Labor Days: An Anthology of Fiction About Work

by David Gates (Editor)

In this superb and subversive collection, the finest fiction writers capture the full experience of showing up, clocking in, and working it. Denis Johnson’s “Emergency” is set in a Vietnam-era emergency room, where stoned orderlies deal matter-of-factly with a guy who has a knife stuck in his head. In Raymond Carver’s “Fat,” a waitress recounts how attending to an overweight customer inspired her life-altering speculations on consumption, deprivation, pleasure, and neglect.

Excerpts from longer works–Richard Ford’s Independence Day, whose hero, real estate agent Frank Bascombe, is a case study in suburban angst; Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man and its earnest considerations of race and unionism–and short stories such as “Pastoralia,” George Saunders’s manic tale of a prehistoric theme park in which actors don pelts and grunt for disaffected spectators, all express what can be absurd, touching, and traumatic about any occupation.

Edited by Pulitzer Prize finalist David Gates, Labor Days is more edifying than cruising the Web on the company’s dime or making personal phone calls. Whether you slave in a cubicle or put your feet up in a corner office, it is the perfect antidote for the grind and the glances at the clock, where the second hand sweeps slowly toward quitting time.

Genres: Short Stories

240 pages, Paperback

First published August 17, 2004

About the author

David Gates (born January 8, 1947) is an American journalist and novelist. His first novel, Jernigan (1991), about a dysfunctional one-parent family, was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1992 and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. This was followed by a second novel, Preston Falls (1998), and two short story collections, The Wonders of the Invisible World (1999) and A Hand Reached Down to Guide Me (2015). He has published short stories in The New Yorker, Tin House, Newsweek, The New York Times Book Review, Bookforum, Rolling Stone, H.O.W, The Oxford American, The Journal of Country Music, Esquire magazine, Ploughshares, GQ, Grand Street, TriQuarterly, and The Paris Review. Gates is also a Guggenheim Fellow.
Until 2008, he was a senior writer and editor in the Arts section at Newsweek magazine, specializing in articles on books and music.
He teaches in the graduate writing program at The University of Montana as well as at the Bennington Writing Seminars. Here he is a member of the Dog House Band, performing on the guitar, pedal steel, and vocals.

Reviews

[Ronald Wise · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of five short stories and excerpts from sixteen novels regarding jobs or the workplace. Of the short stories, the most enjoyable was “Emergency” by Denis Johnson. The outstanding excerpts were from: Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, Independence Day by Richard Ford, Something Happened by Joseph Heller, Beloved by Toni Morrison, and American Pastoral by Philip Roth.

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Granted, I've already read about 1/3 of the pieces listed in this collection, but, overall, I found it to be a nice change from books written by those who obviously don't leave the house. The stories presented, a mixture of short fiction and excerpts from longer pieces, are from the points of view of those who are defined by the jobs they have. The occupations "writer" and "teacher" have been eliminated because, as noted by the editor, most books are littered with those characters who typically don't stray far from their authors.

There is a mixture of the funny, the strange, the sad, and the pathetic, and the jobs these characters have range all over the spectrum. It also has a blend of canonical and not as well known. Some selections are only a page long while others creep close to twenty. This book has the potential to be read in a day by those with the time to do so. But even if it has to be read in pieces, it can move even the most stationary reader.

[Michael W. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I nice little anthology of short fiction and book excerpts - mostly from the 20th century - about various workplaces and occupations.

Some highlights for me were the excerpts from Burroughs' "Junkie" (which I've read) and from Hellers' "Something Happened" (which I haven't, but would like to).

[Carmen von Rohr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Each short story/excerpt in this anthology hits on the theme of work, as given away by the title. As with any anthology, the results are mixed, with some curious and interesting pieces and others that are, for me, a miss.

[Julia Williamson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun read - I skipped a couple, read most, and was reminded of books I've loved and introduced to authors I'd like to pursue.

[Margit]

A great intro from Gates, who selected an interesting array of refreshingly short excerpts and short fiction that enlighten a broad survey of jobs, from thief to waitress to drug dealer security.

[Pamela · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most of the pieces were excerpts from books, not individual stories, which made the work overall less interesting.