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Authors: Ann Beattie

The New Yorker Stories

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The New Yorker Stories
Ann Beattie
Simon Schuster (2010)
Tags: Fiction
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From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Gathered in chronological order from 1974 to 1986, these early stories elucidate tension, suspicion, and the uneasy truces between married and divorced couples. Women are in flux and a general malaise settles over the urban dwellers or small town transplants, with notable departures. Though readers may be tempted to regard Beattie's characters as emblematic of their time, even as uniquely "American" in their self-involved, luxurious problems, they have weathered well and transcend easy classification. Beattie has mastered the tango between intelligent, sometimes perplexed individuals, allowing gradual, believable erosions to stand in place of high drama. "The Cinderella Waltz" draws an empathetic triangulation between the narrator, her ex-husband, and his current partner; "Home to Marie" offers a cruel take on unfulfilled expectations. Taken in full, these stories are taut evocations of separation and resignation, even as they reveal tenderness, and the best of them portray love and hatred not as intense polarities, but as tempered forces with fine gradations. (Nov.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

From

While all critics professed respect for Ann Beattie’s significant influence on the American short story, how they reviewed her
New Yorker
collection depended on how much they really liked her minimalist style—one often devoid of tone, emotion, and cultural signposts. The
San Francisco Chronicle
categorized reaction to her work in three ways: “masterful,” “resistant and chilly,” or perhaps “both.” Appreciation, it seems, is a matter of literary taste. Certainly, there’s much to admire, even if only rarely do the stories tie together neatly. The earlier ones, those that made Beattie’s name, are more spartan; the later ones more nuanced, though they bear similarities to their predecessors. Whether or not one embraces her style, few writers capture the American psyche like Beattie.

 

 

Also by Ann Beattie

 

Distortions

Chilly Scenes of Winter

Secrets and Surprises

Falling in Place

The Burning House

Love Always

Where You’ll Find Me

Picturing Will

What Was Mine

Another You

My Life, Starring Dara Falcon

Park City

Perfect Recall

The Doctor’s House

Follies

Walks with Men

Scribner
A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com

 

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are
products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to
actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

 

Copyright © 2010 by Ann Beattie

 

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book
or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Scribner Subsidiary
Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

 

First Scribner hardcover edition November 2010

 

SCRIBNER and design are registered trademarks of The Gale Group, Inc., used
under license by Simon & Schuster, Inc., the publisher of this work.

 

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact
Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or [email protected].

 

The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. 
For more information or to book an event contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau
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www.simonspeakers.com
.

 

Manufactured in the United States of America

 

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

 

Library of Congress Control Number: 2010032933

 

ISBN 978-1-4391-6874-5
ISBN 978-1-4391-6876-9 (ebook)

 

“Zalla,” “Second Question,” from
Park City: New and Selected Stories
by Ann Beattie, copyright © 1998 by Irony and Pity, Inc. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc.

 

“A Vintage Thunderbird,” “Colorado,” “The Lawn Party,” “Distant Music,” “Secrets and Surprises,” “Weekend,” “Tuesday Night,” “Shifting,” from
Secrets and Surprises
by Ann Beattie, copyright © 1976, 1977, 1978 by Ann Beattie. Used by permission of Random House, Inc.

 

“Home to Marie,” “Television,” “Horatio’s Trick,” from
What Was Mine
by Ann Beattie, copyright © 1991 by Irony and Pity, Inc. Used by permission of Random House, Inc.

 

“Coney Island,” “Lofty,” “Times,” “Heaven on a Summer Night,” “In the White Night,” “Janus,”
“Summer People,” “Skeletons,” and “Where You’ll Find Me,” reprinted with the permission of Scribner, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., from
Where You’ll Find Me and Other Stories
by Ann Beattie. Copyright © 1986 by Irony and Pity, Inc. All rights reserved.

 

“The Women of This World” reprinted with the permission of Scribner, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., from
Perfect Recall
by Ann Beattie. Copyright © 2001 by Irony and Pity, Inc. All rights reserved.

 

“Find and Replace,” “The Rabbit Hole as Likely Explanation,” and “That Last Odd Day in L.A.,” reprinted with the permission of Scribner, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., from
Follies
by Ann Beattie. Copyright © 2005 by Irony and Pity, Inc. All rights reserved.

 

The following stories appear courtesy of Ann Beattie: from
Distortions
(1976), “A Platonic Relationship,” “Fancy Flights,” “Wolf Dreams,” “Dwarf House,” “Snakes’ Shoes,” “Vermont,” “Downhill,” and “Wanda’s”; from
The Burning House
(1982), “The Cinderella Waltz,” “The Burning House,” “Waiting,” “Greenwich Time,” “Gravity,” “Running Dreams,” “Afloat,” “Girl Talk,” “Like Glass,” and “Desire”; previously uncollected, “Moving Water,” “One Day,” “Coping Stones,” and “The Confidence Decoy.”

For Lincoln

 

Contents

A Platonic Relationship ♦
April 8, 1974

 

Fancy Flights ♦
October 21, 1974

 

Wolf Dreams ♦
November 11, 1974

 

Dwarf House ♦
January 20, 1975

 

Snakes’ Shoes ♦
March 3, 1975

 

Vermont ♦
April 21, 1975

 

Downhill ♦
August 18, 1975

 

Wanda’s ♦
October 6, 1975

 

Colorado ♦
March 15, 1976

 

The Lawn Party ♦
July 5, 1976

 

Secrets and Surprises ♦
October 26, 1976

 

Weekend ♦
November 15, 1976

 

Tuesday Night ♦
January 3, 1977

 

Shifting ♦
February 21, 1977

 

Distant Music ♦
July 4, 1977

 

A Vintage Thunderbird ♦
February 27, 1978

 

The Cinderella Waltz ♦
January 29, 1979

 

The Burning House ♦
June 11, 1979

 

Waiting ♦
June 20, 1979

 

Greenwich Time ♦
October 29, 1979

 

Gravity ♦
June 2, 1980

 

Running Dreams ♦
February 16, 1981

 

Afloat ♦
September 21, 1981

 

Girl Talk ♦
December 7, 1981

 

Like Glass ♦
February 22, 1982

 

Desire ♦
June 14, 1982

 

Moving Water ♦
November 8, 1982

 

Coney Island ♦
January 24, 1983

 

Television ♦
March 28, 1983

 

Lofty ♦
August 8, 1983

 

One Day ♦
August 29, 1983

 

Heaven on a Summer Night ♦
November 28, 1983

BOOK: The New Yorker Stories
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