A World Quite Round: Two Stories and a Novella

by Gordon Weaver

Stories about an interpreter in a prisoner-of-war camp, an artist, and a class reunion explore the difficulty of communicating with words

130 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1986

About the author

American novelist and short-story writer. He was founding Editor of the Mississippi Review and Editor of Cimarron Review. He taught at a number of colleges and universities, including Oklahoma State.

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The story probably won’t come off well, and even if it does, it probably won't get published, but if it does there won’t be any payment for it — and even if there is, almost nobody will read it, and most who do won’t understand or like it. But you go ahead and write the story. What choices do you have? There’s always silence, but that won’t do for me.” (Interview, 2003)

Another out-of-the-way American academic producing fiction that few people read – but at least Gordon Weaver has no illusions and keeps on writing regardless. A bit like me and these reviews. A long time ago I used to get paid to write, but now I just need the exercise…

The novella and two stories that make up A World Quite Round are, I think, linked by the idea that words create fictions out of reality – instead of merely reflecting it. Certainly the longest piece, narrated by a communist interpreter in a Korean War prison camp, shows the power of language to subvert reality to lethal effect. Almost funny, if it weren’t so harrowing. The two supporting short stories are quite different, yet equally bleak.

Not exactly a cheering collection, but well-written and more memorable than most. So at least someone has read it, possibly understood it, and on the whole liked it.