Bending Time
Short Stories
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
Manipulation of time is a recurring theme in Stephen Minot’s second collection of stories. The first four stories, subheaded “Time and Memory,” deal with characters whose perception of the world is skewed. Kraft, a social historian, becomes so drawn to a woman from a simpler era that he almost loses his hold on reality; Fern, at fifteen, struggles to cope with sophisticated, alcoholic adults who live in the past; Malvina, a mother of two, finds herself in the midst of a large family gathering without being entirely sure who these people are.
The second group, “Time in Exile,” focuses on Americans living in Europe as political and social exiles. These stories offer a vivid glimpse into that world of American expatriates who have been forced to bend both time and place for reasons of conscience or necessity.
The stories in the concluding section, “Time in the American City,” all deal with urban survival. Occasionally comic, but always serious in theme, these stories pay tribute to the variety and adaptability of American city dwellers. Mike-O returns to Boston for a visit with his trendy ex-wife and her new lover; Blair, a U.S. Senator in Washington, copes with a long-absent and highly independent son, Dennis, and struggles to make sense of his artistic success in Venice, California.
All 12 stories have appeared in major periodicals, one being included in both the O. Henry Prize Stories and The Best American Short Stories collections.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Novelist Minot's (Surviving the Flood) second short-fiction collection (after Crossings) contains a dozen stylish short stories dealing with the passage of time and its effect on memory and hope for the future. The theme is not limiting, however: imaginatively evoked characters and a diversity of settings make these tales lively, poignant and engaging. The stories in the first section, called "Bending Time and Memory," frequently delve into the troubled memories of female protagonists. Malvina Hodgson Boone, in "A Sometimes Memory," is a 45-year-old who hasn't seen the rest of her clan during the years she's been in a mental institution. At her father's funeral, Malva's memories weave in and out of past and present as her siblings begin reminiscing about growing up in a dysfunctional family. The characters in the second section, "Time in Exile," undergo life-altering experiences while abroad. Victor, the French socialite in "A Death in Paris," lives a lie to his American friends and winds up among this collection's most sympathetic characters--even though we discover, in the tale's second sentence, that he is dead and his friends discover that their memories of him must be reevaluated. Minot's ironic humor flourishes in the third section, appropriately labeled "Time in the American City." Where else but in America would a guy like Dennis Kepple, in "Things Not Everyone Can Do," be hailed as an artistic genius for the campy patterns he creates from fabric and paper? And where else but in a place like Venice, Calif., could his past and his future become clear in one evening? In their careful construction and narrative brio, Minot's stories impressively cover a canvas of contemporary life.
