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Light Can Be Both Wave and Particle
Fiction from a National Book Award-winning author and “short-story writer of substantial gifts and reputation” ( The New York Times ). From National Book Award Winner Ellen Gilchrist, a pillar of Southern literature hailed by the Washington Post as “a national treasure,” comes a colorful collection of short stories integrating favorite characters with captivating newcomers. Rhoda’s reveling in her childhood and infinite possibility in “The Tree Fort” and “The Time Capsule” is juxtaposed with her darker adulthood in “Mexico.” Nora Jane returns alongside Lin Tan Sing, a Chinese medical student and geneticist who predicts the birth of her twins. Fans of Gilchrist won’t want to miss the author’s exploration of the many stages of life—and the lightness and darkness each can bring.“Several stories in Gilchrist’s latest collection are distinguished by her old magic—they have energy and gusto and humor, and a dark layer of knowledge beneath their nostalgic tone.”— Publishers Weekly “A validation of the author’s skill and versatility. Gilchrist creates new experiences for characters from earlier stories and … creates new characters who reveal her skill in portraying character and place.”— Library Journal
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First published January 1, 1989
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About the author
Ellen Gilchrist
70 books260 followers A writer of poems, short stories, novels, and nonfiction commentaries, Ellen Gilchrist is a diverse writer whom critics have praised repeatedly for her subtle perceptions, unique characters, and sure command of the writer’s voice, as well as her innovative plotlines set in her native Mississippi.
As Sabine Durrant commented in the London Times, her writing “swings between the familiar and the shocking, the everyday and the traumatic.... She writes about ordinary happenings in out of the way places, of meetings between recognizable characters from her other fiction and strangers, above all of domestic routine disrupted by violence.” The world of her fiction is awry; the surprise ending, although characteristic of her works, can still shock the reader. “It is disorienting stuff,” noted Durrant, “but controlled always by Gilchrist’s wry tone and gentle insight.”
She earned her B.A. from Millsaps College in 1967, and later did postgraduate study at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
She has worked as an author and journalist, as a contributing editor for the Vieux Carre Courier from 1976-1979, and as a commentator on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition from 1984-1985. Her NPR commentaries have been published in her book Falling Through Space.
She won a National Book Award for her 1984 collection of short stories, Victory Over Japan.
As Sabine Durrant commented in the London Times, her writing “swings between the familiar and the shocking, the everyday and the traumatic.... She writes about ordinary happenings in out of the way places, of meetings between recognizable characters from her other fiction and strangers, above all of domestic routine disrupted by violence.” The world of her fiction is awry; the surprise ending, although characteristic of her works, can still shock the reader. “It is disorienting stuff,” noted Durrant, “but controlled always by Gilchrist’s wry tone and gentle insight.”
She earned her B.A. from Millsaps College in 1967, and later did postgraduate study at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
She has worked as an author and journalist, as a contributing editor for the Vieux Carre Courier from 1976-1979, and as a commentator on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition from 1984-1985. Her NPR commentaries have been published in her book Falling Through Space.
She won a National Book Award for her 1984 collection of short stories, Victory Over Japan.
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 29 reviews
July 23, 2012
I love anything and everything that Ellen Gilchrist has ever written. Fell completely in love with her work when she came to one of my writing seminars in college and when I heard her read her work. She has a smooth, funny, confident, dreamy Southern voice that stays with you.
April 12, 2013
This was the first book by Ellen Gilchrist that I ever read, but it was not the last - in fact, after checking this book of short stories out from my local library, I fell in love with this author and read all her other books.
Being a scientist, it was the title that caught my attention. I no longer remember why the book has this title or even very much about any of the individual stories. It was 20+ years ago I read the book, but here is one thing I do remember: characters in one story would pop up in a later story, as if the world these people lived in was real and the author was merely recording all their life happenings.
I loved this, and soon found (as I started reading her books) that having the same characters appear over and over in multiple stories (or novels) is an Ellen Gilchrist trademark. I also found that I was falling in love with the characters. I knew what had happened in their lives, in other stories, and I felt I knew them as people, the way Ellen knows them. And loves them. Because it's clear that she DOES love her characters. This, in a nutshell, is what makes her work so wonderful.
Read this book, and then read all the rest of her books. You'll be glad you did.
Being a scientist, it was the title that caught my attention. I no longer remember why the book has this title or even very much about any of the individual stories. It was 20+ years ago I read the book, but here is one thing I do remember: characters in one story would pop up in a later story, as if the world these people lived in was real and the author was merely recording all their life happenings.
I loved this, and soon found (as I started reading her books) that having the same characters appear over and over in multiple stories (or novels) is an Ellen Gilchrist trademark. I also found that I was falling in love with the characters. I knew what had happened in their lives, in other stories, and I felt I knew them as people, the way Ellen knows them. And loves them. Because it's clear that she DOES love her characters. This, in a nutshell, is what makes her work so wonderful.
Read this book, and then read all the rest of her books. You'll be glad you did.
October 6, 2023
Good stuff. Reminded me a lot of Lucia Berlin, which is the highest praise I can offer. For once, I bought good literature without Sam’s help.
December 11, 2022
Affectionate short stories of strong characters bucking society. Highly recommended.
Having just finished George Saunders' "Tenth of December", this was a welcome shift in style. While I comparably rated Saunders' stories, I find myself more at home reading Gilchrist; she is the author whose other works I would now search out. A comparison of the two is just happenstance, but informative.
Saunders writes about society, using his characters as props. To be archetypes, the individuals conform to the society that they represent. Being representatives, they lack individuality and are not particularly likeable/loveable. With individuals set up to suffer pain and losses by a controlling author, some of Saunders' stories have a cruel undertone.
By contrast, Gilchrist is all about her people. They are flawed, messy, searching, sometimes brilliant, sometimes willful, often brave. They are far from strawmen/women, used to illustrate social themes. Because they are human, one feels a great compassion and affection for them. Gilchrist's stories also tend to have a positive, life-affirming feel--compared to an underling pessimism for Saunders. (Interesting to consider whether this was because Gilchrist was writing in the 1980s, forty years before Saunders.)
One highlight is the titular Light Can be Both Wave and Particle, in which Lin Tan Sing, a brilliant young scientist, falls in love with Margaret McElvoy of Fayetteville, Arkansas, daughter of a poet, teacher of school children, and young girl eager for experience. Also well worth rereading is The Starlight Express, in which Nora Jane is left by her lover, Sandy, when seven months pregnant. She resolves to take refuge with an old admirer, Freddie Harwood, and takes a train to meet him--a train on which she meets Lin Tan Sing. (Gilchrist's stories often include the same characters at different points in their lives.) The final story, Mexico, is also wonderful, featuring the flamboyant, fifty-three year-old Rhoda, her brother Dudley, and cousin, Saint John, all on a trip to Mexico, searching for excitement to spice up their doldrum, mid-life years.
Well worth exploring Gilchrist further (this my first read of her work).
Other Ellen Gilchrist reviews:
The Age of Miracles (1995) 3*
Having just finished George Saunders' "Tenth of December", this was a welcome shift in style. While I comparably rated Saunders' stories, I find myself more at home reading Gilchrist; she is the author whose other works I would now search out. A comparison of the two is just happenstance, but informative.
Saunders writes about society, using his characters as props. To be archetypes, the individuals conform to the society that they represent. Being representatives, they lack individuality and are not particularly likeable/loveable. With individuals set up to suffer pain and losses by a controlling author, some of Saunders' stories have a cruel undertone.
By contrast, Gilchrist is all about her people. They are flawed, messy, searching, sometimes brilliant, sometimes willful, often brave. They are far from strawmen/women, used to illustrate social themes. Because they are human, one feels a great compassion and affection for them. Gilchrist's stories also tend to have a positive, life-affirming feel--compared to an underling pessimism for Saunders. (Interesting to consider whether this was because Gilchrist was writing in the 1980s, forty years before Saunders.)
One highlight is the titular Light Can be Both Wave and Particle, in which Lin Tan Sing, a brilliant young scientist, falls in love with Margaret McElvoy of Fayetteville, Arkansas, daughter of a poet, teacher of school children, and young girl eager for experience. Also well worth rereading is The Starlight Express, in which Nora Jane is left by her lover, Sandy, when seven months pregnant. She resolves to take refuge with an old admirer, Freddie Harwood, and takes a train to meet him--a train on which she meets Lin Tan Sing. (Gilchrist's stories often include the same characters at different points in their lives.) The final story, Mexico, is also wonderful, featuring the flamboyant, fifty-three year-old Rhoda, her brother Dudley, and cousin, Saint John, all on a trip to Mexico, searching for excitement to spice up their doldrum, mid-life years.
Well worth exploring Gilchrist further (this my first read of her work).
Other Ellen Gilchrist reviews:
The Age of Miracles (1995) 3*
July 9, 2008
I just love how simply Ellen Gilchrist can tell a story. She has that simplicity that Hemingway has, which is really deceptive. You can be reading her work and think, "This is fourth grade reading level," but somehow, there is *so much* going on emotionally and in the subtext.
One thing that I have noticed is that various women identify with different characters of hers VERY strongly. I have friends who want to be Rhoda Manning. I love the Nora Jane stories because I wish I were Nora Jane. I think this is because we become so attached to the recurring characters that they become like old friends. You can read a story in which Rhoda Manning is a little girl ("The Tree Fort" or "The Time Capsule") and then one in which she is in her fifties ("Mexico"), and it really feels like you've known the character her entire life.
I like this entire collection, but because I wish I were Nora Jane, my favorite moment has to be when Nora Jane goes into labor and tells the babies, "I'm your mother...Don't hurt me. I wouldn't hurt you." There's just something really sweet and sincere about her panic, her pleading...
One thing that I have noticed is that various women identify with different characters of hers VERY strongly. I have friends who want to be Rhoda Manning. I love the Nora Jane stories because I wish I were Nora Jane. I think this is because we become so attached to the recurring characters that they become like old friends. You can read a story in which Rhoda Manning is a little girl ("The Tree Fort" or "The Time Capsule") and then one in which she is in her fifties ("Mexico"), and it really feels like you've known the character her entire life.
I like this entire collection, but because I wish I were Nora Jane, my favorite moment has to be when Nora Jane goes into labor and tells the babies, "I'm your mother...Don't hurt me. I wouldn't hurt you." There's just something really sweet and sincere about her panic, her pleading...
December 26, 2022
This is embarrassing. I believed that I had read a couple of Gilchrist's novels and enjoyed them. So I bought and read this collection of short stories and for the most part was unimpressed or even at a loss as to what the heck was supposed to be conveyed by the stories. The first tale kept my interest as did the second, related, story. After that, I got into the "What the heck?!", territory.
But I read on. I should say that I'm the first to admit that many short stories leave me cold and that could easily be my lack of perception or intelligence. I could read others' analyses of short stories that I am puzzled by but I'm not sure why I'd do that. I read for pleasure for the most part but less so for any other reason. Gilchrist is prolific and that surely means that many love her writing. Good for them and for her.
It wasn't until this morning when I decided to write this little review that I looked up Gilchrist's other books. I've read none of them or have entirely forgotten that I did. Either is possible. I'm not likely to try another.
But I read on. I should say that I'm the first to admit that many short stories leave me cold and that could easily be my lack of perception or intelligence. I could read others' analyses of short stories that I am puzzled by but I'm not sure why I'd do that. I read for pleasure for the most part but less so for any other reason. Gilchrist is prolific and that surely means that many love her writing. Good for them and for her.
It wasn't until this morning when I decided to write this little review that I looked up Gilchrist's other books. I've read none of them or have entirely forgotten that I did. Either is possible. I'm not likely to try another.
January 22, 2018
Rated 5.5 out of 10. Book of short stories featuring the usual Gilchrist characters.
November 11, 2022
read for class—
i liked this one while reading it, but there were parts of it that really struck me as odd. after discussing the story in class, i liked the story even more. getting context really saved how i viewed the content and hearing all the various interpretations was fascinating to me. my professor informed us after we all picked up on how illogical the story is that it is supposed to read like a fairy tale. it made so much sense after that and completely changed the way i viewed the story.
i liked this one while reading it, but there were parts of it that really struck me as odd. after discussing the story in class, i liked the story even more. getting context really saved how i viewed the content and hearing all the various interpretations was fascinating to me. my professor informed us after we all picked up on how illogical the story is that it is supposed to read like a fairy tale. it made so much sense after that and completely changed the way i viewed the story.
December 3, 2024
I am re-reading Ellen Gilchrist in order of publication since her death in 2024. Yes, they are all still amazing and well-worth the reread, if only for being reminded of the nuggets of perfection she slipped into her prose.
"It was a cool day. The first cool day in months. The light was very clear. The trees were just beginning to turn their brilliant colors. Fall was coming to the mountains. Life was good after all. Peace was possible. Ideals were better than nothing, even if they were naïve."
Gilchrist, Ellen. Light Can Be Both Wave and Particle (p. 186). Diversion Books. Kindle Edition.
"It was a cool day. The first cool day in months. The light was very clear. The trees were just beginning to turn their brilliant colors. Fall was coming to the mountains. Life was good after all. Peace was possible. Ideals were better than nothing, even if they were naïve."
Gilchrist, Ellen. Light Can Be Both Wave and Particle (p. 186). Diversion Books. Kindle Edition.
March 25, 2009
When I first read Ellen Gilchrist's short stories, in high school, I decided that maybe novels weren't the only fiction worth reading after all. Her short stories are slices of stories, complete unto themselves, but feeling as if they were fully alive before and after you met them too. Her characters are so real you think she must be writing about herself until you meet the next one, and then the next.
Light Can Be Both Wave and Particle is one of my favorite books of hers - modern despite its twenty years, encompassing the South and California, broadening the horizons Gilchrist often writes within. As usual with Gilchrist, her words drop with precision from the page, so that the ideas, not the phrases, are what you're left with. The ideas, and the space to think about them, to let them resonate within the bones of her stories.
Light Can Be Both Wave and Particle is one of my favorite books of hers - modern despite its twenty years, encompassing the South and California, broadening the horizons Gilchrist often writes within. As usual with Gilchrist, her words drop with precision from the page, so that the ideas, not the phrases, are what you're left with. The ideas, and the space to think about them, to let them resonate within the bones of her stories.
May 28, 2012
Fully one third of this collection is taken up by the story "Mexico", which features the antics of Rhoda Manning and her brother and cousin, and most of the rest of the stories focus on and feature familiar characters from her other volumes, though any of them can be read as stand-alones. The oddest story is the eponymous one which focuses on a Chinese medical lab worker who just happens to be connected to the story of Nora Jane Whittington. This is an entertaining and eminently readable collection, like all of Gilchirst's writings that I have read so far. Her characters, especially the women, and most especially Rhoda, are spoiled, erotic, fun-loving, opinionated, and lovingly drawn--not people you would necessarily want to know or be around, but fun to read about.
October 27, 2012
I normally am not a big fan of the art of short stories, but this little book of Ellen Gilchrist's makes me eat my words. Perhaps it was the interrelated aspect of many of the stories that settled my brain. Normally, it's the abrupt hop from one scenario to another that jars me. This formed a fragmented storyline of a short, introducing me to full fleshed characters and delicious prose. I'd be hard-pressed to pick a favorite, as the flow has gone to almost seamless in my mind, despite a foray of the stories to Mexico. Some of the early stories beautifully called to mind the United States in the middle section of the last century. That's my stomping ground, too, so I was right at home.
May 18, 2010
This book of short stories continues the adventures of Nora Jane (pregnant with twins by two different men!), Traceleen, Rhoda, and others.
My favorite lines, from the title story:
My favorite lines, from the title story:
If I enter into this moment, I will be changed forever. If I refuse this moment then I will go about the world as an old man goes, with no hope, no songs to sing, no longing or desire, no miracles of sunlight. So I will allow this to happen to me. As if a man can refuse his destiny. As if the choice were mine. Let it come to me.
May 30, 2011
Reading Gilchrist requires patience because only a small part of each character's story is shared in each of her books. This collection of short stories included "Mexico" which seemed like a spoof of the "Sun Also Rises" by Hemingway who she does mention in her 1st book as one of the saddest stories she had ever read. These stories have sad moments and lots of fun moments, poignant as always.
January 18, 2015
I loved this book so much when it first came out that I'm a bit afraid to read it again as I may not feel the same magic way. Love that the characters are (often deeply) flawed, but so human and compelling and authentic. It seems as if the only true fault, among all the vices, is the lack of being true to yourself.
January 15, 2008
I know this is a pretty straightforward type of storytelling, but the woman can write beautifully. She's from Arkansas. I like Southern writers! I say again! I love the short story that has her characters on the Golden Gate Bridge during the earthquake...that's a beautiful story...
April 15, 2007
gilchrist is my favorite. hands down.
June 24, 2007
love love love gilchrist and her setting the stories in mainly either the lousiana coast (even beloved mandeville!) and san francisco makes me very happy.
July 21, 2008
Southern people get drunk and act crazy. Original? Not really. Incredibly entertaining? You betcha!
September 2, 2016
Picked up off the sidewalk. Good, entertaining read with a handful of incisive passages to boot.
January 18, 2015
This was the first of many books I read by Gilchrist, a supremely talented writer. Love her work.
December 12, 2020
You can tell this book is amazing from the title.
July 12, 2016
I love this author and the sampling of various characters was a treat. Be prepared for salty pirate language- of which I am a recovering junkie so it was fine with me.
July 1, 2008
I need to read this book again. In fact, I need to read all of her books again.
March 26, 2009
best collection of short stories! Ellen Gilchrist is my hero!
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February 21, 2012Light Can Be Both Wave and Particle by Ellen Gilchrist (1990)
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June 8, 2018Modern short stories
Displaying 1 - 28 of 29 reviews