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Selected Stories
Selected Stories
Oct 27, 2024 6:25 AM

Author:D. H. Lawrence,Louise Welsh

Selected Stories

This collection of short stories traces D. H. Lawrence's development as a writer. His early tales often draw on personal experiences, as in 'Odour of Chrysanthemums', a work he described as 'full of my childhood's atmosphere', while the horror of the First World War haunts 'England, My England'. Later stories, such as 'Things', powerfully express his evolving ideas about the duality of our lives. With their complex characters, these stories illuminate emotional lives and, above all, illustrate Lawrence's passionate belief about the destructive forces in modern society and their effect on love.

With an Introduction by Louise Welsh and Notes by Sue Wilson

Reviews

None but those with a complete mastery of fiction can walk this line. William Trevor was not "an Irish Chekhov" or even "the Irish Chekhov". He was and will remain the Irish William Trevor

—— Julian Barnes , Guardian

10 stories bring a literary career that lasted more than half a century to a consummate conclusion

—— Peter Kemp , Sunday Times

William Trevor's prose runs as clear as water yet tastes like gin

—— Economist

Extraordinary stories from ordinary lives

—— The Times

One of the great contemporary chroniclers of the human condition, in all its pathos, comedy and strangeness. As a writer he looked at the world with an always surprised but never scandalised eye, and his writer's heart was with those awkward and obscurely damaged souls who cannot quite manage the business of everyday life - all of us, that is

—— John Banville , New Statesman

There are those rare, exceptional writers who are fortunate enough (like their readers) to burn bright and steady over many decades, expressing the same creative clarity at the end of their careers as they did at the beginning. William Trevor was one of those writers

—— LA Times

We honor him as the supreme master of his honest art

—— Cynthia Ozick

In the first few paragraphs of a story he could set an entire scene without seeming to, working on details, small moments, odd thoughts. As in the work of Alice Munro, there often seemed to be very little happening in his fiction, but then he was capable of offering the reader a sense of an immense drama

—— Colm Tóibín

His stories are formally beautiful and, at the same time, interested in the smallness of human lives. He was, as a writer, watchful, unsentimental, alert to frailty and malice. A master craftsman

—— Anne Enright

Trevor is a master of both language and storytelling

—— Hilary Mantel

He is one of the great short-story writers, at his best the equal of Chekhov

—— John Banville

The strength of all his writing was an unshowy perfection of style, through which he expressed his unerring instinct for fairness. His total lack of self-importance allowed him to express what was important in the world around him. He was one of the greatest writers about justice and suffering, disguised as an ordinary person

—— Bernard O’Donoghue

A beautiful writer... I would not have become a writer at all had I not discovered his work.

—— Yiyun Li

The man - the work - was brilliant, elegant, surprising, reliable, precise, stark, often sad, sometimes funny, shocking and even frightening

—— Roddy Doyle

There is no better short story writer in the English-speaking world

—— Wall Street Journal

Writers often get asked which authors they return to again and again, their comfort books if you will, the ones that make them remember why fiction matters. William Trevor, I have answered on countless occasions. His stories. Any of them

—— John Boyne

He is, I think, sui generis, and in his 12 collections (and 13 novels, and two novellas: an exhibition of near-Updikean energy), he has created a version of the short story that almost ignores the form's hundred or so years of intricate evolution. These stories stay in the mind long after they're finished because they're so solid, so deliberately shaped and directed so surely toward their solemn, harsh conclusions

—— William Boyd, reviewing Cheating at Canasta in the 'New York Times'

A posthumous collection of stories by the Irish writer reflects his formidable craft

—— Observer

What you might call Trevor's parting shots are as robustly vivid and potent, as wistful and emotionally rigorous, as his more youthful oeuvre

—— Herald

William Trevor, master of the short story, was at the top of his game in his final decade

—— Telegraph

William Trevor's short fiction was the stuff of legend

—— Event Magazine

Trevor's prose style is effortless, elegant and economical, but manages to contain the most hugely difficult feelings: jealousy, guilt and yearning regret

—— Daily Mail

An Irish writer, an international writer, a great writer. Put bluntly, he is revered by writers

—— Jhumpa Lahiri

Roupenian’s tales from the frontline of modern relationships are perfect for an alternative Valentine’s Day display.

—— Bookseller

A collection of short stories which cover the same murky waters of attraction as "Cat Person".

—— Olivia Ovenden , Harper's Bazaar, The books we can't wait to read in 2019

There is always some anxiety following such a short, steep rise to recognition, but in this collection Roupenian lives up to those high expectations. The stories are wonderfully varied in execution, from realist to surreal, staying fresh while circling one primary concern: how men and women relate to one another, and how often that relationship can go wrong.

—— Vanity Fair

[A] sharp, powerful and uncomfortable debut collection of stories[Roupenian] is always in narrative control.

—— Kathryn Maris , Times Literary Supplement

Abrasive, painfully aware accounts of relationships in turmoil… You know you want this collection.

—— Sarah Gilmartin , Irish Times

You Know You Want This seems to touch on conversations that the country has yet to have — often using horror and magical realism to illuminate the darker corners of our world.

—— Elisabeth Garber-Paul , Rolling Stone

In Look at Your Game, Girl and The Boy in the Pool, naïve female desire is so brilliantly and lushly evoked… [Biter] shows a flair for satire and comic timing… I look forward to Roupenian’s next book.

—— Nicole Flattery , Guardian Weekly

The best fiction leaves us thinking about it long after turning the last page, and with [Cat Person], author Kristen Roupenian established herself as a writer to watch. Her short-story collection, You Know You Want This, includes that story and others, all of which will have you talking about them long after finishing.

—— PopSugar

In her highly anticipated debut collection, the author behind the viral Cat Person story offers up a host of strange, fascinating, and downright delightful narratives you won't be able to stop talking about. Spanning a range of genres and topics, it is equal parts dark, uncomfortable, and funny.

—— Bustle

Readers who are looking for more uncomfortably realistic renderings of awkward romantic encounters won’t be disappointed, but this collection is so much more than that, offering an array of biting (sometimes literally!) looks at the ways our most hidden perversions manifest in our lives. It’s a razor-sharp, often ruthless, never less than relentless examination of the way we are now. Scary, right? But you know you want it.

—— NYLON

[You Know You Want This captures] the torturous and complicated justifications for untoward behaviour in the search for closeness and connection.

—— Eithne Farry , Daily Mail

What unites the collection is less her [Roupenian’s] gender politics than her interest in the way fantasies become distorted, disappointing, even dangerous when they approach reality… narrative twist[s] changes the direction of a story and leads it somewhere new. Roupenian’s desire to have her moral and reject it too could be said to put a twist on the twist.

—— Lauren Oyler , London Review of Books

Roupenian remains rooted in realism, she gives pause by exposing the sinister side of sexuality, and one looks forward to seeing what she might accomplish with the novel form.

—— Mia Levitin , Financial Times

Kristen Roupenian's debut short stories fulfil all expectations… she infuses mundane reality with a thrilling layer of menace.

—— Emily Rhodes , Spectator

One of the most anticipated story collections of the year.

—— Elle

Violence, cruelty or misunderstanding are never far away in these 12 stories, which are by turns, unsettling, ruthless and often funny.

—— UK Press Syndication

Walker’s laconic, Hemingway-esque prose style perfectly complements his low-key approach to his material: the matter-of-fact tone in which he recalls his most horrific experiences in Iraq makes them seem all the more horrible. It works equally well with deadpan humour.

—— Jake Kerridge , Sunday Times

Roupenian is a wizard of provocative, psychological fiction, exploring the dark side of the human psyche. Each of her short stories is terrifyingly relatable, making the reader fear something much more relevant than more supernatural horror stories.

—— The Mancunion

A fascinating and repugnant series of stories, all tremendous examples of what this unsung hero of a literary form can do.

—— Culture Calling

Roupenian’s wildly discomfiting new collection, You Know You Want This… is often wonderfully, if grotesquely, physical… This book isn’t bedtime reading.

—— Ruth Franklin , New York Review of Books

These are stories that make you feel fascinated but repelled, scared but delighted, revolted but aroused.

—— Glamour

You Know You Want This is an alarming but compelling book. Roupenian’s short stories, weaving together science fiction, confession and fantasy, are like infections spreading across the senses, blocking out everything except the compulsion to read on… Roupenian achieves something few other writers have: providing a balanced reflection on a very difficult subject.

—— Ella Whelan , Spiked

A new collection of stories that explores the complex - and often darkly funny - connections between gender, sex, and power across genres.

—— The Week, *Summer reads of 2019*
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