The Complete Short Stories Of Thomas Wolfe

by Thomas Wolfe

Overview

The Complete Short Stories of Thomas Wolfe stands as the most comprehensive edition of Thomas Wolfe’s short fiction to date. Collected by Francis E. Skipp, these fifty-eight stories span the breadth of Thomas Wolfe’s career, from the uninhibited young writer meticulously describing the enchanting birth of springtime in “The Train and the City” to his mature, sober account of a terrible lynching in “The Child by Tiger.” Thirty-five of these stories have never before been collected, and “The Spanish Letter” is published here for the first time. Vital, compassionate, remarkably attuned to character, scene, and social context, The Complete Short Stories of Thomas Wolfe represents the last work we have from the author of Look Homeward, Angel, who was considered the most promising writer of his generation (The New York Times).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780020408918
Publisher:	Scribner
Publication date:	05/01/1989
Pages:	656
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.70(d)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Thomas Wolfe (1900–1938) was born in Asheville, North Carolina, and educated at the University of North Carolina and Harvard University. He taught English at New York University and traveled extensively in Europe and America. Wolfe created his legacy as a classic American novelist with Look Homeward, Angel; Of Time and the River; A Stone, a Leaf, a Door; and From Death to Morning.

Date of Birth:

October 3, 1900

Date of Death:

September 15, 1938

Place of Birth:

Asheville, North Carolina

Place of Death:

Baltimore, Maryland

Education:

B.A., University of North Carolina, 1920; M.A., Harvard University, 1922; further graduate study, 1923

Editorial Reviews

Next year will mark the 50th anniversary of Wolfe's death and a suitable occasion for a retrospective. Of the 58 stories in this volume, 35 have never before been collected, and one, ``The Spanish Letter,'' is published for the first time. Wolfe was not a short story writer; most of these fragments were plucked from his massive manuscripts, and many would be more appropriately classified as essay or memoir. ``The Spanish Letter,'' relating the author's visits to Nazi Germany, strongly condemns the ``poisoning'' of German culture and society by Hitler and his followers. It's a fine piece, but elsewhere Wolfe's well-known faults are conspicuously displayed. Even one of the best known of these stories, ``Only the Dead Know Brooklyn,'' now embarrasses with its inept attempt to reproduce a Brooklyn accent. The puerile ``Portrait of a Literary Critic'' and heavy-handed ``Justice Is Blind'' are equally disappointing. With all its flaws, this collection serves as a useful reminder of Wolfe's once-formidable presence and the wide influence he formerly exerted. (May 5)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

For some readers, Wolfe's stories may yield, as James Dickey observes in his introduction, an ``imaginative surrender to whatever a situation or a memory evokes . . . a sense of life submitted to and entered.'' Others, however, may seek refuge from the viscid lyricism of Wolfe's rhapsodies in glue. Very few of the 58 items collected here were ever intended as short stories. Most are materials intended for his novels. Some are passages excerpted by his editors for separate publication; others are merely excised remnants. Published here in order of appearance as short stories (a limited asset since no dates are given), their strength lies in a sensual evocation of place, their weaknesses in ethnic stereotypes, stilted dialogue, and, curiously, a shapelessness that offends less in his novels than it does here. Arthur Waldhorn, English Dept., City Coll., CUNY

Library Journal