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What is the narrational style of Rachel Kushner’s The Flamethrowers? The first chapter begins in close third person and in simple past...

I'm delighted to say that my short story The Vaccination will be published in Narrative Magazine on December 12th. It's a tale of someone...

“Valera had fallen back from his squadron and was cutting the wires of another rider’s lamp.” So begins Rachel Kushner’s 2013 novel The...

In Amongst Women, John McGahern—like any writer—tells the story using a particular narrational style. Let’s consider the opening...

Who am I? That’s a question that self-reflective people ask themselves again and again as they move through life. The answer is more than...

Immediately after the section in Amongst Women that depicts the last meeting between Moran and McQuaid, there is a paragraph break. Then...

Last week, we started thinking about the structure of Amongst Women—the way it establishes a present time at the beginning when Michael...

This week, a new story, best beloved, Irishman John McGahern’s 1990 novel, Amongst Women. Great choice! Yay! Thank you. John McGahern is...

On the surface, Sun would seem to be about male bonding promoted by such activities as bullfighting, fishing, and heavy drinking. Brett...

Of all the male characters in The Sun Also Rises, Robert Cohn is conspicuous for having not fought in WW1, and so, is not technically a...

Well. Last week’s post caused quite a stir. It did say that the characters in Sun are largely static, that Sun lacks the transformational...

Some critics say The Sun Also Rises is Hemingway’s best novel. The writing, the style—something we will delve into more deeply—is...

“Kay, this week a new story, Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel, The Sun Also Rises. Whoa. Yes, best beloved, Hemingway’s first novel, highly...

As described last time, Mavis Gallant’s Forain begins with the funeral of Adam Tremski, an eastern European author whose writing Blaise...

This week, let’s continue our exploration of the stories of Mavis Gallant, focusing on Forain, her June 1991 piece published in the New...

Let’s continue our exploration of the work of Mavis Gallant, in particular her 1963 story, The Ice Wagon Coming Down The Street. Okay....

“Now that they were out of world affairs and back where they started, Peter Frazier’s wife says, “Everybody else did well in the...

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...

We’ve noted the intriguing structure in Mavis Gallant’s Voices Lost In Snow, how the story contains an apparently autobiographical...

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...