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I Am What I Am Because You Are What You Are
A collection of linked stories can closely approximate everyday experience, where repeat, intimate encounters might gradually uncover the private, inner lives of others, and the accumulated fragments of incidents and revelations might slowly unveil the context for the choices people have made. Through the authenticity and subtle interconnections of her characters, Carole Glasser Langille explores the nature of our relationships; what we conceal, what we reveal–and at what cost.
- GenresShort Stories
176 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2015
28 people want to read
About the author
Carole Glasser Langille
11 books7 followersCarole Glasser Langille is a Canadian poet and teacher.
Originally from New York City, she studied with the poets John Ashberyand Carolyn Forché.
Glasser Langille has taught at The Humber School for Writing Summer Program, Maritime Writer's Workshop, the Community of Writers in Tatamagouche, and at Women's Words the University of Alberta. She has also taught courses called “Creative Writing” at Mount Saint Vincent University, “Writing for the Arts” at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. She currently teaches Creative Writing: Poetry at Dalhousie University.
Several selections from her collection, Late in a Slow Time have been adapted to music by renowned Canadian composer Chan Ka Nin. The production, narrated by Barbara Budd, debuted at the 2006 Sound Symposium in St. John's, Newfoundland and is on Duo Concertante's CD Wild Bird (October 2010).
She has received Canada Council Grants for poetry, non-fiction and fiction as well as Nova Scotia Cultural Arts grants for poetry and fiction. Her work has been nominated for the Governor General's Award and the Atlantic Poetry Prize. Her fourth book of poetry, Church of the Exquisite Panic: The Ophelia Poems, was published in 2012.
Carole Glasser Langille lives in Black Point, Nova Scotia with her family.
Originally from New York City, she studied with the poets John Ashberyand Carolyn Forché.
Glasser Langille has taught at The Humber School for Writing Summer Program, Maritime Writer's Workshop, the Community of Writers in Tatamagouche, and at Women's Words the University of Alberta. She has also taught courses called “Creative Writing” at Mount Saint Vincent University, “Writing for the Arts” at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. She currently teaches Creative Writing: Poetry at Dalhousie University.
Several selections from her collection, Late in a Slow Time have been adapted to music by renowned Canadian composer Chan Ka Nin. The production, narrated by Barbara Budd, debuted at the 2006 Sound Symposium in St. John's, Newfoundland and is on Duo Concertante's CD Wild Bird (October 2010).
She has received Canada Council Grants for poetry, non-fiction and fiction as well as Nova Scotia Cultural Arts grants for poetry and fiction. Her work has been nominated for the Governor General's Award and the Atlantic Poetry Prize. Her fourth book of poetry, Church of the Exquisite Panic: The Ophelia Poems, was published in 2012.
Carole Glasser Langille lives in Black Point, Nova Scotia with her family.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 6, 2022
Each story follows very close friends and family throughout different points in their lives and how much their small actions mean to each other and have an impact in the long term. We get to watch them come to terms and discover things about themselves through these short stories, It's full of very real and extremely personal stories and you get to know the characters as they grow through the years since the stories can often span decades.
The storytelling and the connection from story to story was very subtle, nothing felt forced and everything came together seamlessly.
Such an amazing book with a great perspective on what family and friendship means to us and the impact it has throughout our lives. This book made me feel real emotion and appreciation for the small things that those close to me day and do and how they can effect me in the long term.
From the writing itself it's very easy to tell that Langille is a poet, the language is beautiful and she somehow makes it easy to capture the depth of their emotions and the atmosphere they're in, some stories feel sunny while others feel gloomy.
Overall just such an amazing book and puts perspective on things
The storytelling and the connection from story to story was very subtle, nothing felt forced and everything came together seamlessly.
Such an amazing book with a great perspective on what family and friendship means to us and the impact it has throughout our lives. This book made me feel real emotion and appreciation for the small things that those close to me day and do and how they can effect me in the long term.
From the writing itself it's very easy to tell that Langille is a poet, the language is beautiful and she somehow makes it easy to capture the depth of their emotions and the atmosphere they're in, some stories feel sunny while others feel gloomy.
Overall just such an amazing book and puts perspective on things
February 8, 2016
Carole Glasser Langille’s I Am What I Am Because You Are What You Are has all the things I was ever looking for in a collection of short stories; a subtle interconnectedness that compels you to keep reading, lyrical writing, and many intense feels. This is not the kind of book of short stories that sits on your bookshelf and waits until a month from after you finish that thing when you have the free time to get through one self-contained story at a time, but a book that stays at close reach and demands you devour it.
The way you meet characters in this collection in various stories, at different stages of their lives, sometimes even spanning generations, and from different angles, gives them more dimension than you would gain from reading them in a novel with only one voice and a limited perspective. You see from one angle, a husband who abandons his wife after an accident and from another view, the same man, a psychiatrist who saved another man from himself. In two stories, you see first the life that one person led, and then the lifesaving actions that resulted in the next generation.
Langille is a poet and artist as well as a prose writer and it shows through in the lyrical pictures she paints for us in these stories. In typical Gasperau publication style, the book looks and feels great in your hands—a textured dust jacket, a font with a backstory, high quality pages. In addition to the esthetic appeal of this collection, there is a strong emotional impact evoked through character development, and you’re likely to find yourself experiencing wet-eyed feelings when you come to know characters as Langille helps you to know them.
Carole Glasser Langille is the author of four collections of poetry and two collections of short stories and teaches at Dalhousie in the Creative Writing Program.
The way you meet characters in this collection in various stories, at different stages of their lives, sometimes even spanning generations, and from different angles, gives them more dimension than you would gain from reading them in a novel with only one voice and a limited perspective. You see from one angle, a husband who abandons his wife after an accident and from another view, the same man, a psychiatrist who saved another man from himself. In two stories, you see first the life that one person led, and then the lifesaving actions that resulted in the next generation.
Langille is a poet and artist as well as a prose writer and it shows through in the lyrical pictures she paints for us in these stories. In typical Gasperau publication style, the book looks and feels great in your hands—a textured dust jacket, a font with a backstory, high quality pages. In addition to the esthetic appeal of this collection, there is a strong emotional impact evoked through character development, and you’re likely to find yourself experiencing wet-eyed feelings when you come to know characters as Langille helps you to know them.
Carole Glasser Langille is the author of four collections of poetry and two collections of short stories and teaches at Dalhousie in the Creative Writing Program.
June 18, 2016
Carole Glasser Langille’s second collection of short fiction is a sequence of loosely linked narratives that examine the inner lives of a diverse cast of characters with confidence and succinct but graceful lyricism. These are mainly stories about families and close friends, people at various stages of life who are being forced by events to face uncomfortable truths about themselves. The title reveals much about what’s going on in these pages. Langille’s characters are closely involved with one another and concerned about each other’s welfare. They think about each other a great deal. Langille is writing about intricately intertwined lives that touch and overlap and influence one another in ways both overt and subtle. A teacher who constantly questions his abilities and the choices he’s made finds solace in the reverential gaze of one of his more downtrodden students. Alanna, whose fiancé has died unexpectedly becomes close friends with an older couple. When she finds herself romantically involved with the husband after the wife dies suddenly, she starts to wonder what they have in common, apart from death. A man is treated to a surprise fiftieth birthday party by his much younger girlfriend and embarks on a self-assessment that leaves him wondering what he’s done, and what he’s doing, with his life. Langille, an accomplished a poet, writes prose that is filled with lyrical touches. The stories are fast-paced, tightly structured mini-dramas that pack a great deal of event into few pages. A quick, enjoyable read that is also wise and profound. This is a book that probes human behaviour deeply and pitilessly, leaving us with much to reflect upon.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews