Matters of Life and Death: New American Stories

by Tobias Wolff (Editor)

Book by

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

242 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Tobias 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.

Reviews

[Steve Petkus · Rating 5 out of 5]

First encountered this book in Iowa 20 years ago. It is indispensable, an absolute classic. Makes me want to weep that it has been out of print for so long. I actually have a notification set up on the Powells used book site that alerts me when a copy comes in, and I have bought a couple copies this way. Matters of Life and Death was like the Big Bang for me: it sent me to each of the writers, looking for more of their short fiction. Through that glorious process, I discovered Richard Yates's Eleven Kinds of Loneliness (also a classic and hard to find); Stephanie Vaughn's Sweet Talk; Barry Hannah's Airships; and on and on. I rarely rate anything on this site a five because of the meanings behind the stars; I reserve it for those few titles that were like literary earthquakes to me.

[Robert Morgan Fisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aside from the fact that this pristine, used, 1st edition turned out to be signed by both Tobias Wolff and Richard Ford, it's the quality of the stories make this one of the most vital books in my collection. Just a flawless snapshot of American short fiction in the late 70s, early 80s. Not a single out-of-place story here. Timeless.

[Seyed · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is now one of my favourite collections of short stories. Every one of them is worth your time. Many have made me think and a few have made me smile. Two or three have made me cry. Exquisite wrting expressing the truths of being human. Find it, buy it, savour it.

[E · Rating 2 out of 5]

Typical short stores of the 1970s and 80s. Life is bleak, so let's be sad and mess up our lives by drinking, being bad parents, lying, and/or sleeping around. Or something like that. Tobias Wolff is only the editor/compiler, which is a shame. He was too humble to include one of his own stories, which would have raised the quality of this volume. I hereby promise not to read any more short stories of the past 50 years, unless written by Wolff.


*p.s. the story "Walking Out" deserves a mention. The best of the bunch. About loyalty and perseverance, for once. Read it here: http://honors3.edublogs.org/files/201...

[Aniss · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read "Walking Out" brutaly amazing story. a collection of short stories about life and death. an amazing collection of stories with some of my favorites in here