The Collected Stories

Oct 27, 2024 6:32 AM

Author:Paul Theroux

'No one ever sees me write. One of the triumphs of fiction is that it is created in the dark. It leaves my house in a plain wrapper, with no bloodstains. Unlike me, my stories are whole and indestructible.' In The Collected Stories, Paul Theroux's canvas stretches from London to South-East Asia, from Boston to Paris, from Africa to Eastern Europe and from Moscow to the tropics in this vibrant collection.

Full of suspense and the unexpected, these stories by the acclaimed author of The Old Patagonian Express and Dark Star Safari delve into the worlds of a vast spectrum of characters and display throughout a flair that shows Theroux to be a master of the form.

Praise for Paul Theroux:

'A shimmering, kaleidoscopic and very entertaining collection' Sunday Telegraph

'You close the book feeling you have read a single big narrative rather than a series of short ones . . . As a short-story writer, he makes a terrific novelist' Sunday Times

'Theroux willingly explores the blighted territory of a failing marriage; the tangled jungle of a mad poet's secret anti-Semitism; the belated sexual guilt of a Hindu . . . A book of many and varied pleasures; to read it is to feel alert, curious, adventurous' Observer

'Paul Theroux's writing is impeccable and thoughtfully entertaining . . . his artistry is individual, serene, yet also grainy with fierce truths' The Times

'One needs energy to keep up with the extraordinary productive restlessness of Paul Theroux . . . [He is] the most gifted, most prodigal writer of his generation' Jonathan Raban

Paul Theroux was born in Medford, Massachusetts in 1941 and published his first novel, Waldo, in 1967. His subsequent novels include The Family Arsenal, Picture Palace, The Mosquito Coast, O-Zone, Millroy the Magician, My Secret History, My Other Life, and, most recently, A Dead Hand. His highly acclaimed travel books include Riding the Iron Rooster, The Great Railway Bazaar, The Old Patagonian Express, Fresh Air Fiend, and Ghost Train to the Eastern Star. He divides his time between Cape Cod and the Hawaiian Islands.

Reviews

Unnerving bedtime stories, subtle, proficient, hair-raising and done to a turn

—— San Francisco Chronicle

Roald Dahl is one of the few writers I know whose work can accurately be described as addictive

—— Irish Times

[A Christmas Carol is] a story which, perhaps more than any other, sums up the spirit of the British Christmas

—— Sunday Telegraph

Charles Dickens' Christmas stories showed his readers all the magical trappings of the season

—— Sunday Express

A slight sense of withholding gives Munro's prose its gracefulness, and allows intimacy without danger. After many years, many collections and many wonderful stories, readers may feel they know everything about Alice Munro, especially as so many of her characters lead lives similar to her own. In fact, we know very little about her. This is one of the reasons readers become dizzy with love for Munro. This other reason is that she is so damn good

—— Anne Enright , Guardian

Alice Munro is one of our greatest living writers, and this new collection of stories…is essential reading for anyone who cares about literature, storytelling and language, or who savours the deep enjoyment of a writer at the height of her powers…These stories remind us of the world Munro was born into…And they remind us, therefore, how lucky we are to have Munro herself and her subtle, intelligent and true work

—— Naomi Alderman , Financial Times

Told with magnificent understatement

—— Christina Appleyard , Daily Mail

Deceptively artless...Munro has no need for tricks; there is nothing strange. Just everyday life, in all its plain, abundant richness and sorrow

—— Claire Allfree , Metro

Alice Munro…can create a whole world in a short story – these stories are only 20 or 30 pages long, but they live in the mind like novels… These are stories about the stories we tell ourselves, and they are first rate

—— Evening Standard

A quiet revelation... Dear Life is full of remarkable moments in ordinary lives and is imbued with an aching sadness

—— Laurie Sansom , Herald

In this superb collection of short stories, the acclaimed Canadian writer shows repeatedly how apparently ordinary lives can be infused with dramatic intensity

—— Mail on Sunday

A collection of truly beautiful short stories, perfectly crafted in a way that leaves no wanting feeling… Profound, poignant and undeniably powerful, this truly is the short story at its finest

—— The Bookbag

A writer who has refined her remarkable talents over a long lifetime, a writer whose mastery of the craft has reached a level that her nickname, "Canada's Chekhov" feels emptied of all hyperbole… Beautifully written and ambitious in terms of form

—— Billy O'Callaghan , Irish Examiner

[Munro] can create a whole world in a short story... These are stories about the stories we tell ourselves, and they are first rate

—— William Leith , Scotsman

[Munro] really is the short story writer to beat... Munro has always been fascinated by those moments that tilt our world on its axis, as though the world really does turn on a kiss, but her brilliance lies in the psychological way that she convinces us of that fact

—— Lesley McDowell , Independent on Sunday

In crystalline prose, she illuminates her characters' hopes and longings

—— Rebecca Rose , Financial Times

[Munro] has been compared to Chekhov and I'm only being slightly tongue in cheek when I say that the honour is entirely his. Dear Life is comprised of 13 rich and startling stories, a must read

—— Niamh Boyce , Irish Independent

I haven’t even finished all of Dear Life, but Alice Munro’s stories have lived with me for such a long time and with such quiet passion that I’m barely capable of explaining why

—— Shahidha Bari , Times Higher Education

[Munro’s] talent is formidable but she has never been self-seeking: her short stories have a subtle, covert brilliance

—— Kate Kellaway , Observer

These stories won’t give you easy moral comfort, but will stretch you. They’re moral in that they name things as they are

—— Father Ronald Rolheiser , Catholic Herald

Dear Life is a dazzling portrait of ordinary existence which illustrates how seemingly insignificant meetings and moments can have a monumental impact

—— Upcoming

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