You Will Never See Any God: Stories

by Ervin D. Krause, Timothy Schaffert (Editor)

Overview

A farmer perishing under a fallen tractor makes a last stab at philosophizing: "There was nothing dead that was ever beautiful." It is a sentiment belied not only by the strange beauty in his story but also in the rough lives and deaths, small and large, that fill these haunting tales. Pulp-fiction grim and gritty but with the rhythm and resonance of classic folklore, these stories take place in a world of shadowy figures and childhood fears, in a countryside peopled by witches and skinflints, by men and women mercilessly unforgiving of one another's trespasses, and in nights prowled by wolves and scrutinized by an "agonized and lamenting" moon. Ervin D. Krause's characters pontificate in saloons, condemning the morals of others as they slowly get sloshed; they have affairs in old cars on winter nights; they traffic in gossip, terrorize their neighbors, steal, hunt, and spy.

This collection includes award-winning stories like "The Snake" and "The Quick and the Dead" as well as the previously unpublished "Anniversary," which stirred a national controversy when it was censored by the University of Nebraska and barred from appearing in Prairie Schooner. Krause's portrayal of the matter-of-fact cruelty and hopeful fragility of humanity is a critical addition to the canon of twentieth-century American literature.

Nebraska-born Ervin D. Krause's (1931-70) stories have appeared in literary magazines and two O. Henry Prize Stories anthologies. Timothy Schaffert's books include The Swan Gondola.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780803249769
Publisher:	UNP - Bison Books
Publication date:	03/01/2014
Pages:	180
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.42(d)

About the Author

Nebraska-born Ervin D. Krause’s (1931–70) stories have appeared in literary magazines and two O. Henry Prize Stories anthologies. Timothy Schaffert’s books include The Swan Gondola.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Spring Flood
The Right Hand
The Shooters
Old Schwier
Anniversary
The Metal Sky
The Quick and the Dead
The Witch
The Snake

Editorial Reviews

"Krause's portrayal of the matter-of-fact cruelty and hopeful fragility of humanity is a critical addition to the canon of 20th-century American literature."—Nebraska Magazine

Nebraska Magazine

“Although there is not a single ghoul or specter to be found in the fiction of Ervin Krause, these sad, troubling stories will haunt you. He anatomized every part of us: our wicked wishes, our shameful fears, and our tragic desires.”—Owen King, author of Double Feature: A Novel

Owen King

Krause is a brilliant and important writer without a book. His death at an early age cut short what surely would have been an important literary career. . . . You Will Never See Any God is both an act of rescue and a critical consideration of a body of work.”—Hilda Raz, author of What Happens and former editor of Prairie Schooner

Hilda Raz