Patchwork
Subtitle: a Bobbie Ann Mason reader
By: introduction by George Saunders
Contributors: Saunders, George, 1958- writer of introduction
Published: 2018
Language: eng
Number of pages: 487
ISBN-13: 9780813175454
Subjects: American fiction; American literature
Work titles: Works
Description: "Bobbie Ann Mason burst onto the American literary scene during a renaissance of short fiction that Raymond Carver called a 'literary phenomenon.' Anne Tyler hailed Mason as 'a full-fledged master of the short story.' Mason's work, charged with a spirit of exploration, garnered both popular and critical acclaim. This reader collects outstanding examples of Mason's award-winning work from throughout her writing career and provides a unique look at the development of one of the country's finest writers. Patchwork contains short stories first published in the New Yorker and other leading periodicals; chapters from Mason's acclaimed novels, including In Country, An Atomic Romance, and The Girl in the Blue Beret; and riveting excerpts from Mason's eclectic nonfiction. Some examples of Mason's recent explorations in flash fiction appear here in print for the first time. Mason's writing glows with a nuanced understanding of the struggles and pathos of American life in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. George Saunders writes in his introduction, "Bobbie Ann Mason is a strange and beautiful writer. . . . Her stories exist to gently touch on, and praise, even mourn, what it feels like to be alive in this moment." Patchwork conveys Mason's extraordinary talent and range as a writer"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 483-486).
Table of contents: title: Preface  -- Jonathan Allison; title: Introduction  -- George Saunders; title: A note to the reader about this reader  -- Bobbie Ann Mason; title: Offerings --; title: Shiloh --; title: Third Monday --; title: From In Country --; title: An appreciation of Tim O'Brien's The things they carried --; title: Big Bertha Stories --; title: Love life --; title: Coyotes --; title: Bumblebees --; title: From The girl sleuth --; title: Reaching the stars: my life as a fifties groupie --; title: Reading between the lines --; title: From Elvis Presley --; title: "The Family Farm" from Clear Springs: A memoir --; title: "The Pond" From Clear Springs: A memoir --; title: Nancy Culpepper --; title: The prelude --; title: Memphis --; title: Midnight Magic --; title: Wish --; title: La Bamba Hot line --; title: Sheep down under --; title: Hot colors --; title: Sanctuary --; title: All shook up --; title: Hear my song --; title: Terms of office --; title: From Feather Crowns --; title: The universe of Ada --; title: Introduction to Mark Twain's The American Claimant, 2004 edition --; title: Fallout --; title: From An atomic romance --; title: With jazz --; title: Charger --; title: From The girl in the blue beret --; title: The real girl in the blue beret --; title: Whale love  -- with Meg Pokrass; title: Talking through hats  -- with Meg Pokrass; title: Quinceañera --; title: The Horsehair Ball Gown --; title: Corn-dog --; title: The canyon where the coyotes live --; title: Car wash --; title: Cumberbatch --; title: The girl in purple --; title: State Pen --; title: Falling --; title: Interview by Craig Gholson, Bomb magazine, 1989 --; title: Interview by Jo Sapp and Evelyn Somers, the Missouri Review, 1997 --; title: Interview by Candela Delgado Marin, Transatlantica, 2015 --; title: Interview by Joseph Mackin, 2paragraphs.com.