A Pause in the Desert

by Oliver La Farge

Oliver La Farge covers many aspects of everyday life in these sixteen stories, which range from an old man facing death alone in the Mexican bush to some boys facing the responsibilities of life at St. Peter's school; from the science fiction world of computing machines to the world of gourmets; and from the violent death of a man off the Rhode Island coast to the quiet death of a marriage in New Mexico. The variety of stories in this wide-ranging collection are sure to fit the taste and mood and any reader interested in the human condition through the clear grace of La Farge's timeless writing.

Genres: Short Stories

276 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1936

About the author

Oliver Hazard Perry La Farge was an American writer and anthropologist, perhaps best known for his 1930 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Laughing Boy. Named for his father, Oliver H.P. Lafarge, he is the grandson of the artist and stained-glass pioneer John La Farge, nephew of the noted Beaux-Arts architect Christopher LaFarge and the father of the folk singer and painter Peter La Farge.

La Farge's short stories were published in The New Yorker and Esquire magazines. His more notable works, fiction and non-fiction, focus on Native American culture.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_L...

Reviews

[Paul F · Rating 5 out of 5]

I re-read "Spud and Cochise", a short story in "A Pause in the Desert". While Spud would never survive the current Bowlderising moment, with a minor character, Elvira Hartshorn fleeing a life of shame in a fancy house, a woman who's "shotgun was slung from her saddle horn in a female arrangement of strings".
None the less, Spud, "come of a race of kings" meets with Cochise and negotiates the services of the "thief of the world", the best thief the Apaches produced, Apaches who admire an accomplished horse thief.
Spud and Cochise use magic, withering curses and Four-Eyed Monongahela to negotiate. I read "Spud and Cochise" as a boy over sixty years ago and still love it.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had read a novel by La Farge, which I thoroughly enjoyed Laughing Boy, so I sought out these short stories. They were certainly what I expected in terms of quality, but not otherwise: the range of locales, themes and characters is vast. The only similarity among them is La Farge's straightforward, almost journalistic writing style, which is perfect for these stories.

La Farge is an amazing writer, too soon forgotten. I would gladly read anything of his I could get my hands on.