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Our Story Begins: New and Selected Stories
“One of our most exquisite storytellers” (Esquire) gives us his first collection in over a decade: ten potent new stories that, along with twenty-one classics, display his mastery over a quarter century.
Tobias Wolff’s first two books, In the Garden of the North American Martyrs and Back in the World, were a powerful demonstration of how the short story can “provoke our amazed appreciation,” as The New York Times Book Review wrote then. In the years since, he’s written a third collection, The Night in Question, as well as a pair of genre-defining memoirs (This Boy’s Life and In Pharaoh’s Army), the novella The Barracks Thief, and, most recently, a novel, Old School.
Now he returns with fresh revelations—about biding one’s time, or experiencing first love, or burying one’s mother—that come to a variety of characters in circumstances at once everyday and extraordinary: a retired Marine enrolled in college while her son trains for Iraq, a lawyer taking a difficult deposition, an American in Rome indulging the Gypsy who’s picked his pocket. In these stories, as with his earlier, much-anthologized work, he once again proves himself, according to the Los Angeles Times, “a writer of the highest order: part storyteller, part philosopher, someone deeply engaged in asking hard questions that take a lifetime to resolve.”
Tobias Wolff’s first two books, In the Garden of the North American Martyrs and Back in the World, were a powerful demonstration of how the short story can “provoke our amazed appreciation,” as The New York Times Book Review wrote then. In the years since, he’s written a third collection, The Night in Question, as well as a pair of genre-defining memoirs (This Boy’s Life and In Pharaoh’s Army), the novella The Barracks Thief, and, most recently, a novel, Old School.
Now he returns with fresh revelations—about biding one’s time, or experiencing first love, or burying one’s mother—that come to a variety of characters in circumstances at once everyday and extraordinary: a retired Marine enrolled in college while her son trains for Iraq, a lawyer taking a difficult deposition, an American in Rome indulging the Gypsy who’s picked his pocket. In these stories, as with his earlier, much-anthologized work, he once again proves himself, according to the Los Angeles Times, “a writer of the highest order: part storyteller, part philosopher, someone deeply engaged in asking hard questions that take a lifetime to resolve.”
400 pages, Hardcover
First published March 25, 2008
274 people are currently reading
3313 people want to read
About the author
Tobias Wolff
154 books1,221 followersTobias Jonathan Ansell Wolff is a writer of fiction and nonfiction.
He is best known for his short stories and his memoirs, although he has written two novels.
Wolff is the Ward W. and Priscilla B. Woods Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University, where he has taught classes in English and creative writing since 1997. He also served as the director of the Creative Writing Program at Stanford from 2000 to 2002.
He is best known for his short stories and his memoirs, although he has written two novels.
Wolff is the Ward W. and Priscilla B. Woods Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University, where he has taught classes in English and creative writing since 1997. He also served as the director of the Creative Writing Program at Stanford from 2000 to 2002.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 330 reviews
November 15, 2021
Un gran puñado de buenos cuentos que aliviarán el mono de aquellos que ya no pueden conseguir nada nuevo de Carver. Pero cuidado, la pureza es tan alta que se corre el peligro de caer por sobredosis.
Y sí, he dicho Carver, y sí, algunos hasta piensan que es mejor que él.
Y sí, he dicho Carver, y sí, algunos hasta piensan que es mejor que él.
July 23, 2019
An excellent book of short stories. Wolff shows us how people at the end of their ropes make choices. The choices are often genuinely surprising but always in character--there are no easy ironies here. "The Garden of the North American Martyrs," "Desert Breakdown 1968" and "Deep Kiss" are especially fine.
March 10, 2016
این کتاب شامل سیزده داستان کوتاه و نیمه بلند بود با ریتمی خسته کننده که خیلی کم اوج میگرفت و نمیتونست منِ خواننده رو با خوندن داستان ها سر شوق بیاره , انگار که داستان ها از همین گوشه کنار زندگی روزانه برداشته شدن مثل این هست که یک روز از زندگیم رو بنویسم و بگم این داستان کوتاه هست ! و با سایر داستان ها به همین سبک هم چاپش کنم ! با این حال در لا به لای این سیزده تا داستان بازهم چیزهای جالبی میشد خوند مثل داستان " ستون در گذشتگان " که برای من هم جالب بود کسی آگهی ترحیم خودش رو منتشر کنه تا این رو به یاد عزیزانش بیندازه که چه خوبی هایی داره و با این کارش گند بزنه به شغل یکی دیگه و عذاب وجدان هم داشته باشه و یا داستان " شب مورد بحث " که جواب دادن به سوال دختر خودش یک جور چالش ذهنی و احساسی به حساب میاد که ممکنه کسی تمام سرنشین های یک قطار رو نادیده بگیره و برای بچه ای یا خواهر و برادری که همیشه حمایتش می کرده و توی موتور خونه ی راه آهن یا روی ریل هست به سمت مرگ بفرسته ؟ تنها این دو داستان کتاب انجیل سفید منو جذب خودش کرد و بقیه شون فقط حکم گذروندن وقت و خوندن صرفا جهت اتمام کتاب بود و ریتمش رو دوست نداشتم ؛ از نویسنده ای مثل توبیاس وولف که تعریفش رو شنیده بودم انتظار بیشتری داشتم هرچند با یک کتاب نمیشه به این نتیجه رسید که خوب یا بد مینویسه ! شاید اثرهای دیگه اش منو جذب کنن , شاید ...
August 30, 2022
Muy recomendables las pequeñas narraciones que ofrece T. Wolff. Pequeñas pero grandes, ya me entendéis.
Sin poder evitarlo, al leerlo te vienen a la mente ecos de los grandes narradores norteamericanos, a saber: Philip Roth y lo bien que reflejaba la doble moral norteamericana y ese puritanismo absurdo llevado al extremo en universidades, o vida social (aquí lo he observado en varios relatos), o la referencia clara de Carver, sobre todo en la segunda parte del libro, en los relatos más recientes de Wolff que deja como más abiertos.
Por cierto y hablando de Carver, coincido en la opinión que este tenía de Tobias Wolff en cuanto a que entraba a fondo a valorar la condición humana, pero luego dejaba a interpretación del lector el resultado de su relato, no era moralizante o como decimos por aquí, no hay moraleja en sus relatos, cada cual que saque sus conclusiones. Otras veces el relato es el reflejo de la vida, sin más, y no el final dramático o literario que los lectores siempre buscamos.
La primera parte de los relatos me parecieron mejores que la segunda mitad, más auténticos. Los segundos se aproximan y se me asemejaban más a Carver & Cía, buenos pero menos originales.
Un 4 muy alto.
Sin poder evitarlo, al leerlo te vienen a la mente ecos de los grandes narradores norteamericanos, a saber: Philip Roth y lo bien que reflejaba la doble moral norteamericana y ese puritanismo absurdo llevado al extremo en universidades, o vida social (aquí lo he observado en varios relatos), o la referencia clara de Carver, sobre todo en la segunda parte del libro, en los relatos más recientes de Wolff que deja como más abiertos.
Por cierto y hablando de Carver, coincido en la opinión que este tenía de Tobias Wolff en cuanto a que entraba a fondo a valorar la condición humana, pero luego dejaba a interpretación del lector el resultado de su relato, no era moralizante o como decimos por aquí, no hay moraleja en sus relatos, cada cual que saque sus conclusiones. Otras veces el relato es el reflejo de la vida, sin más, y no el final dramático o literario que los lectores siempre buscamos.
La primera parte de los relatos me parecieron mejores que la segunda mitad, más auténticos. Los segundos se aproximan y se me asemejaban más a Carver & Cía, buenos pero menos originales.
Un 4 muy alto.
February 8, 2022
bir yandan carver ve cheever’la komşu gibi ama bir yandan epey farklı bir tonu var tobias wolff öykülerinin.
kaybolmuş hayatlar, berbat bir çocukluk, parasızlık, şiddet, bir anda bambaşka bir şeye dönüşen av partileri, hayatı başkalarını sömürmekle geçenler ve daha birçok şey. koca bir öykü seçkisinden bahsediyoruz.
wolff kitabın önsözünde seçkiyi hazırlarken eskilere müdahale etme taraftarı olduğunu söylemiş, kitapta 21 öykü eskilerden seçilmiş, son 10 öykü ise daha yakın zamanlarda yazılmış.
son öykülerde meselenin ya da yazarın derdinin bir nebze farklılaştığı belli oluyor ki çok normal tabii. dertlerimiz de küreselleşti. değişen iş hayatı, fonlar ve deneticilerden dem vuran “inanmaya çalışmak” italya’da çingenelere yapılan ayrımcılığı konu alırken “ifade” öyküsünde gittikçe zor ulaşılan adalet söz konusu, bir yandan da tacizin ne menem bir şey olduğunu tadan orta yaşlı bir avukatla karşılaşıyoruz. göçmenlik, göçmenlerin yaşadığı zorluklar, yıkılan komünist devletler de yeni öykülerde yer bulmuş.
eski öykülerde ise berbat aileler, yıkık insanlar daha bireysel bir biçimde ele alınıyor. genellikle kendi hayatlarını kendileri mahvetmekte mahirler.
amerika’nın ışıltılı dünyasının ne büyük bir yalan olduğunu az buçuk kitap okuyup bağımsız film izleyen herkes biliyor elbette. işte bu öykülerde gerçek amerikalılar, işsizlik, şiddet, taşra, kilise baskısı, ekonomik sebeplerle pek çok öyküde yer bulan profesyonel askerlik var.
ilk öykü “kuzey amerikalı kurbanların bahçesinde” akademiyi yerden yere vururken arka planda cinsiyet eşitisizliğini, eğitimin özel sektörde olmasının yanlışlığını sezdiriyor mesela ama bunu hiç çaktırmadan yapıyor.
bunların dışında “karda avcılar” ve “çölde arıza” yarattığı gerilimle çok usta işi öyküler. yine toplumsal pek çok şey bulabiliriz eleştirecek ama bu, öykülerdeki erkek karakterleri bir avuç suda boğmak istememi engelleyemez :)
ailenin, komşuların, aslında tüm toplumun baştan ayağa yalan dolan üzerine kurulduğunu çokça hissettiren tobias wolff sağ olsun, yine her şeyden nefret edip umutsuzlukla dolduk.
ama şikayetçi değilim, edebiyatın en leziz kısmı da bu.
yüz kitap yine bizi bir ustayla tanıştırdı sağ olsun. seda ateş’in çevirisi akıp gidiyor, ki wolff’un kolay bir dili olmadığı belli. bazı uzun cümlelerin yapısına hayran kaldım, unuttuğumu sandığım sözcüklerle karşılaştım. ellerine sağlık.
kaybolmuş hayatlar, berbat bir çocukluk, parasızlık, şiddet, bir anda bambaşka bir şeye dönüşen av partileri, hayatı başkalarını sömürmekle geçenler ve daha birçok şey. koca bir öykü seçkisinden bahsediyoruz.
wolff kitabın önsözünde seçkiyi hazırlarken eskilere müdahale etme taraftarı olduğunu söylemiş, kitapta 21 öykü eskilerden seçilmiş, son 10 öykü ise daha yakın zamanlarda yazılmış.
son öykülerde meselenin ya da yazarın derdinin bir nebze farklılaştığı belli oluyor ki çok normal tabii. dertlerimiz de küreselleşti. değişen iş hayatı, fonlar ve deneticilerden dem vuran “inanmaya çalışmak” italya’da çingenelere yapılan ayrımcılığı konu alırken “ifade” öyküsünde gittikçe zor ulaşılan adalet söz konusu, bir yandan da tacizin ne menem bir şey olduğunu tadan orta yaşlı bir avukatla karşılaşıyoruz. göçmenlik, göçmenlerin yaşadığı zorluklar, yıkılan komünist devletler de yeni öykülerde yer bulmuş.
eski öykülerde ise berbat aileler, yıkık insanlar daha bireysel bir biçimde ele alınıyor. genellikle kendi hayatlarını kendileri mahvetmekte mahirler.
amerika’nın ışıltılı dünyasının ne büyük bir yalan olduğunu az buçuk kitap okuyup bağımsız film izleyen herkes biliyor elbette. işte bu öykülerde gerçek amerikalılar, işsizlik, şiddet, taşra, kilise baskısı, ekonomik sebeplerle pek çok öyküde yer bulan profesyonel askerlik var.
ilk öykü “kuzey amerikalı kurbanların bahçesinde” akademiyi yerden yere vururken arka planda cinsiyet eşitisizliğini, eğitimin özel sektörde olmasının yanlışlığını sezdiriyor mesela ama bunu hiç çaktırmadan yapıyor.
bunların dışında “karda avcılar” ve “çölde arıza” yarattığı gerilimle çok usta işi öyküler. yine toplumsal pek çok şey bulabiliriz eleştirecek ama bu, öykülerdeki erkek karakterleri bir avuç suda boğmak istememi engelleyemez :)
ailenin, komşuların, aslında tüm toplumun baştan ayağa yalan dolan üzerine kurulduğunu çokça hissettiren tobias wolff sağ olsun, yine her şeyden nefret edip umutsuzlukla dolduk.
ama şikayetçi değilim, edebiyatın en leziz kısmı da bu.
yüz kitap yine bizi bir ustayla tanıştırdı sağ olsun. seda ateş’in çevirisi akıp gidiyor, ki wolff’un kolay bir dili olmadığı belli. bazı uzun cümlelerin yapısına hayran kaldım, unuttuğumu sandığım sözcüklerle karşılaştım. ellerine sağlık.
February 24, 2015
"Siete tutta fiducia nel futuro, il luogo dove ogni cosa andrà a posto. E compassione per il passato, il luogo dove ogni cosa può essere perdonata, una volta compresa. Guardi, lei non capisce niente di storia. Di quanto sia compiuta, storica, appunto. Non se ne può redimere un solo giorno, un solo istante, nemmeno con tutta la benevolenza e la comprensione del mondo. Si può solo frequentarla come si fa con un cimitero, cappello in mano. Si possono leggere le iscrizioni sulle lapidi. Riscriverle, no”.
Uno sguardo sulla materia qui narrata: l'invidia nell'amicizia, l'insicurezza dei genitori, la finitezza dei legami, un rapimento maldestro, la fatalità delle menzogne, l'odio tra compagni, il tradimento e la passione. Verità instabili e destini smarriti generano la prigionia della consapevolezza, l'inganno della conoscenza. Ogni racconto ha un sottotesto inquietante e profondo che scava tra le pieghe dell'apparenza e rivela l'aspetto recondito dei fatti. La scrittura oltrepassa senza dar segno la soglia dell'incanto e diviene realtà immaginabile e presente, silenzioso e oscuro compagno delle singole storie. Il persecutore si trasforma in vittima, la forza muta in fragilità, l'ombra ha più costanza della luce. Come su un palcoscenico, le scelte e le colpe sono rappresentate al di là dell'essere e della finzione, si muovono essenziali e durature nelle coscienze opache dei personaggi: esseri umani trattati con profondità stilistica e onestà da un superstite che non riesce a non amare, sebbene in modo ambivalente, i propri tragici soggetti, irraggiungibili e crudeli prigionieri.
“E in quel modo, sorridendo, accompagnando la musica col capo, procedette per un altro miglio o due, e finse di non sapere che già stava rallentando, che presto avrebbe fatto inversione, finse di poter continuare a guidare così, da solo, e di avere la risposta giusta da dare a sua moglie quando sulla porta di casa lei gli avrebbe chiesto, E lui dov'è? Dov'è tuo fratello?”
Uno sguardo sulla materia qui narrata: l'invidia nell'amicizia, l'insicurezza dei genitori, la finitezza dei legami, un rapimento maldestro, la fatalità delle menzogne, l'odio tra compagni, il tradimento e la passione. Verità instabili e destini smarriti generano la prigionia della consapevolezza, l'inganno della conoscenza. Ogni racconto ha un sottotesto inquietante e profondo che scava tra le pieghe dell'apparenza e rivela l'aspetto recondito dei fatti. La scrittura oltrepassa senza dar segno la soglia dell'incanto e diviene realtà immaginabile e presente, silenzioso e oscuro compagno delle singole storie. Il persecutore si trasforma in vittima, la forza muta in fragilità, l'ombra ha più costanza della luce. Come su un palcoscenico, le scelte e le colpe sono rappresentate al di là dell'essere e della finzione, si muovono essenziali e durature nelle coscienze opache dei personaggi: esseri umani trattati con profondità stilistica e onestà da un superstite che non riesce a non amare, sebbene in modo ambivalente, i propri tragici soggetti, irraggiungibili e crudeli prigionieri.
“E in quel modo, sorridendo, accompagnando la musica col capo, procedette per un altro miglio o due, e finse di non sapere che già stava rallentando, che presto avrebbe fatto inversione, finse di poter continuare a guidare così, da solo, e di avere la risposta giusta da dare a sua moglie quando sulla porta di casa lei gli avrebbe chiesto, E lui dov'è? Dov'è tuo fratello?”
February 18, 2023
Много, много добри разкази на Тобаяс Улф! Отне ми малко време, докато навляза в стила му, но определено мога вече да кажа, че отдавна не съм чела толкова психологически издържани истории. Повествованието започва кротко, постепенно се сгъстява, наелектризира и тъкмо когато очакваш някаква "бомба", отново притихва с привидно нищонеслучващ завършек.
Много обичам такова писане: не ти говори директно, не те омайва с описания на състояния, а гради персонажите основно през диалози.
Героите са в голямата си част неудачници, с някакви свои тихи борби и потиснати провали, обаче толкова хубаво тази тяхна драматичност е вплетена в баналното на делника и това я прави още по-достъпна за съпреживяване.
Много ми харесва, че точно, когато очакваш някаква смелост, обрат, нещо, за което не ти стиска, и си мислиш, че имаш нужда да го прочетеш в книга (за геройство, някакво разчупване), и хоп - Улф ти сервира съвсем баналното - тъкмо това, което средностатистическият човек най-вероятно би направил. Много е истинско това и точно то ме вълнува повече.
Поздравления за чудесното издание на изд. Кръг и за избора на Антония Апостолова като редактор, както и за послеслова, написан от нея, който дава допълнителни ключове за четене прозата на Улф.
Много обичам такова писане: не ти говори директно, не те омайва с описания на състояния, а гради персонажите основно през диалози.
Героите са в голямата си част неудачници, с някакви свои тихи борби и потиснати провали, обаче толкова хубаво тази тяхна драматичност е вплетена в баналното на делника и това я прави още по-достъпна за съпреживяване.
Много ми харесва, че точно, когато очакваш някаква смелост, обрат, нещо, за което не ти стиска, и си мислиш, че имаш нужда да го прочетеш в книга (за геройство, някакво разчупване), и хоп - Улф ти сервира съвсем баналното - тъкмо това, което средностатистическият човек най-вероятно би направил. Много е истинско това и точно то ме вълнува повече.
Поздравления за чудесното издание на изд. Кръг и за избора на Антония Апостолова като редактор, както и за послеслова, написан от нея, който дава допълнителни ключове за четене прозата на Улф.
September 24, 2023
Две неща имам за споделяне относно разказите на Тобаяс Улф. Уточнявам, че колекцията от стари разкази ме грабна, но новите - не чак толкова. Първото е, че Улф наистина е майстор на началата: странно и безпрецедентно, но всяко начало на разказ така ме грабваше, че до известна степен напълно засищаше глада ми и краят все повече губеше значение. Второто е, че съм впечатлена от неизменната нишка в разказите (старите), която се повтаряше във всички тях. Говоря за една скрита, подпочвена нравствена брънка, която, чрез отражения обратно към източника, дава облика на разказа с настъпването на края му. Неясните усещания и някак застрашителната атмосфера, а и отвореният, но морално разкрит в лицето на протагонистите си финал, също много ми допаднаха. Връщането назад във времето, асоциациите - наглед случайни и напълно откъснати и неадекватни, но именно затова толкова реалистични и истински, отношенията между хората - всичко това също е невероятно.
Но тъй като трудно харесвам разкази, не мога да кажа, че съм зашеметена. Понякога формалният сюжет, погледнат в едър план, бе разочароващ. Във всеки случай ще продължавам да чета Тобаяс Улф, права е Антония в редакторската си бележка. :)
Но тъй като трудно харесвам разкази, не мога да кажа, че съм зашеметена. Понякога формалният сюжет, погледнат в едър план, бе разочароващ. Във всеки случай ще продължавам да чета Тобаяс Улф, права е Антония в редакторската си бележка. :)
May 15, 2008
Tobias Wolff is the acknowledged master of the short story form, and I would argue memoir as well. After briefly meeting the author for the first time, I know that the gravitas and succinctness of his language is balanced by an equally perceptive mind and a quickness of intelligence that seems to catch the slightness shimmer in the light of human discourse. It is here he pounces and finds the meat of these startling and gripping stories. There are new stories in this collection, reflecting the writer of the last few years, and Wolff has also selected a broad range of his previously published stories. He acknowledges in the foreword the question of revisiting one's earlier published work or not, and that as an author he feels it is a gift to the reader to make housekeeping edits when he finds a sentence or word needs it. Wolff believes the act of writing is a dynamic process of evolution and rewriting, and so then, publishing. His stories evolve as he sees them needing to. This collection is a book no reader of Wolff's fiction will want to miss.
December 31, 2008
I may be a little bias on this one, cause if you ask me (go ahead, ask!) I'll tell you that I think Tobias Wolff is the greatest living American writer. This greatest hits collection has all of his best stories: "In the Garden of North American Martyrs," "Hunters in the Snow" (one of my all-time favs) "Flyboys," "The Other Miller," "Smorgasbord," "The Night in Question," and "Bullet in the Brain" (another all-time great.)
Reading Wolff is like taking a graduate level writing course on literary fiction. He's practically flawless in his execution and his stories are completely unforgettable and breathtaking.
I will say this... his "new stories" at the end, aren't quite as impressive as his earlier body of work, but they're pretty good. It would be virtually impossible to write better stories than the ones he penned in his thirties and forties... nobody could write better stories (not even the man himself) than olde Toby did in his salad years.
Believe it.
Reading Wolff is like taking a graduate level writing course on literary fiction. He's practically flawless in his execution and his stories are completely unforgettable and breathtaking.
I will say this... his "new stories" at the end, aren't quite as impressive as his earlier body of work, but they're pretty good. It would be virtually impossible to write better stories than the ones he penned in his thirties and forties... nobody could write better stories (not even the man himself) than olde Toby did in his salad years.
Believe it.
June 13, 2022
Hikaye okuma kültürü yavaş yavaş gelişen bir okur olarak itiraf etmeliyim ki Tobias Wolff ilginç bir deneyimdi benim için. Genel olarak da dillendirilmesi zor kitap olduğunu itiraf etmeliyim. Hikayeler iç içe geçmiş, her kesimden insanın yer aldığı görünüşte hiçbir amacı olmayan gibi gözüken ama kademeli olarak okurda farklı hisler bırakan çok zekice öykülerden oluşan bir kitap
Sadece burda bir önemli konuya değinmek istiyorum. Türk yayıncıları böyle önemli yazarların ara kitaplarından (örnekler: Alef Yayınları, Juan Carlos Onetti-Santa Maria Üçlemesi) başlayarak birçok değerli yazarın Türk okuru açısından kaybolmasına neden olabiliyor. Wolff içinde benzer bir durum söz konusu olabileceği hissine kapılarak başladım okumaya. Ki bir çok eleştirmen bu kitabın, Wolff'un en iyi kitaplarından biri sayıyor. (Ki 1985-2008 arasında yazılan hikayeleri içeriyor diye hatırlıyorum).
Fakat, öyküye benim gibi çok aşina olmayan ve yavaş ısınan bir okur olarak, ilk kez bir yazarın bu kitabından mı başlamalıyım, acaba önceki öykülerindeki konular nasıldı diye merak ettim.Sanırım bunu ileride yazarın diğer öykülerini okuyarak bulabileceğim.
Wolff okuruna, öykü kahramanın sesini duyurmayı başarabilen çok iyi bir yazar. Yukarıda bahsetmiş olduğum mızmız hislerime rağmen ileri sayfalarda vermiş olduğu okuma keyfini de bir yana bırakamam. Bu nedenle de 5 vermeyi kendimce uygun görüyorum.
Özetle, eğer öyküyle çok aranız yoksa ya da öncesinde öykü okuma pratiğiniz yoksa kitabı daha ilk öyküde bir yana bırakabilme olasılığınız yüksek. Fakat, gene de bunu bile tam netlik içinde söyleyemiyorum.
Okuyup kendiniz karar verin:)
İyi okumalar!
5/5
Sadece burda bir önemli konuya değinmek istiyorum. Türk yayıncıları böyle önemli yazarların ara kitaplarından (örnekler: Alef Yayınları, Juan Carlos Onetti-Santa Maria Üçlemesi) başlayarak birçok değerli yazarın Türk okuru açısından kaybolmasına neden olabiliyor. Wolff içinde benzer bir durum söz konusu olabileceği hissine kapılarak başladım okumaya. Ki bir çok eleştirmen bu kitabın, Wolff'un en iyi kitaplarından biri sayıyor. (Ki 1985-2008 arasında yazılan hikayeleri içeriyor diye hatırlıyorum).
Fakat, öyküye benim gibi çok aşina olmayan ve yavaş ısınan bir okur olarak, ilk kez bir yazarın bu kitabından mı başlamalıyım, acaba önceki öykülerindeki konular nasıldı diye merak ettim.Sanırım bunu ileride yazarın diğer öykülerini okuyarak bulabileceğim.
Wolff okuruna, öykü kahramanın sesini duyurmayı başarabilen çok iyi bir yazar. Yukarıda bahsetmiş olduğum mızmız hislerime rağmen ileri sayfalarda vermiş olduğu okuma keyfini de bir yana bırakamam. Bu nedenle de 5 vermeyi kendimce uygun görüyorum.
Özetle, eğer öyküyle çok aranız yoksa ya da öncesinde öykü okuma pratiğiniz yoksa kitabı daha ilk öyküde bir yana bırakabilme olasılığınız yüksek. Fakat, gene de bunu bile tam netlik içinde söyleyemiyorum.
Okuyup kendiniz karar verin:)
İyi okumalar!
5/5
December 22, 2017
The writing and storytelling really deserve 5 stars, as Tobias Wolff is a master of the craft. Some of the stories and language were a little "rough" for my delicate ears. So, it gets 4 stars.
Will write my review later.
Will write my review later.
June 26, 2008
Wolff is arguably our best short story writer, the American most likely to fall short of William Trevor or Alice Munro in the world competition. (If you’re interested in the argument there is Edward Jones and E. Annie Proulx to consider. And others I’m sure. For example, I’ve not yet read Deborah Eisenberg, whose name also hits such lists.) This collection of thirty-one stories spanning Wolff’s career has a number of choice stories (“In the Garden of the North American Martyrs,” “The Liar,” “The Rich Brother,” “Morals,” “Flyboys,” “Sanity,” “The Chain,” “Powder,” “Firelight,” “Bullet in the Brain,” “Mature Student,” and “Deep Kiss”), and a few so-so ones, and a couple that you never believe (“Hunter in the Snow” and “Desert Breakdown, 1968”), and at least one clear dog (“Her Dog,” irony unintended). The stories that don’t work so well seem academic exercises (“Two Boys and a Girl,” Hemingway’s “The End of Something” meets Tom Sawyer) or have their feet in waters better swum by Raymond Carver. The ones that work are more stubborn in their humanity, finding something recognizably human in a character’s weakness and strength, his or her dependence on others, reliable or not, reciprocal or not. The good ones you can extend beyond their final sentences if you choose. The less good ones stop cold at story’s end. Wolff is a fine craftsmen and sharp-eyed and eared observer of his past and the world around him. He’s very good, as the collection proves, and one should be able to stop short of the hanging but and leave it at that. It’s no mean accomplishment to write good, sometimes great, short stories.
March 9, 2015
This is a really really good collection of short stories. It's like I've found another brilliant short story writer after Raymond Carver and Alive Munro to adore :))
Tobias Wolff's stories tell me about ordinary American people, both rich and poor, blue-collar and white-collar, lucky and unlucky, content with life or in a mishap, but they all face the struggle to overcome the harshness life has given them, and all the shit other people have thrown at them, while trying their best to remain the people they think they are. However, throughout those stories, those struggles, their dark sides also appear, which, in some stories, leads to devastating consequences.
The way Mr. Wolff told his stories is cold, some what indifferent, but their is also something heartbreaking, sorrowful and haunting in it, which creating the absolute effect and feeling to best convey not only the meaning of those stories, but also Wolff's own writing style.
There are some stories that I didn't quite understand the ending or where the author wanted to take it to, so I cannot give it a straight 5 star. But overall, this collection of short stories is still among the very best I've read throughout my entire avid reading life ^^ My favorite (and also I think the best) stories in this collection are "Hunters in the Snow", "The Rich Brother", "Desert Breakdown, 1968", "The Chain", "The Night in Question", "Bullet in the Brain" and "Deep Kiss".
Tobias Wolff's stories tell me about ordinary American people, both rich and poor, blue-collar and white-collar, lucky and unlucky, content with life or in a mishap, but they all face the struggle to overcome the harshness life has given them, and all the shit other people have thrown at them, while trying their best to remain the people they think they are. However, throughout those stories, those struggles, their dark sides also appear, which, in some stories, leads to devastating consequences.
The way Mr. Wolff told his stories is cold, some what indifferent, but their is also something heartbreaking, sorrowful and haunting in it, which creating the absolute effect and feeling to best convey not only the meaning of those stories, but also Wolff's own writing style.
There are some stories that I didn't quite understand the ending or where the author wanted to take it to, so I cannot give it a straight 5 star. But overall, this collection of short stories is still among the very best I've read throughout my entire avid reading life ^^ My favorite (and also I think the best) stories in this collection are "Hunters in the Snow", "The Rich Brother", "Desert Breakdown, 1968", "The Chain", "The Night in Question", "Bullet in the Brain" and "Deep Kiss".
November 10, 2015
Đọc xong quyển này đã vài ngày rồi, nhưng cảm giác mông lung vẫn đọng lại đâu đây. Những quyết định đã, đang và có thể sẽ phải đưa ra vào một lúc nào đấy trong cuộc sống này, nó mang tính ám ảnh dai dẳng. Nó, giống như lời tác giả nói, là những sắc xám bất tận, ở đó - giữa cuộc sống này - không có trắng đen rạch ròi như ta được học, nó dẫn ta đi đến những bất an nối tiếp bất an, nhưng rồi ta vẫn sẽ phải sống và ra quyết định đến khi trút hơi thở cuối cùng. Mỗi quyết định của ta đều có thể được ghi lại đẹp đẽ như thế này, chỉ cần nhớ vậy, và câu chuyện của mỗi người đều đã đang bắt đầu...
July 8, 2015
¡Odio las mudanzas! Llegas a tu nueva casa y no sabes dónde está nada. Te has de acostumbrar a la nueva distribución de habitaciones y de muebles. Las primeras noches apenas duermes porque no acabas de adaptarte a las nuevas vistas desde la cama. Y así con todo hasta que no pasan unos días o semanas. Pues para mí leer estos cuentos (y casi cualquier antología) me ha supuesto una mudanza constante. Comienzo el cuento, conozco a los personajes, unos empiezan a gustarme más que otros. Me adentro en la historia, dejo que me empape y... se acaba el cuento. Después del esfuerzo que he necesitado para meterme en la historia. Y es que a mí me cuesta mucho meterme en los libros, pocas veces me engancho en las primeras páginas, necesito varios capítulos, algo que no puedo encontrar en los cuentos. Me supone un esfuerzo extra, esfuerzo que no me importa invertir en una novela porque sé que sólo he de hacerlo una vez, porque después ya estoy dentro, el libro se ha convertido en mi nueva casa.
Leer 'Aquí empieza nuestra historia' me ha costado mucho, tanto que he necesitado de lecturas intermedias de otros libros para pasar el trago, algo que no hago casi nunca. He de admitir que algunos cuentos los he dejado a mitad, algo que también me cuesta hacer. Y no es que sea un libro de relatos mal escrito. Tobias Wolff es un gran escritor, y algunos cuentos podrían haber dado más de sí. De hecho, 'Vieja escuela', su última novela publicada en España, es una obra maestra. Pero estos cuentos no me han enganchado por todo lo anterior y por las temáticas de algunos de ellos, para mi gusto les falta algo, fuerza. No sé. Definitivamente, no me gustan las mudanzas, aunque podrían ser divertidas con según que "compañía".
Leer 'Aquí empieza nuestra historia' me ha costado mucho, tanto que he necesitado de lecturas intermedias de otros libros para pasar el trago, algo que no hago casi nunca. He de admitir que algunos cuentos los he dejado a mitad, algo que también me cuesta hacer. Y no es que sea un libro de relatos mal escrito. Tobias Wolff es un gran escritor, y algunos cuentos podrían haber dado más de sí. De hecho, 'Vieja escuela', su última novela publicada en España, es una obra maestra. Pero estos cuentos no me han enganchado por todo lo anterior y por las temáticas de algunos de ellos, para mi gusto les falta algo, fuerza. No sé. Definitivamente, no me gustan las mudanzas, aunque podrían ser divertidas con según que "compañía".
July 12, 2011
Tobias Wolff writes a short story the old-fashioned way: beginning, middle, end, with a climax and some resonance in there somewhere. In that he resembles luminaries like Flannery O'Connor and Jhumpa Lahiri, as well as more mechanical writers like O. Henry.
You could say he specializes in unreliable narrators, but I think that's too narrow a characterization. Wolff's narrators are all lacking in common sense and self-awareness, often to the point of being tragically oblivious. In fact, you could say that about most of his characters.
But if the denizens of his fiction lack self-awareness, it's only because people lack self-awareness in general.
His prose is crisp without the hyper-masculine artificiality of a Hemingway or a Cormac McCarthy.
I would recommend his writing to writers who gravitate toward short prose and the style of dirty realism. For those who have trouble figuring out the difference between plot, story, and an anvil to the head.
You could say he specializes in unreliable narrators, but I think that's too narrow a characterization. Wolff's narrators are all lacking in common sense and self-awareness, often to the point of being tragically oblivious. In fact, you could say that about most of his characters.
But if the denizens of his fiction lack self-awareness, it's only because people lack self-awareness in general.
His prose is crisp without the hyper-masculine artificiality of a Hemingway or a Cormac McCarthy.
I would recommend his writing to writers who gravitate toward short prose and the style of dirty realism. For those who have trouble figuring out the difference between plot, story, and an anvil to the head.
November 12, 2018
خیلی دلم میخواست یکی از کتاب های این نویسنده رو بخونم و با کارهاش آشنا بشم. خیلی لذت بردم بطوریکه حتی متوجه نشدم کی تموم شد. درسته که به داستان های کوتاه علاقمند نیستم اما داستان های کوتاه نویسنده های خوش بیان مثل دیوید سداریس یا ریچارد براتیگن و الان هم توبیاس ولف بسیار دلنشین هستند
March 10, 2015
دلم میخواد بهش3.5 بدم ولی دلم نمیاد بهش 4 بدم.چیکار باید کرد آیا؟؟
November 28, 2010
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news...
Master of the craft
Wolff's greatest hits so far share precision of language, humor, moral complexity
By Jenny Shank, Special to the Rocky
Published March 28, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.
If any short story writer working today has earned the right to release his greatest hits, it's Tobias Wolff.
Wolff has been at the top of his game for a long time - so long that many young writers have probably grown old watching him hit homers while they sit on the bench, waiting for the guy to start whiffing and free up some space in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Esquire and Harper's.
They'd better get comfortable, because after 30 years, Wolff hasn't taken his eye off the ball.
Aspiring writers could use his new collection Our Story Begins: New and Selected Stories- featuring 10 new pieces and 21 of Wolff's classics - as a manual on how to craft a great story. Wolff's best stories share a precision of language, humor, psychological and moral complexity, and what, for lack of a better term, I'll call "heart," that indefinable quality that turns characters into living, breathing humans and arouses empathy in the reader.
Although some of the pieces have similar themes - stories of mother-son relationships or characters with a military background are common - they are never formulaic. Indeed, the most recent pieces find Wolff reaching out in surprising directions, including Her Dog, in which a man engages in a sort of telepathic conversation with his late wife's dog, and The Benefit of the Doubt, which is set in Italy (all the others are set in the U.S.).
Our Story reveals a definite progression in Wolff's career. He was good right at the beginning, but still managed to grow, in part by homing in on the subject matter that makes the best use of his gifts.
Some of the early stories in the book seem a touch watered down in comparison to the potent tales he's been writing since his 1999 collection, The Night in Question. For example, Leviathan is about a cocaine-fueled 30th birthday party, the action largely cycling around witty banter between two couples. It's well-written, but seems more like Raymond Carver's territory than Wolff's.
Even so, there are several great early stories, including the evocative, tension-filled Desert Breakdown, 1968, about a vulnerable young couple with a baby and another on the way whose car breaks down in a desert town on their way to L.A. to pursue the husband's show-business dreams. The Liar, a mother-son relationship tale, prefigures the story Wolff went on to tell in the memoir This Boy's Life. And in Soldier's Joy, Wolff began to explore the theme of one soldier's second-guessing his own actions and motivations that he would pursue further in the memoir In Pharaoh's Army.
The sweet spot of Wolff's story-writing career undoubtedly began with The Night in Question. Every entry in that collection was a marvel of humor, artistic control and human insight. Embedded amid Wolff's earlier and later stories here, they shine. (Our Story includes 12 of that collection's original 14.)
Contenders for the title of best of Wolff's best include the hilarious and heartfelt Smorgasbord, the powerful, condensed Powder and Flyboys, which perfectly captures the way children form and dissolve friendships based on instincts they can't yet understand, and how a child's apparently innocent decisions can cause pangs of moral regret that last for years.
Wolff's precise control of English puts many of us who thought we were using the same language to shame. Take the passage from Smorgasbord, in which a teenager at an elite boarding school has been invited to go out to dinner with the glamorous stepmother of a classmate who "was the nephew of a famous dictator." Also invited along is the uncouth Crosley, who suggests they take this ravishing woman to a smorgasbord called "Swenson's, or Hanson's, some such honest Swede of a name."
The narrator describes the scene there: " . . . some of the people around us had completely slipped their moorings. They ducked their heads low to shovel up their food, and while they chewed it they looked around suspiciously and circled their plates with their forearms. . . . There was something competitive and desperate about them; they seemed determined to eat their way into a condition where they would never have to eat again."
The story builds to an uproarious crescendo. I saw Wolff read Smorgasbord once; people in the audience were crying from laughing so hard. But then it pivots gracefully, heading into more profound territory.
"We're supposed to smile at the passions of the young, and at what we recall of our own passions, as if they were no more than a series of sweet frauds we'd fooled ourselves with and then wised up to," Wolff writes about the narrator's remembrance of a teenage love affair. "Yet there was nothing foolish about what we felt. Nothing merely young. I just wasn't up to it. I let the light go out."
The complexity of emotion Wolff evokes within the space of a few pages, from hilarity to heartbreak, is often nothing short of astonishing.
The final section of Our Story features the new stories, and Wolff works out some interesting, diverse tensions in this group of tales. Although not all are as strong as those from The Night in Question, some clear masterworks stand out, especially Awaiting Orders, about a career military officer who has concealed his homosexuality in order to preserve his job. Wolff handles this subject with subtlety and vigor. Reading it, you appreciate the intelligence of the author, who has fully imagined the moral convolutions such a situation can engender.
Our Story may be the summation of Wolff's story-writing career to date, but as its title suggests, he clearly has more tales to tell, and thankfully for his readers, the undiminished storytelling gifts with which to tell them.
Jenny Shank's fiction has appeared in Michigan Quarterly Review and other journals. She also writes about books for NewWest.net. The author lives in Boulder.
On short story writing
"It's like spelunking, with a light on your hat. You keep going into different chambers until you find a chamber that seems to you to be the right one; you're descending into dark and unknown territory and you can never see very far ahead."
- Tobias Wolff in a Salon.com interview
Tobias Wolff
* What and when: Appears at 7:30 p.m. April 4 at the Tattered Cover, Colfax Avenue at Elizabeth Street
* Cost: Free
* Information: 303-322-7727
Our Story Begins: New and Selected Stories
* By Tobias Wolff. Alfred A. Knopf, 400 pages, $26.95.
* Grade: A
Master of the craft
Wolff's greatest hits so far share precision of language, humor, moral complexity
By Jenny Shank, Special to the Rocky
Published March 28, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.
If any short story writer working today has earned the right to release his greatest hits, it's Tobias Wolff.
Wolff has been at the top of his game for a long time - so long that many young writers have probably grown old watching him hit homers while they sit on the bench, waiting for the guy to start whiffing and free up some space in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Esquire and Harper's.
They'd better get comfortable, because after 30 years, Wolff hasn't taken his eye off the ball.
Aspiring writers could use his new collection Our Story Begins: New and Selected Stories- featuring 10 new pieces and 21 of Wolff's classics - as a manual on how to craft a great story. Wolff's best stories share a precision of language, humor, psychological and moral complexity, and what, for lack of a better term, I'll call "heart," that indefinable quality that turns characters into living, breathing humans and arouses empathy in the reader.
Although some of the pieces have similar themes - stories of mother-son relationships or characters with a military background are common - they are never formulaic. Indeed, the most recent pieces find Wolff reaching out in surprising directions, including Her Dog, in which a man engages in a sort of telepathic conversation with his late wife's dog, and The Benefit of the Doubt, which is set in Italy (all the others are set in the U.S.).
Our Story reveals a definite progression in Wolff's career. He was good right at the beginning, but still managed to grow, in part by homing in on the subject matter that makes the best use of his gifts.
Some of the early stories in the book seem a touch watered down in comparison to the potent tales he's been writing since his 1999 collection, The Night in Question. For example, Leviathan is about a cocaine-fueled 30th birthday party, the action largely cycling around witty banter between two couples. It's well-written, but seems more like Raymond Carver's territory than Wolff's.
Even so, there are several great early stories, including the evocative, tension-filled Desert Breakdown, 1968, about a vulnerable young couple with a baby and another on the way whose car breaks down in a desert town on their way to L.A. to pursue the husband's show-business dreams. The Liar, a mother-son relationship tale, prefigures the story Wolff went on to tell in the memoir This Boy's Life. And in Soldier's Joy, Wolff began to explore the theme of one soldier's second-guessing his own actions and motivations that he would pursue further in the memoir In Pharaoh's Army.
The sweet spot of Wolff's story-writing career undoubtedly began with The Night in Question. Every entry in that collection was a marvel of humor, artistic control and human insight. Embedded amid Wolff's earlier and later stories here, they shine. (Our Story includes 12 of that collection's original 14.)
Contenders for the title of best of Wolff's best include the hilarious and heartfelt Smorgasbord, the powerful, condensed Powder and Flyboys, which perfectly captures the way children form and dissolve friendships based on instincts they can't yet understand, and how a child's apparently innocent decisions can cause pangs of moral regret that last for years.
Wolff's precise control of English puts many of us who thought we were using the same language to shame. Take the passage from Smorgasbord, in which a teenager at an elite boarding school has been invited to go out to dinner with the glamorous stepmother of a classmate who "was the nephew of a famous dictator." Also invited along is the uncouth Crosley, who suggests they take this ravishing woman to a smorgasbord called "Swenson's, or Hanson's, some such honest Swede of a name."
The narrator describes the scene there: " . . . some of the people around us had completely slipped their moorings. They ducked their heads low to shovel up their food, and while they chewed it they looked around suspiciously and circled their plates with their forearms. . . . There was something competitive and desperate about them; they seemed determined to eat their way into a condition where they would never have to eat again."
The story builds to an uproarious crescendo. I saw Wolff read Smorgasbord once; people in the audience were crying from laughing so hard. But then it pivots gracefully, heading into more profound territory.
"We're supposed to smile at the passions of the young, and at what we recall of our own passions, as if they were no more than a series of sweet frauds we'd fooled ourselves with and then wised up to," Wolff writes about the narrator's remembrance of a teenage love affair. "Yet there was nothing foolish about what we felt. Nothing merely young. I just wasn't up to it. I let the light go out."
The complexity of emotion Wolff evokes within the space of a few pages, from hilarity to heartbreak, is often nothing short of astonishing.
The final section of Our Story features the new stories, and Wolff works out some interesting, diverse tensions in this group of tales. Although not all are as strong as those from The Night in Question, some clear masterworks stand out, especially Awaiting Orders, about a career military officer who has concealed his homosexuality in order to preserve his job. Wolff handles this subject with subtlety and vigor. Reading it, you appreciate the intelligence of the author, who has fully imagined the moral convolutions such a situation can engender.
Our Story may be the summation of Wolff's story-writing career to date, but as its title suggests, he clearly has more tales to tell, and thankfully for his readers, the undiminished storytelling gifts with which to tell them.
Jenny Shank's fiction has appeared in Michigan Quarterly Review and other journals. She also writes about books for NewWest.net. The author lives in Boulder.
On short story writing
"It's like spelunking, with a light on your hat. You keep going into different chambers until you find a chamber that seems to you to be the right one; you're descending into dark and unknown territory and you can never see very far ahead."
- Tobias Wolff in a Salon.com interview
Tobias Wolff
* What and when: Appears at 7:30 p.m. April 4 at the Tattered Cover, Colfax Avenue at Elizabeth Street
* Cost: Free
* Information: 303-322-7727
Our Story Begins: New and Selected Stories
* By Tobias Wolff. Alfred A. Knopf, 400 pages, $26.95.
* Grade: A
April 9, 2023
Uneven, especially the ’new’ stories, and maybe this could have been a leaner, meaner collection at 270 rather than 370 pages, but there are enough classics here — ”Bullet in the Brain,” ”The Other Miller,” ”Desert Breakdown, 1968,” ”Hunters in the Snow,” ”Soldier’s Joy,” ”Powder,” ”Next Door” — to give newcomers a taste for Wolff’s mastery of the short story form. Inevitably, one thinks of what’s been left out: ”Sister,” for example, ”Casualty” and ”Our Story Begins,” which is only present in the book’s title. Still, highly recommended.
June 14, 2025
To najlepsze opowiadania, jakie czytałam. Czytasz je i wiesz doskonale, że to klasyczna literatura amerykańska - język jest prosty, nie ma w nim poetyckości, ale ma w sobie coś, co przyciąga i sprawia, że chce się pochłaniać stronę za stroną. Historie są proste, życiowe, ludzkie - nie ma tu fajerwerków czy szalonych zwrotów akcji, ale jednocześnie to opowiadania szalenie angażujące. Często czytając opowiadania towarzyszy mi niedosyt - tutaj zupełnie tego nie miałam, Wolff świetnie je wyważył, wie doskonale, gdzie zakończyć historię. Przez całą lekturę miałam w głowie, że to literatura bardzo steinbeckowska.
April 12, 2019
I read these slowly and had time to savor each story. They're pretty consistently centered around men, but I guess if he writes what he knows, he can do it perfectly.
April 4, 2008
By MARC WEINGARTEN
When it comes to mapping the calibrations of the human heart, no writer working today is as exacting a cartographer as Tobias Wolff. Bucking the modernist tide, Wolff writes shapely short stories with structural integrity about ordinary people with desperation haunting their souls. No meditative drift or open-ended conclusions for this writer; he’s an old-fashioned storyteller in the best sense of that word.
As amply demonstrated in Our Story Begins, a brilliant collection of his work over the past 26 years, Wolff’s genius comes in grappling with big themes within a modest narrative framework. In Wolff’s most searing work, his characters are beaten down by adulthood and all of its attendant disappointments, scratching and clawing for redemption that never comes. Often in Wolff’s stories, there’s a moment when the memories of an idealized past — or at least an idea of how one’s life might have played out given a different set of circumstances — clash with the soul-crushing drudgery of the present. It’s never a pretty sight. But Wolff obviously has affection for these characters. He’s a writer of great empathy and tenderness.
This anthology reads like the greatest hits of a fiction rock star. With the 1981 publication of his first book, In the Garden of the North American Martyrs, Wolff gave notice to the masters of the short-story form. Subsequent collections have only found Wolff going deeper into his art, finding new ways of confusing, and occasionally abetting, his characters’ search for self-worth and meaning.
Read the rest of Marc Weingarten's review here:
http://www.laweekly.com/art+books/boo...
When it comes to mapping the calibrations of the human heart, no writer working today is as exacting a cartographer as Tobias Wolff. Bucking the modernist tide, Wolff writes shapely short stories with structural integrity about ordinary people with desperation haunting their souls. No meditative drift or open-ended conclusions for this writer; he’s an old-fashioned storyteller in the best sense of that word.
As amply demonstrated in Our Story Begins, a brilliant collection of his work over the past 26 years, Wolff’s genius comes in grappling with big themes within a modest narrative framework. In Wolff’s most searing work, his characters are beaten down by adulthood and all of its attendant disappointments, scratching and clawing for redemption that never comes. Often in Wolff’s stories, there’s a moment when the memories of an idealized past — or at least an idea of how one’s life might have played out given a different set of circumstances — clash with the soul-crushing drudgery of the present. It’s never a pretty sight. But Wolff obviously has affection for these characters. He’s a writer of great empathy and tenderness.
This anthology reads like the greatest hits of a fiction rock star. With the 1981 publication of his first book, In the Garden of the North American Martyrs, Wolff gave notice to the masters of the short-story form. Subsequent collections have only found Wolff going deeper into his art, finding new ways of confusing, and occasionally abetting, his characters’ search for self-worth and meaning.
Read the rest of Marc Weingarten's review here:
http://www.laweekly.com/art+books/boo...
November 5, 2022
CHUYỆN CHÚNG TA BẮT ĐẦU - TOBIAS WOLFF.
Nếu được đặt lại tên sách, mình chọn cái tên KẺ NÓI DỐI là một truyện ngắn trong tập truyện ngắn này. Những lời nói dối trong quyển sách này xuất hiện theo nhiều cách khác nhau và cũng mang nhiều mục đích khác nhau. Đó có thể là lời nói dối của Louise rằng sẽ có một công việc mới cho Mary, để giúp Mary có một chuyến đi du lịch giải toả tâm lý, đồng thời là một cơ hội để Mary thể hiện bản thân mình. Là những lời nói dối của James khi phải trốn đi cái thực tại là đời tư bị người mẹ xâm chiếm, dần dần cậu tạo luôn cho mình một thế giới thực trong những lời nói dối ấy. Lời nói dối của Helen rằng mình ổn, để cùng Tom vượt qua nỗi sợ. Hay những lời nói dối của Donal để lấy lòng thương hại và tiền bạc của anh trai mình. Lời nói dối nó cũng xấu xa như việc nó là thứ hỗ trợ để Brain Gold gián tiếp giết con chó và cậu nhóc Marcel Foley,....
Một cảm giác chung khi mình đọc truyện ngắn của văn học Mỹ đối với mình là một cảm giác khó chịu, tập truyện ngắn lần trước mình đọc là Mình nói gì khi nói về chuyện tình, cái cảm giác khó chịu nó đến từ các nhân vật khá là cục súc, hình ảnh người này cứ chạy theo người kia cũng làm mình bực bội, cũng có nhiều đoạn hài hước nhưng mà cười xong rồi nghĩ lại thì nó hơi " tối ".
Điểm yêu thích và mình thấy khá độc đáo ở tập truyện ngắn này đó là cách kể truyện trong truyện, trong những câu truyện ngắn sẽ gặp một câu truyện ngắn hơn nữa, thường là về quá khứ của nhân vật.
Mình sẽ đọc lại quyển này vào một thời điểm khác trong đời, ai cũng từng nói dối nhưng lời nói đó có gây xấu hay không còn phải tuỳ thuộc vào hoàn cảnh. Khi đọc lại lần nữa, mình chắc sẽ tìm ra điều thú vị mới từ quyển sách này.
P/s: câu trên ảnh là một đoạn mình rất thích của quyển sách.
Nếu được đặt lại tên sách, mình chọn cái tên KẺ NÓI DỐI là một truyện ngắn trong tập truyện ngắn này. Những lời nói dối trong quyển sách này xuất hiện theo nhiều cách khác nhau và cũng mang nhiều mục đích khác nhau. Đó có thể là lời nói dối của Louise rằng sẽ có một công việc mới cho Mary, để giúp Mary có một chuyến đi du lịch giải toả tâm lý, đồng thời là một cơ hội để Mary thể hiện bản thân mình. Là những lời nói dối của James khi phải trốn đi cái thực tại là đời tư bị người mẹ xâm chiếm, dần dần cậu tạo luôn cho mình một thế giới thực trong những lời nói dối ấy. Lời nói dối của Helen rằng mình ổn, để cùng Tom vượt qua nỗi sợ. Hay những lời nói dối của Donal để lấy lòng thương hại và tiền bạc của anh trai mình. Lời nói dối nó cũng xấu xa như việc nó là thứ hỗ trợ để Brain Gold gián tiếp giết con chó và cậu nhóc Marcel Foley,....
Một cảm giác chung khi mình đọc truyện ngắn của văn học Mỹ đối với mình là một cảm giác khó chịu, tập truyện ngắn lần trước mình đọc là Mình nói gì khi nói về chuyện tình, cái cảm giác khó chịu nó đến từ các nhân vật khá là cục súc, hình ảnh người này cứ chạy theo người kia cũng làm mình bực bội, cũng có nhiều đoạn hài hước nhưng mà cười xong rồi nghĩ lại thì nó hơi " tối ".
Điểm yêu thích và mình thấy khá độc đáo ở tập truyện ngắn này đó là cách kể truyện trong truyện, trong những câu truyện ngắn sẽ gặp một câu truyện ngắn hơn nữa, thường là về quá khứ của nhân vật.
Mình sẽ đọc lại quyển này vào một thời điểm khác trong đời, ai cũng từng nói dối nhưng lời nói đó có gây xấu hay không còn phải tuỳ thuộc vào hoàn cảnh. Khi đọc lại lần nữa, mình chắc sẽ tìm ra điều thú vị mới từ quyển sách này.
P/s: câu trên ảnh là một đoạn mình rất thích của quyển sách.
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February 5, 2009Acclaimed writer Marianne Wiggins notes in the Los Angles Times: "When it's done well, the economy, the rigor, the precision that the [short story] demands are hardly noticed by its consumer. But it is more difficult to write, in its line-to-line execution, than any other narrative conceit. And Tobias Wolff is a genius at it." That assessment sums up the general opinion of Wolff's many reviewers, who praise his mastery of the form, his compassion, and his openness to life's many twists and turns. There is some disagreement about which of the collection's tales, many first published in the New Yorker, is the best and which one or two might have been left out in favor of others that are not included here. With the notable exception of the New York Times's Michiko Kakutani, critics seem to agree wholeheartedly with Wiggins's opinion that this extraordinary collection "is a volume that belongs on everybody's shelf."
This is an excerpt from a review published in Bookmarks magazine.
April 19, 2012
I loved this collection. I'd previously only read the novella "The Barracks Thief" - which I thought was superb and perfectly formed - so I was looking forward to reading some of Wolff's selected earlier stories (from anthologies I already wanted to check out, and still do) as well as the precious newer offerings.
Others here have reviewed more eloquently what you might find intriguing and beautiful in these many little gems of contemporary literature. I don't think I disliked a single one, but those that really stood out for me were "Desert Breakdown '68", "The Other Miller", "Benefit of the Doubt", "Deep Kiss", and well, really I could go on and on, but I don't have my library copy to hand and these are the ones that occur to me now...
If you love short fiction or were curious to try it again after a disappointing earlier foray then read this book. Each story says so much and leaves you entirely wrapped up in the world that the author just created. If you've never read short fiction - Tobias Wolff is a master. I now want to read everything he has ever had published.
Others here have reviewed more eloquently what you might find intriguing and beautiful in these many little gems of contemporary literature. I don't think I disliked a single one, but those that really stood out for me were "Desert Breakdown '68", "The Other Miller", "Benefit of the Doubt", "Deep Kiss", and well, really I could go on and on, but I don't have my library copy to hand and these are the ones that occur to me now...
If you love short fiction or were curious to try it again after a disappointing earlier foray then read this book. Each story says so much and leaves you entirely wrapped up in the world that the author just created. If you've never read short fiction - Tobias Wolff is a master. I now want to read everything he has ever had published.
May 28, 2008
A great collection, on the whole. There are many gems here, to be sure, but there also seems to be a lack of impact in some. Firelight, for example, has a slow and haunting resonance, as do The Other Miller and Bullet in the Brain-- others seem to miss the mark, leaving me without (as one reviewer put it)"the distant, gradual ache of understanding" I've come to expect from Wolff. So great is my faith in Wolff's skill that I find myself flipping back through those works that seem to disappoint, positive that I must have missed some small moment, a glimpse of a truth that sets the tiny earthquakes of recognition in motion.
Maybe I'm expecting too much? To hold all 30 stories in a collection to the standard of the perfect Bullet in the Brain may be unfair. In the end, this is a great collection of some of the best short fiction around.
Maybe I'm expecting too much? To hold all 30 stories in a collection to the standard of the perfect Bullet in the Brain may be unfair. In the end, this is a great collection of some of the best short fiction around.
November 14, 2020
Could not put this down. It’s terrific.
March 14, 2021
Antología + nuevos cuentos. Un placer su relectura.
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