News from the World: Stories and Essays

by Paula Fox

Overview

“Not only can Fox see, she can hear, she can feel.”—Zadie Smith, Harper’s

This gathering of Paula Fox’s short work spans her illustrious career, from 1965 to the present including perfectly turned stories; pointed, engaging essays; and raw yet eloquent memoir.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393342345
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	06/18/2012
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Paula Fox (1923—2017) was the author of Desperate Characters, The Widow’s Children, A Servant’s Tale, The God of Nightmares, Poor George, The Western Coast, and Borrowed Finery: A Memoir, among other books.

Hometown:

Brooklyn, New York

Date of Birth:

April 22, 1923

Place of Birth:

New York, New York

Education:

Attended Columbia University

Editorial Reviews

What makes News from the World more than the sum of its parts is Fox’s voice: astringent (but never cold), unsentimental (but never pitiless), exasperated (but never angry).”

David Leavitt - New York Times

Leaves the reader with a bolstering sense of having been enriched by a view of the world at once rigorously thoughtful and deeply felt.

The Atlantic

Fox’s style is jagged, elliptical at times and even rough. In fact it has a unique expressiveness; an industrial, not a jeweler’s diamond, and used for cutting,
not display.

Richard Eder - Boston Globe

The unfettered voice found in Fox’s wide-ranging personal essays [lingers] in the memory.

Megan O'Grady - Vogue

What makes News from the World more than the sum of its parts is Fox’s voice:
astringent (but never cold), unsentimental (but never pitiless), exasperated
(but never angry).— David Leavitt

New York Times

Fox’s style is jagged, elliptical at times and even rough. In fact it has a unique expressiveness; an industrial, not a jeweler’s diamond, and used for cutting,
not display.— Richard Eder

Boston Globe

The unfettered voice found in Fox’s wide-ranging personal essays [lingers] in the memory.— Megan O'Grady

Vogue

What makes News From the World more than the sum of its parts is Fox's voice: astringent (but never cold), unsentimental (but never pitiless), exasperated (but never angry).
—The New York Times

David Leavitt

Though the original publication dates of the work compiled for this collection span from 1965 to 2010, many of the personal narratives included cover an even wider swath of Fox's life, making for a delightful read. An insightful and sturdy writer, Fox (Desperate Characters) remains humble, curious, and thoroughly likable across decades and genres. While the story "The Broad Estates of Death," published in Harper's in 2004, will be wonderfully familiar to many readers, her essays often seem even more original and telling. Particularly poignant is "Way Down Yonder," in which Fox recalls moving to New Orleans in 1940 and the writer couple from whom she rented a room. In it, we see the city, the segregation, and the early inklings of Fox's own life of letters. Equally captivating is the remembrance of a gay friend whom Fox met while she was a single mother in Manhattan, working as a teacher. With such a rich life history from which to draw, Fox is both wholly singular in her perspective and as knowable and trustworthy as a favorite neighbor. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

"Paula Fox is one of our greatest writers. Her prose is a model of ruthless, gorgeous efficiency and her mind is so unnervingly alert to the messy contradictions that come with being human. These essays and stories will delight and inspire anyone who cares about literature, storytelling, and truth itself."

Tom Bissell

"Paula Fox's essays and short stories all display a spare, marvelous luminosity. The author's irreducible voice—it was the same with Virginia Woolf—can always be heard, whatever the genre."

Thomas Mallon