Bright shards of someplace else
Subtitle: stories
By: by Monica McFawn
Series: Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction; Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction
Publisher: The University of Georgia Press
Published: 2014
Language: eng
Number of pages: 164
ISBN-13: 9780820346878
Subjects: American Short stories
Work titles: Short stories
Description: In the eleven kaleidoscopic stories that make up Bright Shards of Someplace Else, Monica McFawn traces the combustive, hilarious, and profound effects that occur when people misread the minds of others. The characters--an array of artists, scientists, songwriters, nannies, horse trainers, and poets--often try to pin down another's point of view, only to find that their own worldview is far from fixed. The characters in McFawn's stories long for and fear the encroachment of others. A young boy reduces his nanny's phone bill with a call, then convinces her he can solve her other problems. A man who works at a butterfly-release business becomes dangerously obsessed with solving a famous mathematical proof. A poetry professor finds himself entangled in the investigation of a murdered student. In the final story, an aging lyricist reconnects with a renowned singer to write an album in the Appalachian Mountains, only to be interrupted by the appearance of his drug-addicted son and a mythical story of recovery. By turns exuberant and philosophically adroit, Bright Shards of Someplace Else reminds us of both the limits of empathy and its absolute necessity. Our misreadings of others may be unavoidable, but they themselves can be things of beauty, charm, and connection.
Table of contents: title: Out of the mouths of babes --; title: Dead horse productions --; title: Key phrases --; title: Elegantly, in the least number of steps --; title: A country woman --; title: Line of questioning --; title: Improvisation --; title: The slide turned on end --; title: Ornament and crime --; title: Snippet and the rainbow bridge --; title: The Chautauqua sessions.