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American Masters: The Short Stories of Raymond Carver, John Cheever, and John Updike
The Short Stories of Raymond Carver, John Cheever, and John Updike
5 cassettes / 7 1/2 hours
Unabridged short stories
Three American masters of the short story - Raymond Carver, John Cheever, and John Updike, brought together for the first time in one deluxe audio collection.
Where I'm Calling From by Raymond Carver, read by Peter Riegert
Few American writers are more admired than the late Raymond Carver. InWhere I'm Calling From, his highly acclaimed short story collection, Carver displays an astonishing genius. His stories are populated by characters living in an unforgivable world, suffering the burdens of displacement, divorce, despair. These people snarl and bark and speak in bursts of rough-and-tumble dialogue. They are everybody, anybody, nobody. A final testament to Carver's towering talent, Where I'm Calling From is a mesmerizing masterpiece of fiction drama, and poetry.
The Stories of John Cheever, read by Maria Tucci
"[John Cheever is] a master storyteller." - Time
A selection of the incomparable short fiction that has, together with his novels, secured John Cheever's place among the foremost writers of our time. The stories included on this AudioBook are "The Enormous Radio", "O Youth and Beauty!", "Just One More Time", "A Woman Without a Country", and "The Worm in the Apple".
Selected Stories by John Updike, read by the Author
John Updike reads six stories, including "A&P", recounting a moral crisis at the checkout counter; "Pigeon Feathers"; "The Family Meadow"; " The Witness"; "The Alligators" and "Separating," which recounts the June day when Richard andJoanMaple separate, in front of their children.
Mr. Updike, when asked to describe his method of reading aloud, said "I try to picture the things described, and to speak the words distinctly, and to let the emotion come through on its won."
The method works beautifully.
* American Masters also includes a 30-minute audio sampler of Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, performed by Jeremy Irons
5 cassettes / 7 1/2 hours
Unabridged short stories
Three American masters of the short story - Raymond Carver, John Cheever, and John Updike, brought together for the first time in one deluxe audio collection.
Where I'm Calling From by Raymond Carver, read by Peter Riegert
Few American writers are more admired than the late Raymond Carver. InWhere I'm Calling From, his highly acclaimed short story collection, Carver displays an astonishing genius. His stories are populated by characters living in an unforgivable world, suffering the burdens of displacement, divorce, despair. These people snarl and bark and speak in bursts of rough-and-tumble dialogue. They are everybody, anybody, nobody. A final testament to Carver's towering talent, Where I'm Calling From is a mesmerizing masterpiece of fiction drama, and poetry.
The Stories of John Cheever, read by Maria Tucci
"[John Cheever is] a master storyteller." - Time
A selection of the incomparable short fiction that has, together with his novels, secured John Cheever's place among the foremost writers of our time. The stories included on this AudioBook are "The Enormous Radio", "O Youth and Beauty!", "Just One More Time", "A Woman Without a Country", and "The Worm in the Apple".
Selected Stories by John Updike, read by the Author
John Updike reads six stories, including "A&P", recounting a moral crisis at the checkout counter; "Pigeon Feathers"; "The Family Meadow"; " The Witness"; "The Alligators" and "Separating," which recounts the June day when Richard andJoanMaple separate, in front of their children.
Mr. Updike, when asked to describe his method of reading aloud, said "I try to picture the things described, and to speak the words distinctly, and to let the emotion come through on its won."
The method works beautifully.
* American Masters also includes a 30-minute audio sampler of Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, performed by Jeremy Irons
- GenresShort Stories
5 pages, Audio Cassette
First published November 3, 1998
93 people want to read
About the author
Raymond Carver
356 books5,060 followersCarver was born into a poverty-stricken family at the tail-end of the Depression. He married at 19, started a series of menial jobs and his own career of 'full-time drinking as a serious pursuit', a career that would eventually kill him. Constantly struggling to support his wife and family, Carver enrolled in a writing programme under author John Gardner in 1958. He saw this opportunity as a turning point.
Rejecting the more experimental fiction of the 60s and 70s, he pioneered a precisionist realism reinventing the American short story during the eighties, heading the line of so-called 'dirty realists' or 'K-mart realists'. Set in trailer parks and shopping malls, they are stories of banal lives that turn on a seemingly insignificant detail. Carver writes with meticulous economy, suddenly bringing a life into focus in a similar way to the paintings of Edward Hopper. As well as being a master of the short story, he was an accomplished poet publishing several highly acclaimed volumes.
After the 'line of demarcation' in Carver's life - 2 June 1977, the day he stopped drinking - his stories become increasingly more redemptive and expansive. Alcohol had eventually shattered his health, his work and his family - his first marriage effectively ending in 1978. He finally married his long-term parter Tess Gallagher (they met ten years earlier at a writers' conference in Dallas) in Reno, Nevada, less than two months before he eventually lost his fight with cancer.
Rejecting the more experimental fiction of the 60s and 70s, he pioneered a precisionist realism reinventing the American short story during the eighties, heading the line of so-called 'dirty realists' or 'K-mart realists'. Set in trailer parks and shopping malls, they are stories of banal lives that turn on a seemingly insignificant detail. Carver writes with meticulous economy, suddenly bringing a life into focus in a similar way to the paintings of Edward Hopper. As well as being a master of the short story, he was an accomplished poet publishing several highly acclaimed volumes.
After the 'line of demarcation' in Carver's life - 2 June 1977, the day he stopped drinking - his stories become increasingly more redemptive and expansive. Alcohol had eventually shattered his health, his work and his family - his first marriage effectively ending in 1978. He finally married his long-term parter Tess Gallagher (they met ten years earlier at a writers' conference in Dallas) in Reno, Nevada, less than two months before he eventually lost his fight with cancer.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 28, 2008
This was a great set of short stories, and the audio was very well put together. I did not listen to the Carver, having read the stories previously, but the Updike and Cheever were amazing. John Updike read his own stories, and his voice gave such an wonderful character to the words. His stories seemed to tell true stories about the awkward nature of human interaction. Cheever's stories brought out similar qualities, but in a totally different setting. These stories made it difficult for me to get out of the car sometimes.
Want to read
July 2, 2011This book is packed with some excellent short stories. I'm not reading it cover to cover, though. I will just read a story, then go back to something else. Raymond Carver edited this book, so the stories actually reflect his type of style.
October 7, 2010
An excellent selection of short, meaty stories that quickly captivate and just as quickly conclude. The collection showcases three separate writing styles and three wildly diverse imaginations. The range of subjects is incredible. Short story fiction of a class and a time, at it’s very best.
June 14, 2011
Great collection of short stories. I enjoyed Carver's the best, by far, but both the Updike and Cheever selections included some good ones.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews