Elizabeth Tallent's short stories have been published in literary magazines and journals such as The New Yorker, Esquire, Harper's Magazine, The Threepenny Review, and North American Review, and her stories have been reprinted in the O. Henry Prize Stories, Best American Short Stories, and Pushcart Prize collections.
She has taught literature and creative writing at the University of California, Irvine, the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and the University of California, Davis. She has been a faculty member at Stanford University since 1994.
Another reread. I just love Elizabeth Tallent's stories so much. This collection has a few story cycles tracking three different couples, and they're magnificent. Her eye for detail is unmatched, as is her shrewd understanding of relationality.
I read this story collection years ago after a writing instructor recommended Tallent's work to me. It was a great recommendation, and I loved the characters, narration, and structures of these stories. Subsequently, I was unable to remember either title or author, so when I came across a reference to Tallent that sparked my memory, I thought I'd better add the book here!
I enjoyed “Sweet Disposition,” but none of the other stories did much for me. It’s good writing in a style that I simply don’t enjoy: kinda minimal, intimate moments in complicated romantic relationships alongside lush descriptions of domestic settings. Every story is almost exactly ten pages.
Grant of easement --3 The fence party --2 Time with children --2 No one's a mystery --2 Two ghosts of us -- Sweet disposition -- The forgiveness trick --2 Hannah's example -- Migrants --2 Faux pas -- Black holes -- *Favor -- Listen to reason--