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The Collected Stories of Elizabeth Bowen
Widely known for her much-admired novels, including The Heat of the Day, The House in Paris, and The Death of the Heart, Elizabeth Bowen established herself in the front rank of the century's writers equally through her short fiction.
This collection brings together seventy-nine magnificent stories written over the course of four decades. Vividly featuring scenes of bomb-s...more
This collection brings together seventy-nine magnificent stories written over the course of four decades. Vividly featuring scenes of bomb-s...more
Paperback, 784 pages
Published
August 8th 2006
by Anchor
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I checked out Ms. Bowen on the reccomendation of whacked-out "manicstream" author D.F. Lewis. Her stories are nothing like Lewis' "high weird" nightmares, crawling with deformity, neologism and voodoo. And yet, there's a simmilarity in the way they dissect a peculiar British ennui. She does have at least one chilling ghost story to her credit ("The Demon Lover"), but mostly this is elegant, hyper-observant realism. I got about halfway through this tome before I ...more
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More "misses" than hits in this collection, though admittedly a number of stories are "near-misses," seeming _almost_ very good, but perhaps just a little too precious or "distilled".
I thought the best stories in the collection were the ghost tales and the ones set in London during World War II. The pain of memory and the ache of lonely human souls are Ms. Bowen's great themes, and when she is good, she is very very good indeed. "The Demon Lov...more
I thought the best stories in the collection were the ghost tales and the ones set in London during World War II. The pain of memory and the ache of lonely human souls are Ms. Bowen's great themes, and when she is good, she is very very good indeed. "The Demon Lov...more
I have not read all of the stories in this collection -- I plan to savor them over time. This is a goldmine of beautiful short stories like I have not seen before. Elizabeth Bowen was a master of the short story as well as of longer fiction as well. She was an Anglo-Irish author who lived and wrote through many decades of the 2oth century. She lived through the changes and upheaval of the century and through much distress in her private life also. I can hardly compare her writing with that of...more
This collection of short stories covers the early years,the twenties, and up to the post-war period.Elizabeth Bowen's world is one of uppers class routines, tea in the library, dressing for dinner, country house weekends.But her perceptive clever writing is about human relationships, the underlying feelings and the things that aren't said.In 'Making Arrangements' a deserted husband takes revenge on his wife through her dresses,
"Now looking down, he watched the dresses, tense wi...more
"Now looking down, he watched the dresses, tense wi...more
I don't really like short stories. So why on earth I felt compelled to finish 800 pages of them by one author I do not know. Some of them were quite good (The Confidante) but in general there's just not enough meat in a short story for me to really love them.
Rose
rated it
Recommends it for:
everyone, especially those with a love of learning new words in the English language!
Brilliantly written - Clever and witty use of astoundly brilliant language. I always read Elizabeth Bowen's short stories with a dictionary by my side! If I could learn to write like her, I'd never put my pencil down..!
Hmmm...I seem to be on a short story jaunt.
Well, it's better than a history-book-that's-actually-fiction jaunt. Em-barressing!
Well, it's better than a history-book-that's-actually-fiction jaunt. Em-barressing!
She is a terribly underrated writer, especially her short stories.
Eric
marked it as to-read
The first few pages of "The Disinherited" sold me on this.
Alison
marked it as to-read
I think Bowen's stories are interesting, although some of them are dated, but a little of her stories go a long way, in my opinion. I'm going to reshelve this and pull it out when I need something to read for a day or so.
Since this was a library book, I returned it before really digesting it. I read about three of the stories. I find Bowen a a great writer and I will probably buy this book so I can properly enjoy it. Her style is detailed narratives and long paragraphs. it is the kind of writing that you like to savor rather than rush through to find out what happens...
I haven't read all of these yet (I've been reading a few here and there), but the ones I have gotten to have been zingers. Thanks for the rec, Paula!
this book was one of those books of short stories. a couple of them were okay, but i couldnt follow most of them. it was kind of boring.
Beth Shields-Szostak
marked it as to-read
1st edition US
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Elizabeth Dorothea Cole Bowen, CBE was an Anglo-Irish novelist and short story writer.
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