Yalnızlığın On Bir Hali

by Richard Yates, Yasemin Akbaş (translator)

Richard Yates's unflinchingly realistic stories explore loneliness, but they don't neglect failure, cruelty, and heartbreak. Most of the stories feature men who have been disappointed, somehow, by their inability to fulfill the promise of their youth.

Contents

"Doctor Jack-o'-lantern"
"The Best of Everything"
"Jody Rolled The Bones"
"No Pain Whatsoever"
"A Glutton for Punishment"
"A Wrestler with Sharks"
"Fun with a Stranger"
"The B.A.R. Man"
"A Really Good Jazz Piano"
"Out with the Old"
"Builders"

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Classics, American, The United States Of America, Literature, 20th Century

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1962

About the author

Richard Yates shone bright upon the publication of his first novel, Revolutionary Road, which was nominated for the National Book Award in 1961. It drew unbridled praise and branded Yates an important, new writer. Kurt Vonnegut claimed that Revolutionary Road was The Great Gatsby of his time. William Styron described it as "A deft, ironic, beautiful novel that deserves to be a classic." Tennessee Williams went one further and said, "Here is more than fine writing; here is what, added to fine writing, makes a book come immediately, intensely, and brilliantly alive. If more is needed to make a masterpiece in modern American fiction, I am sure I don't know what it is."

In 1962 Eleven Kinds of Loneliness was published, his first collection of short stories. It too had praise heaped upon it. Kurt Vonnegut said it was "the best short-story collection ever written by an American."

Yates' writing skills were further utilized when, upon returning from Los Angeles, he began working as a speechwriter for then-Senator Robert F. Kennedy until the assassination of JFK. From there he moved onto Iowa where, as a creative writing teacher, he would influence and inspire writers such as Andre Dubus and Dewitt Henry.

His third novel, Disturbing the Peace, was published in 1975. Perhaps his second most well-known novel, The Easter Parade, was published in 1976. The story follows the lives of the Grimes sisters and ends in typical Yatesian fashion, replicating the disappointed lives of Revolutionary Road.

However, Yates began to find himself as a writer cut adrift in a sea fast turning towards postmodernism; yet, he would stay true to realism. His heroes and influences remained the classics of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Flaubert and short-story master, Chekov.

It was to his school and army days that Richard turned to for his next novel, A Good School, which was quickly followed by his second collection of short stories, Liars in Love. Young Hearts Crying emerged in 1984 followed two years later with Cold Spring Harbour, which would prove to be his final completed novel.

Like the fate of his hero, Flaubert, whose novel Madame Bovary influenced Revolutionary Road and The Easter Parade, Richard Yates' works are enjoying a posthumous renaissance, attracting newly devoted fans across the Atlantic and beyond.

Reviews

[Vit Babenco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Isolation and alienation… Misfits and losers… Life is more drab than bleak…
Doctor Jack-o’-Lantern is a story of a pathological liar… An ignorant and unpleasant schoolboy in order to be liked by others told a lot of brainless lies…

“I sore that pitcha. Doctor Jack-o’-Lantern and Mr. Hide.”
There was a burst of wild, delighted laughter and a chorus of correction: “Doctor Jekyll!”
He was unable to speak over the noise. Miss Price was on her feet, furious. “It’s a perfectly natural mistake!” she was saying. “There’s no reason for any of you to be so rude. Go on, Vincent, and please excuse this very silly interruption.” The laughter subsided, but the class continued to shake their heads derisively from side to side. It hadn’t, of course, been a perfectly natural mistake at all; for one thing it proved that he was a hopeless dope, and for another it proved that he was lying.
“That’s what I mean,” he continued. “Doctor Jackal and Mr. Hide.”

In The Best of Everything on the eve of the wedding day a groom is interested more in his new suitcase than in his bride…

That night she had told Martha, and she could still see the look on Martha’s face. “Oh, Grace, you’re not – surely you’re not serious. I mean, I thought he was more or less of a joke – you can’t really mean you want to –”
“Shut up! You just shut up, Martha!” And she’d cried all night. Even now she hated Martha for it; even as she stared blindly at a row of filing cabinets along the office wall, half sick with fear that Martha was right.

A fanatical martinet of Jody Rolled the Bones, a consumptive husband and his unfaithful wife of No Pain Whatsoever, an incompetent and cowardly clerk of A Glutton for Punishment…

“Joe,” Walter said. “I’m leaving. Got the ax.”
“No!” But Collins’s look of shock was plainly an act of kindness; it couldn’t have been much of a surprise. “Jesus, Walt, what the hell’s the matter with these people?”
Then Fred Holmes chimed in, very grave and sorry, clearly pleased with the news: “Gee, boy, that’s a damn shame.”

A callous and pedantic spinster of a teacher, a fake and stupid patriot, rich and hypocritical idlers, a sad Christmas in the tuberculosis wards, a failed ghostwriter and a courageous fighter for justice who turned out to be just a fool fighting shadows…

“People think you gotta be one of two things: either you’re a shark, or you gotta lay back and let the sharks eatcha alive – this is the world. Me, I’m the kinda guy’s gotta go out and wrestle with the sharks. Why? I dunno why. This is crazy? Okay.”

To those who stand all alone the world is an inimical and ugly place.

[Glenn Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are eleven short stories in this collection published as part of the 1980s Vintage Contemporaries series. Since there are many other reviews either synopsizing or speaking to all eleven, in the spirit of freshness and what I hope is a unique way to share some of Richard Yates’ first-rate fiction, I will confine my review to one story I have always found incredibly insightful, a story about a man fired from his office job. Coincidentally, there are eleven markers or movements, eleven near-predictable events that unfold on the day anyone is fired. Richard Yates captures these movements with pinpoint accuracy in his beautifully rendered story A Glutton for Punishment.

1. The Fond Memory – Walter Henderson knew all along it was only a matter of time. His performance in his new, more demanding job has been terrible, and as soon as he walked off the elevator and back to his office cubical he knew today was his last day. Taking his seat behind his desk his mind floats back to a time he hasn’t remembered in years. He’s a nine-year-old playing a game with his buddies where they would take turns getting shot on top of a hill. “Then the performer would stop, turn, stand poised for a moment in graceful agony, pitch over and fall down the hill in a whirl of arms and legs and a splendid cloud of dust, and finally sprawl flat at the bottom, a rumpled corpse.” Walter loved the game and gave it his everything. Years later in high school, in a similar spirit, he enjoyed getting injured during a football game and being carried off the field. His teammates always said he was a glutton for punishment.

2. The Inevitable Showdown - Sure enough, Walter’s manager, George Crowell, asks him to step into his office for a minute. George delivers the bad news ending with, “We do a highly specialized kind of work here and we can’t expect everybody to stay on top of the job. In your case particularly, we really feel you’d be happier in some organization better suited to your – abilities.” It’s that pause before the last word that says it all. Manager George thinks Walt is completely devoid of abilities.

3. The Fond Farewell – But managers are trained to be masters of the human touch. Accordingly, we read: “Crowell got up quickly and came around the desk with both hands held out – one to shake Walter’s hand, the other to put on his shoulder as they walked to the door. The gesture, at once friendly and humiliating brought a quick rush of blood to Walter’s throat, and for a terrible second he thought he might be going to cry.” But since we modern people have learned to be masters of our emotions in public, Walter does not cry or openly express his feelings.

4. The Disbelief – Walter tells Mary, his secretary, and colleagues Joe Collins and Fred Holmes he’s leaving since he got the ax. Right on cue, as if a mini Greek chorus, all three raise their eyebrows, shake their heads and fume at the injustice. “How can they?” “What the hell’s the matter with these people?” Too bad Hollywood people are not present - they could give out Emmy awards.

5. The Whole Office – Joe and Fred join Walter as he walks to the elevator. Again, as if on cue, the full white collar Greek chorus appears to shake Walter’s hand, wish him luck and ask him to keep in touch. Sidebar: Five minutes after Walter takes the down elevator, other than perhaps being on the receiving end of a few stinging wisecracks, he is completely forgotten. Walter who?

6. The Wanderer – In a state of semi-shock, Walter walks along Lexington Avenue for over an hour. He tries to gather himself, “The thing to do was get busy now, and start looking for a job. The only trouble, he realized, coming to a stop again and looking around was that he didn’t know where he was going. He was somewhere in the upper Forties, on a corner that was bright with florist shops and taxicabs, alive with well-dressed men and women walking in the clear spring air. A telephone was what he needed first.” Ah, yes, of course, time to take action and make all those important calls to get himself another job – as soon as possible, if not sooner.

7. The Calls – As anybody knows who’s been fired and hits the telephone to call employment agencies and a couple of “friends” about job openings in your field, the answer is nearly always: “Nothing now, we will be back with you when we know of an opening.’’ As the hours pass, it finally sinks in: you don’t have a job and you are now among the ranks of the unemployed. Not a warm, fussy feeling, especially if, like Walter, you have a spouse and a couple of kids.

8. The Master Plan – Walt decides to kill the next few hours until its time to return home by going to the Public Library on 42nd Street. He reads some issues of Life magazine, walks out onto the library steps and reflects back on happier times, when he met his wife for a first date at this very spot. After further reflection, Walt devises his decisive plan of attack: he will simply keep the fact that he was fired to himself rather than tell his wife. George handed him a check to carry him through the end of the month, enough time for him to find a new job. So, all is well after all. No problem.

9. Home – Part 1: The Cover-Up – Walter’s wife tells him that he looks tired and worn out. Walter, of course, assures her he is just fine. Over the next hour, the kids whining, the sound of his wife’s concerned voice, the cigarettes, even the liquor, every moment strikes Walter as a kind of torture.

10. Home – Part 2: The Telling Question – His wife senses something is terribly wrong. Finally, looking him in the eyes, she says: “Tell me the truth. Is it the job? Is it about – what you were afraid of last week? The faint lines in her face seemed to have deepen. She suddenly looked severe and much older.

11. The Truth – Richard Yates closes the story: “He began to walk slowly away toward an easy chair across the room, and the shape of his back was an eloquent statement and seemed to stiffen, a wounded man holding himself together, then he turned around and faced her with the suggestion of a melancholy smile. “Well, darling –“ he began. His right hand came up and touched the middle button of his shirt, and if to unfasten it, and then with a great deflating sigh he collapsed backward into the chair, one foot sliding out on the carpet and the other curled beneath him. It was the most graceful thing he had done all day. “They got me,” he said.

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not sure why it took all the years of my life up until this point to discover the brilliance of Richard Yates, but it did.

This short story collection is astonishingly good. It's up there with J.D. Salinger's short fiction, with Raymond Carver's, John Updike's too. Strangely, Mr. Yates didn't see great appreciation for his work during his own lifetime. He only ever had one story published in The New Yorker (for shame!), and even that was a posthumous honour.

Each story in this collection, despite some of their datedness (a few take place in TB wards, for example), draws you in with lovely spare writing, and sensitively drawn characters who intrigue, even if they aren't particularly likeable. Each story also features a clever title.

My favourite of the eleven, "The Best of Everything", tells the story of two ill-matched young adults on the eve of their wedding, and if it doesn't stab you in the heart, I don't know what will. The amazing thing about it for me is that it isn't in the least bit sentimental, and all the language in the story is neutral, save for one word close to the end - "tragic" - the one word the author allowed himself with which to weigh in, or point a finger. What a powerful and poignant moment he creates there. What an everyman's story too. I wonder how many marriages have followed such a courtship. I shudder to think.

So, Richard Yates. As I mentioned earlier, this writer's writer wasn't appreciated enough during his lifetime. The world isn't fair, we all know that, and the scales of fairness are certainly not balanced in the literary sphere either. The only way to tilt it a bit, right it so that we aren't keening so far that we topple over, is to get a copy and discover him for yourself.

[Adam Dalva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good, really bleak, lots of tuberculosis wards. It's eleven kinds of loneliness, but two kinds of stories. Mostly, mid-third person, sparking prose, simple stories with a single pivot (I especially liked a newlyweds story from two perspectives). And then there is the remarkable "Builders," a first-person story that feels personal, and innovative, and strange, as a young Hemingway-obsessed lead begins ghostwriting odd stories for a cab driver.

[Algernon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hello darkness, my old friend,
I've come to talk with you again

Books about loneliness are often disturbing, depressing, sad, yet I find myself coming back to their silence and their closely shuttered windows (Hrabal, McCullers, Ebenezer le Page, Tarjei Vesaas, Charles Frazier - to name only a few recent lectures), like a glutton for punishment, as if I didn’t know already all there is to know about loneliness from my own past experiences. It may be because they are in their way more honest than my usual escapist adventures in fantasy or SF realms, a kind of penance for the easy reads that perversely I pick up to bring me back up after one visit to the bitter corridors of solitude.

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone,
'Neath the halo of a street lamp,
I turned my collar to the cold and damp

What I believe sets Richard Yates apart from the other names I’ve dropped above is a higher than usual dose of despair and ugliness in the lonely existence of his protagonists, a pointlessness and lack of answers and solutions to the issues raised. Hrabal has his books and his exuberant debaucherry, McCullers has the music, Ebenezer has his beloved island of Guernsey, Vesaas has the ethereal beauty of ice, Frazier the Appalachians, but Yates has only impotent anger and resignation to a perennial loser role in his chosen illustrations. I was tempted to give the collection three stars only due to the persistent downbeat and almost cynical outlook on life from the whole exercise, but the same need for honesty makes me admit that I’ve actually met a lot of the characters described here, in one form or another.

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more.
People talking without speaking,
People hearing without listening,
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence.

1: Doctor Jack-o’-Lantern Solitude starts early, we first learn about it in school when we’re picked last for the sports teams or sitting alone during lunch breaks. For Vincent Sabella it starts in fourth grade, but the way Yates presents his case, loneliness is often the result of our own actions / atitudes and not an automatic rejection on the part of our peers.

2: The Best of Everything How can Grace feel lonely and depressed on the eve of her wedding day? It happens, especially when you are not sure what you want and you settle for what is available. She couldn’t marry him – she hardly even knew him. Sometimes it occured to her differently, that she couldn’t marry him because she knew him too well.

3: Jody Rolled the Bones takes us to a boot camp in the years of WWII. I was hoping for a more upbeat protagonist this time, as drill sergeant Reece appeared to be a tough nut, a fighter and a level headed man. He led by being excellent, at everything from cleaning a rifle to rolling a pair of socks, and we followed by trying to emulate him. But if excellence is easy to admire it is hard to like, an Reece refused to make himself likable. For him, defeat comes down not from his own personal shortcomings, but from a cold-hearted bureaucracy.

4: No Pain Whatsoever I believe is a piece where Yates tries more openly to imitate Hemingway (he confesses to this aspect of his writing in the last piece). Broken dialogue, silences, darkness and disfunctional marriages feature here as Myra visits her husband Harry in a TB hospital ward.

5: A Glutton For Punishment shows us a man addicted to failure. Walter Henderson has a decent job and a family, but what he really craves is to give up, to be a loser, to be relieved of all responsibilities, to become a vegetable.

6: A Wrestler With Sharks has probably some autobiographical notes in the portrayal of a small publishing house putting out a biweekly tabloid. The type of loneliness chosen as a subject now is the delusional kind, as Walter Sobel, a self-made man with dreams of becoming a writer, refuses to look reality in the eye, preferring to live in an imaginary world where he is not struggling with English grammar and all his colleagues are not making fun of his affectations.

7: Fun With a Stranger is a return to the classroom, but this time for a look at Miss Snell, a teacher who seems unable to relate to children and to relax in their company, preferring instead to rely on the rigid authority of her position. For me she is another delusional person who has either forgotten what she was like as a child or who was rejected early in life by everybody, like the boy from the opening story.

8: The B.A.R. Man is about nostalgia for the comradeship and adventures of youth. John Fallon is a succesful clerk in a big insurance company, but he is not happy in his childless mariage. His despair is drowned in alcohol and pathetic attempts to recapture the thrills of his past years carrying a Browning Automatic Rifle in the war.

9: A Really Good Jazz Piano is another Hemingway pastiche and my least favorite short story in the volume. It takes us to Paris and Cannes in the footsteps of a couple of lazy young American graduates on a sabbatical in France. I was really bothered by the racist content as they attend a recital by a black pianist in Cannes, and whatever coments the author tried to make about the power games between a smooth and rich Carson Wyler and a timid, overweight and hero-worshipping Ken Platt were mostly lost in translation.

10: Out With The Old is a slighly grotesque New Year Celebration in the TB ward of a hospital ( I’m not sure if it is the same as in story no. 4) with some poignant and better handled scenes of family troubles for the long absent patients. Kind of like the sort of feel that will gain traction with the angry young writers in England in the 60’s.

11: Builders Yates saved the best for last, in a story about an aspiring young writer with money troubles hired as a ghostwriter by a cab driver in New York (possibly another delusional loner, possibly a hustler) . I believe there are some remarks in here about why the author loves the short story form ( I didn’t have time to write you a short letter today, so I had to write you a long one instead ) and an acknowledgement of the overall depressing and cynical nature of the previous pieces requiring a balancing element, a ray of hope, something to believe in and work for in life. God knows there certainly ought to be a window around here somewhere, for all of us.

I didn’t ‘like’ the stories of Richard Yates, yet they were effective in their declared goal of illustrating the various forms this modern scourge of alienation and despair takes. I plan to read more from this author, but in my own way, after I go back to Gary Larson or Christopher Moore for some therapeutic laughter. Because I’ve started with some lines from Simon & Garfunkel, I will end with the same song that kept playing in my head as I wrote down the review, choosing to see the artist not only as the doctor with the scalpel exposing the rot, but also as the torchbearer pointing the way forward:

"Fools," said I, "You do not know –
Silence like a cancer grows.
Hear my words that I might teach you.
Take my arms that I might reach you."
But my words like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells of silence...

[Glenn Sumi · Rating 5 out of 5]

More like: Eleven Kinds Of Brilliance

What can I say? Each story in this book is a gem.

Richard Yates is best known for his debut 1961 novel Revolutionary Road, but his influence on decades of short story writers (especially those working in realism, like Tobias Wolff and Raymond Carver) is obvious.

The themes in these stories, published in magazines before RR but collected in book form and released the year after (1962), are timeless: ordinary people dissatisfied with relationships, family or work, coping with illness, a tyrannical sergeant or teacher, romanticizing the past, fearing the future, trying to build something (to take an image from the final story), be it a novel or a meaningful life.

There are no gimmicks or fake epiphanies. The symbols never feel contrived.

These are stories to reread – just to see how they’re constructed – but here’s a tip. If this is your first time through, read them one after the other. Don’t skip around. As in any classic collection (Dubliners, for instance, or Cathedral), there are little echoes between the stories. A line or image from one will be picked up in the next. The setting for one tale near the end will remind you of one from a few stories back.

But above all, let them sink in. Savour them. Live with them.

[Celeste Corrêa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Onze histórias de solidão, personagens que senti vontade de acarinhar, proteger, consolar.

A vida é estranha e injustamente incompleta.

4 (quatro) estrelas

[Cláudia Azevedo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quem disse que a solidão é toda igual? Richard Yates mostra, nestes contos, com grande perspicácia e sensibilidade, que há pelo menos 11 tipos de solidão. Há a solidão dos infelizes, dos excluídos e marginalizados, há a solidão dos doentes - aqui, os tuberculosos, nos velhos sanatórios -, há a solidão dos que não são amados e dos que não sabem amar.
O tema é cativante e sempre atual, independentemente dos cenários de fundo e da época em que se viva.
Conto preferido? O Doutor Chacal!

[Argos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Richard Yates çok iyi bir öykücü. Bu kitabında birbirinden çok farklı onbir öyküde, onbir farklı konu, mekan ve kişilik(ler)den yararlanarak aynı sonuca varan öyküleri yer alıyor. İnsanın kendisini varmış gibi hissedip yanlızlık içinde yok oluşu. Öykü kahramanlarının sayısı her öyküde değişmekle birlikte bir tanesi mutlaka hayal kırıklığına uğruyor. Kahramanların ortak özellikleri hüznü ve umudu bir arada taşımaları. Yalnızlıktan çok “insanlık halleri” onbir farklı şekilde anlatılıyor.

Öykülerin içerikleri gerçekten etkileyici. Hepsi çok güzel ama iki tanesi uzun süre aklımdan çıkmayacak. Askerlikle ilgili olan “Jody Attı Zarları” ve kitabın son ve en uzun öyküsü “Yapı Ustaları”. Kitabı tanımlamak için kitaptan bir cümle seçtim ; “Bugün sana kısa bir mektup yazmak için hiç vaktim olmadı, o yüzden bu uzun mektubu yazıyorum”.

Yüzkitap iyi kitaplar yayınlıyor, baskıları özenli, kağıt kalitesi çok iyi, çeviriler mükemmel, kapaklar ilginç.
Okuyun lütfen, beğeneceğinizden eminim.

[Jean-Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

New York (duh), the Army (duh), the newspaper business (duh), Paris (duh), TB (X2), restless domesticity (duh), and lots of alcohol (duh), with a surprising amount of the stories set on or around Christmas.

Doctor Jack-o'-Lantern - 4
The Best of Everything - 3
Jody Rolled the Bones - 5
No Pain Whatsoever - 4
A Glutton for Punishment - 3
A Wrestler with Sharks - 5
Fun With A Stranger - 4
The B.A.R Man - 4
A Really Good Jazz Piano - 5
Out with the Old - 4
Builders - 3

[Cosimo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una voce inimitabile narra con energia e grazia la disperazione e l'emarginazione, la ribellione e la gioia. L'imperfezione dello stile si nutre di infinito talento e con sguardo penetrante attraversa la trasparenza e le lacrime, per giungere a un grado assoluto di tragica onestà e volontaria fatalità. I racconti di Yates, singolari in maniera irriducibile, costruiscono l'intimità con il lettore nel reciproco inganno che duplica piano biografico e letterario, mescola progetti inesistenti con antiche ombre, stabilisce un'implacabile naturalezza nello scorrere delle storie e delle vite. Sazio di sconfitte e votato alla rinuncia, l'autore disegna personaggi che ci tradiscono, finendo per rivelare un carattere imbattibile e imperituro.

[Nick Grammos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick note.
One of the best writers I've read this last year. Yates has great control over dialogue and regional accents, he can move effortlessly from Bronx to Southern. And the rhythm of the speakers! Captured a whole period of immediately post ww2 America so well. Looking up the novels now.

[amapola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un magone, anche se bellissimo, è pur sempre un magone

11 racconti bellissimi, li hanno commentati egregiamente in tanti, non ho parole nuove per lodarli come meritano. So che probabilmente sto commettendo un’ingiustizia: ci ho provato, giuro che ci ho provato a dare le cinque stelle a questo libro, ma non ci riesco, è più forte di me.
Mi perdoni Mister Yates se a lei e al suo più che comprensibile pessimismo io mi ostino a preferire uomini così:

https://youtu.be/NO3Z26zAPMM

[zumurruddu · Rating 5 out of 5]

La dodicesima solitudine

Le opere di questo autore mi hanno sempre fatto venire in mente i quadri di Hopper. In entrambi i casi pare esserci la stessa atmosfera, la stessa luce radente e spietata, capace da sola di mettere a nudo quel senso di sterminata, ordinaria solitudine quotidiana. Quella insita nella vita stessa.
Qui abbiamo un campionario di undici esistenze paradigmatiche nella loro solitudine. Un campionario di disadattati, delle loro nevrosi, manie, fallimenti.
Yates è un maestro nel fotografarli con racconti brevi ed efficaci, nel mettere a nudo con pochi tratti il nodo irrisolto della loro esistenza.
Alla fine correda il campionario anche della propria esperienza (nell'ultimo racconto compare uno scrittore); il lettore potrà ritrovarsi in uno dei personaggi descritti - a me è piaciuto ad esempio quello che prova un piacere particolare nel collezionare fallimenti - o, se vorrà, potrà immaginare di aggiungere anche la propria peculiare, dodicesima, solitudine.

[Ludmilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Her güne bir öykü şeklinde okudum, çok iyiydi. Yüz Yayınları şahane kitaplar yayımlıyor ve ülkedeki öykü çevirilerine çok önemli katkıda bulunuyor. Öykü sevenler bu yayınevini muhakkak takip etmeli.

[JimZ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first time I have read anything by Richard Yates. I had a collection of short stories by him for a number of years (The Collected Stories, 2004) but gave away that book to a used bookstore because I had way too many books in my house. What was I thinking?! ☹

So I got this book from the library (it’s the original edition from 1961, it has since been re-issued in 2008), in part, as I recall, because I thought it had a theme running throughout the short stories —loneliness. And indeed, in the front flap of the dustjacket it states: “For all their diversity, the eleven stories are united by the common theme of inescapable human loneliness.” I like short story collections that are either interconnected or that have a common theme. To me, a number of the stories might have had sad-sack characters but were not centered or even peripherally related to loneliness as far as I could tell. The stories in 2020 were dated — some did not hold up well with the passage of time (most were written in the 1950s) and while I as a Baby Boomer got most of what was being said, I am not sure people from other generations would understand the historical/social context in which the stories were encapsulated. (However, given the positive reviews below, don’t believe a damn thing I say. ☹ ) I would give this collection, overall, 3 stars in that some of the stories were interesting to me. But I cannot rhapsodize about the collection as a whole in some part because it did not deliver on its promise of having stories with a theme of loneliness. All sad to be sure but sad is not the same as lonely.

The stories are as follows and how many stars I gave them.
Doctor Jack-o’-lantern: 1.5 stars
The Best of Everything: 4 stars (a marriage doomed before it even begins)
Jody Rolled the Bones: 2 stars
No Pain Whatsoever: 4.5 stars {indeed about loneliness, and a notable excellent short story]
A Glutton for Punishment: 4 stars
A Wrestler with Sharks: 1.5 stars
Fun with a Stranger: 4 stars
The B.A.R. man: 3.5 stars
A Really Good Jazz Piano: 3 stars
Out with the Old: 2 stars
Builders: 1 star (interminably boring)

Here is a great bio on Richard Yates: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard...

Reviews (they all think highly of the book, once again I am an outlier!):
https://www.theguardian.com/books/200...
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2017...
from a blog site: https://samstillreading.wordpress.com...
ditto: http://www.acrossthepage.net/2015/04/...
another blog site: http://www.jimbreslin.com/blog/2013/0...

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I read these eleven stories, I forgot about the title of the collection. Yes, loneliness is a theme, especially obvious, and aching, in the first story of an outsider schoolboy and continuing on with the second story of a young woman on the eve of her wedding day. But the theme that rose to the top for me is a theme present in Revolutionary Road: the lies we tell ourselves to live with ourselves. In fact one story took me straight back to the novel, not in terms of plot, but in its atmosphere, how its biting characterization led to an indictment of American society.

In that second story, the dialogue is hilarious (for the reader). I felt as if I was watching a movie from the time period and that it confirmed stereotypes I've found in those films. Parts of the story, and the ending, are both funny and sad, as the best of humor is, and as Yates does well. I was also impressed with the story of a boot camp and its perfect use of first-person-plural narration. Another story could’ve been inspired by a newspaper article, the author perhaps wanting to flesh out a “felon’s” backstory. If the now-historical details were changed, it could be of today: an angry not-so-young man (29) acting out his fragile frustrations, fueled by sex, drugs (alcohol), and ... jazz.

Stylistically, the last story is different, leading with a paragraph about the writer writing of a writer. I thought I’d like it more than I did, but the overlapping stories of two types of characters I find annoying became tedious. But even if a few stories are slighter than others, that’s not a deal breaker in a collection. Yates’s prose is a pleasure to read, coming across as effortless, and his insights into American culture are timeless.

*

(I read these stories in The Collected Stories of Richard Yates.

[Enrique · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tenía muy altas expectativas hacia este compendio de relatos, y digamos que aunque lo he disfrutado, y pausado, y gozado ralentizando su lectura limitándome a leer un relato diario, me he quedado un poco como a la espera de algo más. Aunque quien decida leerlo que tenga claro que no perderá el tiempo, se pasa un rato muy agradable.

El ritmo es ágil, es un gran narrador Yates, de esa escuela de Capote, o Cheever, pero a algunas historias me pareció que les faltaba fondo, o trama. Al igual que en Vía revolucionaria, me pareció mejor novelista que Cheever, aquí debo decir que es al revés, en relatos cortos creo que gana este último por goleada. Como digo tiene algunos relatos buenos. Los que más me gustaron fueron "¿Dolor? ninguno", y "Pianista de jazz estupendo".

Hago pequeño resumen, perfectamente prescindible.

Doctor Chepas. - No está mal. Un niño con duro pasado de hospicios se enfrenta a la realidad de la escolarización con niños de clase media burguesa y una profesora con mucha buena fe, pero poca experiencia con esta categoría. Complicado sacar a un león de selva y meterlo en casa como animal doméstico. 4
 
Lo mejor de todo. - El entorno conspira contra la protagonista. Su compañera de apartamento tiene la suficiente lucidez o experiencia como para hacerle notar lo estúpido de su futuro matrimonio. El relato nos corrobora la miopía de la prota. 4
 
Joy aprovecha la ocasión.- La seca vida militar y un sargento chusquero cuya vida única es el ejército. No está mal, la soledad de todos y principalmente del sargento. Un 3.
 
¿Dolor? ninguno.- El mejor cuento, abre infinidad de posibilidades su lectura, en poco espacio te hace cambiar varias veces de opinión respecto a la protagonista, acabas por apiadarte de la pobre chica joven a la que le ha tocado en suerte un esposo enfermo, teniendo que sobrellevar sus respectivos dramas de quererse sin poder tocarse. 5
 
El placer de la derrota. - El despido, el final es bello, la historia del perdedor profesional que se parece enorgullecer de ello..ejem.. 4
 
Sobel al habla. La imprenta del periódico sindicalista, pseudoperiodista raro este Sobel. La mujer más rara aún. Ese tipo está solo con su ansia de ser escritor. 3
 
Divertirse con un desconocido. La profesora, la señorita Snell, que diríamos aquí, está sola con su sentido estricto del deber. Los chicos normales parecen marcianos para ella y su rígido sentido de la obligación. 4
 
El hombre BAR. - Una forma de soledad ignorante y absurda la de este ex militar que va entrando en la madurez pero no se resigna al paso de los años; va buscando su propia autodestrucción. 4
 
Pianista de jazz estupendo.- Narración en su inicio ágil y ligera, simpática y divertida. Una maravilla. Va mutando y apareciendo la soledad que siempre acompaña estos relatos: dos personas adultas, una de las cuales, descubres que en ningún momento has dejado de ser el oprimido, el gordo de la clase, el excluido siempre...y por otro lado su amigo es el hijo puta de la clase que a todos maneja y manipula a antojo, o seduce, siempre sin tener en cuenta el daño cruel que provoca. La sumisión a esos tiranos, que en este relato bajo la apariencia del perfecto gentleman se muestra como un machista, racista y esnob  de la peor calaña. Tal vez el mejor. 5
 
Al hoyo. - Relato sobre un sanatorio de tuberculosos, que va mutando de forma continua. No sabes como acabará, ni quienes serán los protagonistas finales. No sabes si habrá fiesta o drama final en el pabellón en nochevieja. 4
 
La construcción. - A un aspirante a escritor con talento y culto le proponen escribir las supuestas anécdotas y peripecias de un taxista durante toda su vida; no se sabe si tiene conocidos influyentes de verdad, o es una gran ilusión absurda de escritor frustrado. De dos escritores frustrados, más bien. Es el cuento que más rabia me dio en su desarrollo, ya que a mitad de relato te llega a encandilar, y luego se pierde en prisas y atajos. 3,5
 

[João Carlos · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Western Motel" (1957) de Edward Hopper

Em 2014 li dois romances do escritor norte-americano Richard Yates (1926 – 1992), “O Desfile da Primavera” (1976) – 5 estrelas e “Perto da Felicidade” (1986) – 4 estrelas.
Depois de ler na lindíssima capa da edição portuguesa de “Onze Tipos de Solidão” – quadro “Western Motel" (1957) de Edward Hopper - uma referência do escritor Kurt Vonnegut, designando que “Richard Yates é o melhor contador de histórias americano”, decidi iniciar a sua leitura.
“Onze Tipos de Solidão” é um livro de contos, publicados entre 1951 e 1961, onze histórias de solidão, com uma escrita subtil e um humor sombrio de Richard Yates, onde nos apresenta um conjunto de personagens com comportamentos ambíguos, reveladora da complexidade dos relacionamentos humanos, relatos austeros sobre vivências diárias, dominada pelas frágeis rotinas do dia-a-dia, sobre o desespero e a tristeza de professores/as, de empregados/as de escritório, de militares no activo, de jornalistas, de veteranos de guerra, de um pianista de jazz, de escritores que escrevem sobre escritores, de homens e mulheres com casamentos insatisfatórios, e muito, muito mais.

Destaco quatro contos:

“Doutor Chacal” – um conto que nos dá a conhecer Vincent Sabella, um jovem rapaz, no seu primeiro dia numa nova escola; ele que sempre viveu num orfanato, com pais adoptivos, um “tio” e uma “tia” que eram a sua família de acolhimento.
Miss Price é uma dedicada professora, que criou uma rotina escolar, que consiste nas 2º feiras, cada aluno faz uma apresentação oral, relatando as suas experiências durante o fim-de-semana, numa actividade que visa permitir que os alunos se conheçam melhor.
Vincent descreve uma fuga e uma perseguição que o seu “pai e a sua “mãe” tiveram que fazer para escapar à polícia. Após a aula Miss Price diz-lhe que deveria relatar alguma “coisa” sobre a sua vida real.

“O Melhor de Tudo” – Grace trabalha num escritório, vai casar com Ralph, um amor singelo; no dia antes do casamento, prepara-se para uma noite romântica, apesar da “regra da contenção”, ela pretende quebrar essa promessa, mas o homem que ela ama, prefere passar a noite com os amigos – ela percebe que vai cometer um erro terrível.

“Sem Dor Nenhuma” – Myra vai ver o seu marido ao hospital. Marty e Irene levam-na no seu carro, Jack, um amigo comum, vai no banco de trás com Myra. Harry está doente há quatro anos e neste momento está a recuperar de mais uma operação. Myra fica desiludida porque Harry em vez de conversar, prefere ver as revistas que ela levou. Depois da visita, no regresso a casa, Myra permite que o seu namorado/amante Jack a acaricie e a beije.

“O Sofredor” – Walter Henderson vai ser despedido, era um bom perdedor, um falhado compulsivo e crónico, não ia contar à sua mulher, mas a mulher tem um pressentimento - ele fora despedido.

[Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

In spite of the title not all of these stories are about loneliness. No, some of them deal with one or more of the following: frustration, disappointment, rejection, feelings of worthlessness, grief, and miscalculation.

******
“I guess I’m not very interested in successful people. I guess I’m more interested in failures.” – Richard Yates, interview
******

Stewart O’Nan wrote in the Boston Review that Richard Yates “wrote about the mundane sadness of domestic life in language that rarely ever draws attention to itself. There’s nothing fussy or pretentious about his style.”

There may not be anything “fussy or pretentious” about his writing, but it flows smoothly and its flawed characters, both the appealing and unappealing, seem authentic.

Published in 1962, Eleven Kinds of Loneliness was published a year after his debut novel, Revolutionary Road, which is his best-known work. Since many of the issues listed above are also themes that Yates wrote about in his novel, readers who liked the novel would probably like the short stories in this collection.

******
“If my work has a theme, I suspect it is a simple one that most human beings are inescapably alone, and therein lays their tragedy.” – Richard Yates, interview
*****

I read these stories with my friend Teresa, who not only reads a lot of short stories, but also writes them as well. She never fails to make connections and to reveal insights about the stories that I would never have arrived at on my own.

If you are interested in the collection, I recommend that you read her review and you will see what I mean. You can find it here: ttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5077499...

[Daniele · Rating 4 out of 5]

Esordio letterario quasi perfetto.
Come sempre il racconto non è la forma di scrittura che preferisco, ma in queste tristi storie Yates inizia a farci vedere di cosa è capace, quelle capacità che poi metterà in bella mostra nei due capolavori Revolutionary Road e Easter Parade.

E dove sono le finestre in questa casa che hai costruito? Da dove entra la luce? Bernie, vecchio amico, perdonami, ma per questa domanda non ho la risposta. Non sono sicuro che questa particolare casa abbia delle finestre. Forse la luce deve cercar di penetrare come può, attraverso qualche fessura, qualche buco lasciato dall'imperizia del costruttore. Se è così, sta' sicuro che il primo a esserne umiliato sono proprio io. Dio lo sa, Bernie, Dio lo sa che una finestra ci dovrebbe essere da qualche parte, per ciascuno di noi.

[Bilal Y. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buradaki duyguya yalnızlık denilebilir ama insansızlık ya da toplum dışı kalmak gibi sözlük anlamıyla anlamamak lazım. Yalnızlık kelimesi öykülerde hiç zikredilmemesine rağmen kitabın başlığında var. Öne çıkan karakterlerin çevresinde hep başka insanlar var ve hiç de asosyal sayılmazlar. Varoluşsal bir şey bu sanırım ama karakter bundan kurtulmak istemiyor da diyemeyiz. Sanırım bu, kaynaktan çıkan istekler, tercihler ve önceliklerin alıcıda yeterince algınlanmaması ya da yanlış anlaşılması neticesinde karakterin (kaynağın) içedönüklüğü, hareketsizliği ve uzaklaşması olarak tarif edilebilir. Tam böyle de olmayabilir, çünkü tarifi zor bir şey, en iyisi kitabı alıp okumak..

[Célia | Estante de Livros · Rating 4 out of 5]

Com Onze Tipos de Solidão, voltei finalmente a Richard Yates. Revolutionary Road é um dos meus livros preferidos de sempre, mas O Desfile da Primavera deixou-me algo indiferente – suspeito que por tê-lo lido na altura errada (conto lá voltar). Desta vez, quis conhecer a faceta de contista do escritor norte-americano e posso dizer que esta coletânea de contos, subordinada ao tema da solidão, fez renascer o meu amor por Yates.

A grande maioria dos contos não tem mais do que 15-20 páginas; este dado torna-se ainda mais relevante quando o leitor se vê perante histórias que contêm dentro de si tanta riqueza a nível de construção de personagens e de reflexão sobre a condição do ser humano, em todas as suas vertentes, mas em especial a social. Todos os contos se situam numa época e locais específicos (Estados Unidos nos anos 1950), mas isso não os torna de forma nenhuma datados, porque o tema é intemporal.

Richard Yates não necessita de muitas palavras para caracterizar as suas personagens ou as situações em que se encontram. Parece quase fácil, a forma como o faz. Há vários contos que roçam o brilhantismo (o meu favorito foi Sem Dor Nenhuma, com O Sofredor lá muito perto), e ainda que não tenha gostado de todas as histórias da mesma forma, não houve nenhum conto que não tivesse gostado de ler ou que tivesse achado desenquadrado dentro da coletânea.

O sentimento que atravessou toda a minha leitura foi o desconforto, e isso só pode ser sinal da mestria de Yates no destrinçar dos motivos e causas da solidão, esse medo tão primitivo do ser humano, muito bem acompanhada pelos sentimentos de impotência e resignação, o que de certo modo a torna a leitura ainda mais incómoda. Mas acho que é bom por vezes sentirmo-nos incomodados; neste caso em concreto, se isso acontecer penso que o desígnio do autor foi cumprido.

[nettebuecherkiste · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wie entsteht Einsamkeit in der Gesellschaft? Welche Folgen hat Einsamkeit und wie kann es sein, dass man sich ständig unter Menschen befindet und doch einsam ist? Mit solchen Fragen beschäftigt sich dieser Kurzgeschichtenband des renommierten amerikanischen Autors. Das Buch enthält wie der Titel es vermuten lässt elf Kurzgeschichten, in denen das Thema Einsamkeit im Mittelpunkt steht, sei es Einsamkeit aufgrund eines geringen sozialen Status, einer unklug geschlossenen Ehe, Krankheit oder mangelnden Selbstbewusstseins.

Wer Richard Yates’ großartigen Roman “Revolutionary Road” (Zeiten des Aufruhrs) kennt, wird mit hohen Erwartungen an diese Kurzgeschichten herangehen. Tatsächlich können sie weder stilistisch noch inhaltlich an dieses Meisterwerk heranreichen, doch alle Geschichten haben mir auf ihre Weise gefallen und passten hervorragend in das gesellschaftskritische Gesamtkonzept des Bandes. Am besten gefallen hat mir wohl die zweite Geschichte, “The Best of Everything”, die frappierend deutlich zeigt, wie der gesellschaftliche und moralische Druck in den 50er Jahren des letzten Jahrhunderts dazu führte, dass Ehen zwischen gar nicht zueinander passenden Personen geschlossen wurden. Ich denke, mich hat diese Geschichte besonders angesprochen, da es sich um meine Elterngeneration handelt und ich unharmonische, aber, ebenfalls aufgrund der drohenden gesellschaftlichen Missbilligung, nie geschiedene Ehen aus dem Umfeld meiner Eltern kenne. Im Alter raufen sich solche Paare meistens wieder zusammen, in jüngeren Jahren konnte es aber zu einer wirklichen Einsamkeit in der Ehe führen, zumal die Frau zu dieser Zeit in der Regel eine reine Hausfrau war. In anderen Geschichten geht es beispielsweise um gesellschaftlich benachteiligte Kinder und von ihnen überforderte Lehrerinnen, kleine Angestellte, die aufgrund mangelnden Talents in der schon damals aufkeimenden Leistungsgesellschaft zum Scheitern verurteilt sind, oder äußerst fähige, sozial jedoch ungeschickte Offiziere der Armee.

Ein nicht großartiger, aber interessanter und stimmiger, gesellschaftskritischer Kurzgeschichtenband aus den USA der Fifties.

[lorinbocol · Rating 4 out of 5]

ogni cosa è illuminata. ma con una luce fredda tipo camerino. yates punta il suo fascio impietoso (senza pietas, senza alcuna partecipazione) per dirci che ogni individuo solo, è solo a modo suo. e infelice, per parafrasare ancora meglio tolstoj. tanto più che i protagonisti di questi kinds of loneliness hanno quasi sempre il sapore di comprimari. non sono amleto che declama il suo monologo a effetto e tutti lo stanno a sentire, semmai sono rosencrantz e guildestern come in quel geniale e vecchio film di tom stoppard: personaggi secondari della tragedia, che all'improvviso vengono inquadrati dai riflettori mentre tentano di far uscire dai binari un destino che è già stato scritto. loro lì a traccheggiare col capocomico, e l'azione principale che sembra sempre essere altrove. «gli scrittori devono essere tutti maldestri e importuni sia nei romanzi che nella vita» diceva yates. e nella vita tenne abbastanza fede al proposito. quanto a questi racconti, considerando che furono la sua prima prova narrativa, altro che esordio maldestro. è uno di quelli che non si dimenticano più.

[Djali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Il dottor Geco 5/5
Tutto il bene possibile 4/5
Jody ha il coltello dalla parte del manico 3/5
Nessun dolore 4/5
Una gran voglia di punizione 4/5
Contro i pescicani 4/5
Il regalo della maestra 5/5
Il mitragliere 2/5
Un buon pianista di jazz 5/5
Abbasso il vecchio! 3/5
Costruttori 3/5

[Nood-Lesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vien senz’altro spontaneo provare piacere alla vista di una cosa ben fatta

Prendete R. Ford e toglietegli quello che ha di eccessivo, poi prendete R. Carver e aggiungetegli ciò che gli manca. Uniteli, mescolateli e serviteli in undici calici a tulipano (*)
Queste sono le istruzioni per realizzare il miglior processo di sintesi minimalista, peccato che siano inutili se non si possiede il talento di Richard Yates.
Gli undici racconti sono ambientati negli anni ’50 ma per il fenomeno del disassamento temporale fra l’Italia e gli USA, e per quello più serio della ripetitività dei comportamenti, delle interazioni e dei sentimenti umani nei secoli, leggerete un libro molto attuale.
Le introduzioni sono un punto di forza delle edizioni Minimun Classics (questa inclusa), ma dovete leggerle solo dopo aver letto l’opera.

Appunti di lettura

Primo racconto: la storia di un ragazzino e della sua integrazione nella nuova scuola. L’insegnante cerca di favorirlo e lui anziché riconoscenza matura odio nei suoi confronti

Secondo racconto: Lui e lei descritti nell’imminenza del matrimonio, festeggiati dagli amici a lavoro, perplessi della loro scelta, sembrano già metterci al corrente di quale sarà la loro sorte, nonostante il racconto termini la notte dell’addio al celibato. Dialoghi magistrali.

Terzo racconto: La vita militare e il diverso approccio di due sergenti istruttori con il loro plotone e con gli ufficiali in comando. Ma se la perfezione è facile da ammirare è difficile da amare

Quarto racconto: la moglie va in visita al marito ricoverato in un sanatorio, accompagnata da una coppia di amici. Mentre lei è con il marito, gli amici vanno a sbronzarsi. Al termine della visita sente che per lei è legittima una forma di consolazione

Quinto racconto: Una coppia giovane con figli a carico. Lui viene licenziato e si impone di non dirlo alla moglie fino a che non avrà trovato una nuova occupazione. Sente che ne va della sua dignità. Crollerà la sera stessa non riuscendo a dissimulare.
Lasciar andare le cose per il loro verso e prenderle come veniva il più serenamente possibile era stato in un certo senso, il criterio costante della sua vita. Impossibile negare che il ruolo di chi sa perdere con disinvoltura avesse sempre avuto su di lui uno strano fascino.

Sesto racconto: Un lattoniere grafomane abbandona il posto ben retribuito che occupa, per entrare nella redazione di un giornale e accetta di essere sottopagato

Settimo racconto: Il confronto impietoso fra due maestre della stessa scuola, raccontato dagli alunni. La passione contro la disciplina, l’entusiasmo contro il ritegno. Quando impariamo una parola nuova, è come se ci facessimo un amico

Ottavo racconto: Un’altra coppia sull’orlo di una crisi di nervi. Sposati, senza figli, ormai trentenni. Lei petulante, lui frustrato. Due solitudini che non si fanno nessuna compagnia.

Nono racconto: Una coppia di amici americani in Costa Azzurra e poi a Parigi. Si illudono di esser felici insieme, in realtà neanche il benessere economico riesce a riempire il loro vuoto esistenziale.

Decimo racconto: I festeggiamenti delle feste natalizie in un sanatorio. Che tu prenda venti individui e tu li metta in una caserma, in un convento, in un ospedale o nella casa del grande fratello, assisterai sempre a comportamenti simili.

Undicesimo racconto: Un tassista paga uno scrittore squattrinato affinchè dia forma alle sue tracce autobiografiche. Pag. 239 è fantastica (nella connotazione armuzziana del termine)

(*) https://tinyurl.com/ya66nugc

[Tim Null · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a progress report of sorts. I'm reading The Collected Stories of Richard Yates and I finished the first section which includes all eleven stories from Eleven Kinds of Loneliness. I guess it's fair to say these are eleven stories about lonely people, but the stories include way more than eleven lonely people. I guess that's why the title *wasn't* Eleven Lonely People.

All these stories are good, but perhaps the best was saved for last.

Quote: With Hemingway safely abandoned, I had moved on to an F. Scott Fitzgerald phase; then, best of all, I began to find what seemed to give every indication of being my own style. Unquote

Quote: ...where are the windows? Where does the light come in? Unquote

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ho ripreso familiarità con Yates lentamente, visto che è trascorso qualche anno dall’ultima volta che l’ho letto. Dopo un inizio guardingo, ancora sotto l’effetto dei racconti di Hemingway e dei suoi superuomini, sono entrata subito nel disagiato mondo di Yates, ho letto storie di falliti, buoni a nulla, uomini ma anche donne soli perché incompresi dagli altri, dalla famiglia, ma in primo luogo da sé stessi, incapaci di inseguire un qualsiasi sogno o illusione perché inadatti a crearselo. Grandissima l’abilità dello scrittore, che non dipinge soltanto scialbe atmosfere, ma va più a fondo, tanto da creare un forte disagio in chi legge, una sorta di repulsione verso la incapacità di stare al mondo dei protagonisti, il tutto senza calcare la mano, con onestà e senza filtri, mettendoci di fronte alla pura e semplice realtà del solitario destino umano. I racconti non sono ancora l’espressione dello Yates più distruttivo che ho trovato in Disturbo della quiete pubblica, si potrebbe dire che ne sono un primo assaggio, sono il primo passo della sua “inesorabile analisi dell’infelicità umana”, come ho scritto in un altro commento.
I racconti sono bellissimi, voglio solo ricordare l’ultimo, “Costruttori”, ben scritto, con una introspezione psicologica dei personaggi molto curata, dialoghi precisi e intensi: una storia di scrittori che –dice Yates- rischia di produrre “il peggior genere di aborti letterari”, ed invece realizza un racconto superbo con un finale da incorniciare.

[Chris_P · Rating 4 out of 5]

You know that a collection of short stories is good, when the worst of them deserves 3 stars.

Eleven Kinds of Loneliness includes 11 stories each of which, as the title suggests, deals with a different kind of loneliness. However, you won't find recently broken-up guys and lonely spinsters here. No, nothing so obvious. Loneliness can take many forms, most of which are so subtle, you can't even tell they're there and that's exactly why this book takes 4.5 stars from me. Because Yates touched difficult matters in a way so delicate, I was almost moved to tears a number of times. In many of his stories, one can't tell who it is that's lonely, while in others, they are more than one. But in every one of them, he treats his characters, and the reader as well, with the utmost respect, touching their personalities with the fingers of a man who knows a lot about human psychology and how to depict it.

Eleven stories and I enjoyed them all. A brilliant piece of literature.