Our Story Begins: New and Selected Stories
Tobias Wolff · 2008
Story Prize winner, 2008. Wolff may be the most technically accomplished story writer of his generation; every sentence is load-bearing, no word wasted. "Bullet in the Brain" earns every move, wastes nothing, and lands with the force of a philosophical argument. His influence on MFA teaching has been enormous.
The case against
Wolff revised the older stories for this volume, quietly, and readers who knew them by heart noticed and objected. The range is also narrower than the skill: men lying to themselves in modest American rooms, again and again, one perfect detail per page. This is the workshop aesthetic at its absolute peak, which is praise with a ceiling built in.
Short Stories · the Pro canon
The case for it and the rest of the canon open with Pro.
if this one calls to you, so will these →
