Krazy Kat and 76 More: Stories 1950-1976

by Fielding Dawson

"No writer moves more aptly, quickly, closely, in the tracking of human dimensions of feeling and relation."―Robert Creeley A story collection by Fielding Dawson.

375 pages, Paperback

Published December 1, 1982

About the author

Fielding Dawson was an American author of short stories and novels, a painter and collagist, and a student at Black Mountain College.

Reviews

[Mitch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably one of the best prose stylists in modern America, Fielding Dawson's early stories are among my favorite stories of all time. I'd put them up against Hemingway, Chekhov, Pancake, Poe, Chandler, anybody you can think of. Fielding takes you inside the mind of the protagonist, he doesn't just fill you in on plot, he provides the heart of the matter, especially in the works collected here. I have always loved these stories, because they run true.
If you never read any other Dawson works, you have to read these stories. Once you do, you'll likely be hooked. I was.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full disclosure; I didn't finish reading this collection of 77 mostly very short stories. I got far enough to fall for Fielding Dawson's specific brand of post-war naivete; far enough to know that I want this book nearby so that I can read a story or three as a nice little break or palette cleanser, rather than running through the whole thing at once. Perhaps picking it up at odd intervals will make those stories that didn't do it for me the first time around, because of their stuttering stream of conscious beat narrative or otherwise, find some purchase in my heart and brain.
Its hard not falling for the narrator of these stories; a thinly, if at at all, veiled Dawson. There is a sweetness and absence of cynicism that sets these stories apart from their contemporaries. They don't always work,but the ones that successfully walk the line of sweetness and substance are truly lovely.