THE COLLECTED STORIES OF JEAN STAFFORD

by Jean Stafford ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 24, 1968

These thirty stories have been chosen from previous collections and include some twelve which have not appeared in book form. They are arranged regionally between those dealing with Americans in Europe and others have their venue in Boston, New York and in the far West of her childhood. Jean Stafford is one of the few writers today who has never relied on any devices beyond he own considerable technical accomplishment along with her particular feeling for people and sense of place. Commenting, selectively, on some of the newer stories here, ""The Children's Game"" finds two people stranded in life at a seedy casino in Europe, and this one has more than the obvious optical resemblance to her ""Children Are Bored on Sunday"" also included here and the title story of her 1953 collection. Three of the four more recent stories in the Boston group deal with elderly residuals and the more than superficial disfigurement of wattled old age (a cousin in chosen exile in a poorhouse still doggedly, cunningly contrives; another beldame converts her long lifetime hurt into willful reprisals). The Colorado stories reintroduce that middy-bloused Emily Vanderpool (who appeared in Bad Characters--1964) along with another equally appealing ""Healthiest Girl in Town."" She's Jessie, whose rude spirits are an embarrassment in a household lingering and malingering in the hush of impending death. ""In the Snowfall"" and ""I Love Someone"" deal with the relevance of a suicide echoing through other empty lives. While Miss Stafford has always been attracted by emotional destitution, there are many other stories here which offset the inherent loneliness i.e. the simplest and truest equation of love in ""The Mountain Day."" Quite simply, these are the very best stories of one of our best writers -- casual, acute, sad, comic and manifestly alive.

Pub Date: Feb. 24, 1968

ISBN: 0374529930

Page Count: -

Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1968

Categories: FICTION