false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1181287619m/1137462.jpg 1137462 1 <p>`Written over four decades, <i>Pittsburgh Stories</i>, is the second in a projected four-volume set of Clark Blaise's selected short stories. Set largely during the forties and fifties, these nine stories, with one exception, are reminiscences about a distant Pittsburgh adolescence. The previous and inaugural collection in the series, <i>Southern Stories</i>, was also unified by one locale. <p>Blaise's prowess as a writer is evident from the outset. The opening story, "The Birth of the Blues", written in 1983, is clearly the work of a skilful, deft craftsman. A well-honed tale, it impresses with its subtlety and detail. The protagonist, young Frank Keeler, witnesses his father's humiliation before a woman who has hired him to fix her pipes. Standing before the two Keelers in her bathrobe, she reprimands Frank's father and summarily dismisses him. In so doing, she sets both father and son alight with desire, "becoming for Keeler, the prototype of all beautiful women. For his father, the most perfect bitch." ' 1124715 15 10 2001 Pittsburgh Stories (Selected Stories) total:5|5:1|3:1|2:2|1:1| 5 13 6 0 0 0 false false Tue Apr 21 06:45:24 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 21 06:45:24 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Mon Mar 23 14:40:20 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 23 14:40:20 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Mon Mar 09 17:31:45 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 09 17:31:52 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Fri Nov 14 13:18:49 -0800 2008 Fri Nov 14 13:18:49 -0800 2008 1 0 false false Sun Aug 10 13:40:28 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 10 13:40:28 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Wed Jan 16 09:23:59 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 16 09:23:59 -0800 2008 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=1137462