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Over the past several weeks, we’ve been considering some different aspects of Susan Minot’s fine novel, Evening . Today, I’d like to call...

A major distinction in literary works is whether a story’s plot is linear or circular. A linear plot expresses cause and effect—A leads...

Good day! Let’s get started. (chairs scraping on a dry floor, murmurs from the audience, coughing) Mr. Speaker! Your exaltedness! Call...

Evening uses several styles of narration to show different experiences of time. The chapter entitled A Pale Bay begins: She kept the...

This week, dear friends, we begin an exploration of a new book, Susan Minot’s 1998 novel, Evening . If one reads back of the book blurbs...

As we read and re-read Frederick Busch’s The Night Inspector , we may ask ourselves, what is the book’s major theme, my bro? (This is...

This week, ladies and gentlemen, a new one…drumroll…Lorrie Moore’s 1994 novel, Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? What? ‘Kay, I’m not sure...

We have to talk about the dog. A central part of James Salter’s My Lord You concerns a large dog who appears in many scenes, shadowing...

One of the characteristics of James Salter’s writing style is the way time makes big leaps, a feature that is especially evident in his...

Today, a new one, James Salter’s 1994 short story My Lord You. The story was originally published in the September, 1994 issue of Esquire...

Last time, we looked at the (long) opening scene of William Trevor’s A Bit On the Side. Let’s continue. Onward! A key element to the...

This week, the adventure continues with William Trevor’s 2004 short story A Bit On the Side, published as part of the story collection of...

First, here's a no doubt surprising but at the same time evident deviation. My usual habit is to publish a new installment of this blog...

‘Kay, during our time discussing Elizabeth’s Strout’s Anything Is Possible, I know that you’ve been itching to suggest that the structure...

Let’s continue our exploration of Elizabeth Strout’s Anything Is Possible. Last time, we began looking at a prime structural feature of...

Last time, we began discussing Elizabeth Strout’s Anything Is Possible, focusing on how the nine stories are linked by theme and...

This week, a new one, Elizabeth Strout’s 2017 book Anything Is Possible. Dena recommended Elizabeth Strout to me; I’ve read Olive...

First, by way of apology, sorry that I didn’t publish a post yesterday as has been my habit for more than two years. Everything is all...

This week, a new one, Jhumpa Lahiri’s 1999 short story, The Interpreter of Maladies. It was originally published in Agni magazine and...

This week, I’d like to begin with an admission of error—no, I’m not joking. As Baby’s father says to Johnny in Dirty Dancing, “When I’m...