant. I guarantee you will not be disappointed. I can't wait for Volume 2 to come out this fall!
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Title: Varieties of Exile by Mavis Gallant, Russel Banks ISBN: 1590170601 Publisher: New York Review of Books Pub. Date: 10 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Paris In Mind by Jennifer Lee ISBN: 1400031028 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 08 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong: Why We Love France but Not the French by Jean-Benoit Nadeau, Julie Barlow ISBN: 1402200455 Publisher: Sourcebooks Trade Pub. Date: May, 2003 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Almost French: Love and a New Life in Paris by Sarah Turnbull ISBN: 1592400388 Publisher: Gotham Books Pub. Date: August, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: Our Paris: Sketches from Memory by Edmund White, Hubert Sorin ISBN: 0060085924 Publisher: Ecco Pub. Date: 30 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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