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Alan Bray
Sep 1, 20223 min
We Have The Balenciaga
Let’s continue our exploration of the work of Mavis Gallant, in particular her 1963 story, The Ice Wagon Coming Down The Street. Okay....
Alan Bray
Aug 25, 20224 min
The Ice Wagon Coming Down The Street - Fun With Metaphor
“Now that they were out of world affairs and back where they started, Peter Frazier’s wife says, “Everybody else did well in the...
Alan Bray
Aug 18, 20224 min
The Resurgence Of The Implied Author
This week, let’s examine the style of Mavis Gallant’s short story, “Voices Lost In Snow.” Style is the way an author writes a story; it...
Alan Bray
Aug 11, 20223 min
When Is Now? - Voices Lost In Snow
We’ve noted the intriguing structure in Mavis Gallant’s Voices Lost In Snow, how the story contains an apparently autobiographical...
Alan Bray
Aug 4, 20223 min
Dad Rehabilitated - Voices Lost In Snow
Last week, I began a look at Mavis Gallant’s Voices Lost in Snow, remarking on how the theme of the story is that parents may be...
Alan Bray
Jul 28, 20224 min
Voices Lost In Snow
This week, a new story, a short story, Mavis Gallant’s Voices Lost In Snow, first published in the New Yorker in March of 1976. It is...
Alan Bray
Jul 21, 20225 min
Are You A Woman Or A Tree?
A lot of contemporary fiction can be viewed as a confluence of plot and character. An important concept is the character arc—the...
Alan Bray
Jul 14, 20224 min
The Game - Primeval and Other Times
A strong thread in the episodic stream of threads in Primeval and Other Times concerns Squire Popielski and the Game. In mid-life, the...
Alan Bray
Jul 7, 20223 min
I Am, I Said - Primeval and Other Times
The title—Primeval and Other Times—refers to a central concept in fiction, time, although the word can have more than one meaning. Each...
Alan Bray
Jun 30, 20225 min
Primeval And Other Times
This week, a new story, Olga Tokarchuk’s 1996 Primeval and Other Times, originally written in Polish and translated to English by Antonia...
Alan Bray
Jun 23, 20223 min
What A Coincidence Bumping Into You Like This - Station Eleven
Coincidence plays a significant role in Station Eleven. We’ve talked about coincidence before in regard to other novels—let’s plunge in...
Alan Bray
Jun 16, 20224 min
Once More Into The Abyss
Last time, I said that the Dr. Eleven graphic comic, created by Miranda, is so central to Station Eleven that it deserves its own post....
Alan Bray
Jun 9, 20224 min
Science Fiction? - Station Eleven
Narratives are a balance of mimetic, thematic, and synthetic threads. Mimetic threads are those that present convincing characters and...