Middle Murphy

by Mark Costello

These stories mark the return of Mark Costello's now-legendary creation Michael Murphy, the character who first appeared in the acclaimed collection The Murphy Stories . Joyce Carol Oates wrote in the Washington Post Book World , "Murphy is a Midwestern cousin of Donleavy's Ginger Man, but much more human and troubled. . . . It is a remarkable achievement, the presentation of a complex, suffering, self-conscious, and very lyric personality as he endures his own being."
 

152 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Mark Costello, a native of Decatur, Illinois, is the author of the story collections The Murphy Stories (University of Illinois Press, 1973), which won the St. Lawrence Award for Short Fiction, and Middle Murphy (University of Illinois Press, 1991). The Murphy Stories has received praise and one of its stories, Murphy's Xmas was anthologized in several collections.

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite as essential as the brilliant The Murphy Stories, but this is still a very good collection of stories that continue Costello’s portrait of his alter ego Michael Murphy.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great, forgotten writer. (Leaving decades between your books is not good for the career.) Not quite as good as the classic MURPHY STORIES, but "Young Republican" and "The Soybean Capital of the World" are great stories. Costello's writing reminds me of PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN with a heavy dash of Bruno Schulz. Murphy's father -- a low-level Republican Party ward-heeler -- is such a great character. I never had anything to think about when I drove through Decatur on the interstate, and now I drive through Decatur thinking of Michael Murphy's father standing on the street corner in a bad off-the-rack suit, ready to haul another stack of campaign placards, nursing that black-eye...

Costello has to be in his 70s now. He used to hang around Iowa City, looking exactly like he does on the cover of this book. Brooding in the gritty Midwest, among light industry slag. May it always be so.

[Mike Polizzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Murphy's heartache, his lost impressions and echoing memories are the decisive moments Costello dissects in this collection. The clarity of these pieces, the big steps through personal histories along the chain of associations and word play contrasts to the expressionism and blister of his earlier collection. My heart is with Murphy Stories, but Middle Murphy too has a number of things to say. Reminded me at times of an Irish Midwestern Updike, but plangent, post- catholic, drunk and certainly wrestling with Joyce. The life examined is wrought well.