The Stories Of Tobias Wolff

by Tobias Wolff

This volume brings together all the stories from Tobias Wolff's collections Hunters in the Snow (1982) and Back in the World (1985) with his intense short novel The Barrack's Thief - winner of the 1984 PEN/Faulkner Award. These are works which impart powerful realisations of the discrepancy between the everyday world and our secret dreams and aspirations, hallmarked with a craftsmanship that has eaned the author three O. Henry Prizes.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Novels, 20th Century, American, Contemporary

380 pages, Paperback

First published April 8, 1990

About the author

Tobias Jonathan Ansell Wolff is a writer of fiction and nonfiction.

He is best known for his short stories and his memoirs, although he has written two novels.

Wolff is the Ward W. and Priscilla B. Woods Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University, where he has taught classes in English and creative writing since 1997. He also served as the director of the Creative Writing Program at Stanford from 2000 to 2002.

Reviews

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

Way back when I read The Night in Question, I considered Wolff second only to Raymond Carver as exponent of a certain type of story. Then I read Our Story Begins, a collection of selected and new tales, which only confirmed my prior suspicion (although by now I realised that Alice Munro was, if not necessarily a better story writer than Carver, certainly equal to anyone I'd read working in that genre) regarding Wolff, that he was up there, that his stories were rightly anthologised en masse etc.

Reading some of these stories again was pleasurable but slightly disappointing. All those things I'd earlier felt, that here were canonical American stories, that Wolff was a master, became problematic, not only because I'm now convinced I was wrong, but because I realise that Wolff also believes what I did, and that this is a big part of the issue. I can't help but feel that these stories were written with an air of being immediate classics; they're self-consciously 'timeless' in a way that hopes to echo Maupassant and Chekhov and, yes, Raymond Carver. They're not of that calibre. They're accomplished pieces that often feel like pale imitations, and they're hampered by their author's timidity and slightly debilitating self-regard. There's no risk involved in any of them, and you're unlikely to remember many. But are they good, solid stories? Certainly.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume is actually three books in one - the two story collections Hunters in the Snow and Back in the World and the novella The Barracks Thief. (The Bloomsbury version is the same as the earlier Picador version.) It’s excellent value for money.

My favourites include ‘Maiden Voyage,’ 'The Liar', 'The Rich Brother', and 'Smokers'. Slight pieces (‘Sister’, ‘Coming Attractions’) are few. Wolff has an enviable range of character and a finely tuned moral sense. He is a moralist but no moraliser. He has been labelled a 'dirty realist'; ‘great writer' would surely be more apposite. His two memoirs are similarly remarkable.

[Lucynell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the first books I remember buying. I last read it maybe 10 years ago. At some point I added it on Goodreads and rated it 4. For the life of me I cannot tell why I would do such a thing, rate it 4 I mean. Whatever the reason I am fixing it now. Tobias Wolff is one of the best writers writing short stories in English. Of course there's no way I could prove this, we all know literature awards really mean not much anyway and he's got a few, I'm just saying and there's quite a few walking about trying to explain why this is so so you'll have to show some faith and read on. Like much of dirty realism his stories are often snapshots of everyday life lived by everyday people. Unlike much of dirty realism his stories do have a point to make, or rather a more obvious one, and often, uncomfortably, a moral one. The man handles prose like the tenderest scalpel imaginable, barely touching, cold and calculated strokes that make one go wow at the things revealed. One has to care to be able to observe the things he does and one needs skill to present them like this and not like that. There's 23 stories here, three or four are just okay, most are excellent and six are nothing less than masterpieces. If you enjoy short stories but have yet to read Tobias Wolff you really need to step on it.

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Literary stories of the slice-of-life variety. They seemed flawless to me, poised perfectly at the half-way point between poignancy and irony. Is this because I normally only read horror stories? I think they're genuinely very good, Wolff's stories.

[Pixelina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think it must have been more then 20 years since I bought this one from the sale rack at LundeQ bookstore in Uppsala. I was studying literature but sometimes the classics, the Homer and Vergil and Materlink and Schiller and Byrons just felt like too much. Too many expressions and I longed to sink into something ordinary. Something a bit like home even though the home here is mainly American suburbs I could still relate.

[T.J. Dudas · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a little gem I've been missing out. Wolff writes clearly and in simple English. Good stories to read for enjoyment and for learning.

[w gall · Rating 4 out of 5]

No doubt, Mr. Wolff is a talented writer. I could label his stories as realism, or I could say they they were disheartening. I could say that most of the stories invited me to use my imagination to create a denoument, or I could say they left me hanging. The last one, a novella, was different; he resolved the story. I found that refreshing. The stories also invited moral analysis. For our own character development, that's a plus.

[Danny Haritan · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5

As part of my goal to read a short story every week this year, I started this book a few months ago and have been enjoying a story each week. One of my favorite books is Tobias Wolff's This Boy's Life. I have also read his other short story collection, The Night in Question, which I loved. The Stories of Tobias Wolff is an earlier collection of his short stories. While it is not as polished or enjoyable as The Night in Question, I found each story to be very good.

[Anders Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of short stories by Tobias Wolff wandered quite dreamily into my life at a juncture whereabouts I was somewhat rudderless. Having the chance to spend a summer reading it, assaying many of the stories as I went, gave me not only a moving joy but a sense of identity. I believe this is part of the magic of Tobias Wolff and his wonderful writing. An utter pleasure.

[Catherine · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a boring book about boring characters. I just finished it and can only remember the last story. I don't understand why this book gets such good reviews. I'm glad it's over and I can move onwards and upwards.

[Chris Waterford · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was led to these stories after loving two memoirs the Tobias Wolff wrote. I did not enjoy these stories as much as I expected. The two I loved most were "Smokers" and one about Professor Brooke.
6.5/10

[Hulls LIla · Rating 5 out of 5]

These literary slice of life stories struck me as flawless, balancing perfectly between poignancy and irony. Maybe it feels that way because I usually only read horror, but I truly think Wolff’s stories are genuinely excellent.

[Harits Masduqi]

Tobias Wolff at his best! My favourite collection of short stories I bought during my master's years at Monash University of Melbourne.

[Denidevine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't usually read short stories but I really enjoy the writing of TW...

[Vilis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Augstākās raudzes stāsti par lūzeriem, kuri dreifē cauri dzīvei, līdz ietriecas paši sava lūzerisma sienā.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

just finished CLASS PICTURE...8/3/2010

[Sean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book.

[Eric]

A unique brand of "dirty realism" and a generationally-great writer...