



Object Lessons
The Paris Review Presents the Art of the Short Story
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3.9 • 16 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Object Lessons: Twenty Contemporary Masters Share Their Favorite Stories from The Paris Review
Object Lessons is an indispensable resource for writers, students, and anyone who wants to understand the art of the short story. In this anthology, the first of its kind, twenty contemporary masters of the genre share their favorite stories from the pages of The Paris Review and offer insights into what makes them great.
Over the last half century, The Paris Review has launched hundreds of careers while publishing some of the most inventive and best-loved stories of our time. From classics to new discoveries, this collection showcases the breadth and vitality of the short story form.
Contributors include Daniel Alarcón, Donald Barthelme, Ann Beattie, David Bezmozgis, Jorge Luis Borges, Jane Bowles, Ethan Canin, Raymond Carver, Evan S. Connell, Bernard Cooper, Guy Davenport, Lydia Davis, Dave Eggers, Jeffrey Eugenides, Mary Gaitskill, Thomas Glynn, Aleksandar Hemon, Amy Hempel, Mary-Beth Hughes, Denis Johnson, Jonathan Lethem, Sam Lipsyte, Ben Marcus, David Means, Leonard Michaels, Steven Millhauser, Lorrie Moore, Craig Nova, Daniel Orozco, Mary Robison, Norman Rush, James Salter, Mona Simpson, Ali Smith, Wells Tower, Dallas Wiebe, and Joy Williams.
Object Lessons is a treasury of great short fiction and an essential tool for anyone seeking to understand the writer's craft. Dive into these masterful stories and discover why The Paris Review has been at the forefront of literary culture for over sixty years.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A selection of fiction culled from the influential journal's archive with a twist: writers often featured in the journal's pages Lorrie Moore, David Means, Ann Beattie, Wells Tower, Ali Smith, among others offer brief critical analyses of their selections, elevating this book from a greatest hits anthology to a kind of mini-M.F.A. Sam Lipsyte's take on Mary Robison's "Likely Lake" is as much a demonstration of the economy of powerful writing as the story itself and Ben Marcus's tribute to Donald Barthelme's "magician... language" in "Several Garlic Tales" illustrates how learning can occur when one writer inhabits another writer's mind to geek out over what they both love. If the essays are uneven, the stories almost never are, ranging from the widely read (Ethan Canin's "The Palace Thief") to the unexpected . The editors call this a guide for young writers and readers interested in literary technique, and the book achieves that purpose while also serving as a tribute to the role the Paris Review has played in maintaining the diversity of the short story form. The collection reminds us that good stories are always whispering into each other's ears.