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Learning to Swim and Other Stories
‘Graham Swift has shown that he has an authority - of style, characterization, grasp of life. These concentrated enigmatic stories address their subjects with such intelligent conviction and clarity that their ambiguities are not left to be stumbled on by the reader, but are challengingly displayed. They are like James’s stories in the way they apply an almost scientific analytical cleverness to the things in life which are forever vague, painful or imponderable’ Times Literary Supplement ‘The ties that bind people, the good and bad things they do to each other, the happiness, embarrassment and the pain that they cause their friends, their partners, their children - these are Graham Swift’s chief concerns. He has a wide range; he can be delicately sensitive or outrageously funny. He is a born storyteller’ Daily Telegraph
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1982
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251 people want to read
About the author
Graham Swift
53 books701 followersGraham Colin Swift is a British writer. Born in London, UK, he was educated at Dulwich College, Queens' College, Cambridge, and later the University of York.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
October 24, 2015
3.5 stars
Bought in 1997 at an ELT seminar in Bangkok, this 11-story book has not really interested me at first sight and it remained unfinished after nearly two decades since I have never read him before. I could go as far as Story 1 Seraglio and reach Story 2 The Tunnel (16 pages) and leave it at that without any inspiring motive. However, last Monday I decided to try reading the remaining stories, hoping to complete this task as soon as I could.
I found reading “Learning to Swim” convincingly interesting due to his narrative style focusing on looking at psychological conflict between a wife and a husband, that is, Mrs and Mr Singleton who was teaching their son Paul to swim. Why? One of the reasons is that “Mrs Singleton had three times thought of leaving her husband.” (p. 168) The more we read on each time, the more we are amused due to her nagging viewpoints. For example, it happened before they got married when they had a holiday in Greece and they had different preferences; so she thought she should not marry him.
Bought in 1997 at an ELT seminar in Bangkok, this 11-story book has not really interested me at first sight and it remained unfinished after nearly two decades since I have never read him before. I could go as far as Story 1 Seraglio and reach Story 2 The Tunnel (16 pages) and leave it at that without any inspiring motive. However, last Monday I decided to try reading the remaining stories, hoping to complete this task as soon as I could.
I found reading “Learning to Swim” convincingly interesting due to his narrative style focusing on looking at psychological conflict between a wife and a husband, that is, Mrs and Mr Singleton who was teaching their son Paul to swim. Why? One of the reasons is that “Mrs Singleton had three times thought of leaving her husband.” (p. 168) The more we read on each time, the more we are amused due to her nagging viewpoints. For example, it happened before they got married when they had a holiday in Greece and they had different preferences; so she thought she should not marry him.
October 24, 2015
Beautifully written stories of human relationships. Disturbing stories in some sense and yet familiar. Readers who only like satisfying endings will not like these, however, readers who enjoy excellent writing, keen observations, and reality (well almost for the last story) may enjoy this unusual collection. The author's masterful writing floats readers along to thoughtful endings.
I'd recommend this literary collection to readers who enjoy same.
I'd recommend this literary collection to readers who enjoy same.
May 28, 2018
I still have my copy of this book, now over 20 years old. Despite the dud that opens the collection (‘Seraglio’) Swift has a lot in his arsenal, all the more powerful for being so restrained, unobtrusive.
It puzzles me that ‘Hotel’ and ‘The Tunnel’ weren’t printed in magazines, but ‘funny foreigner’ pieces like ‘Gabor’ and ‘The Son’ were. ‘Cliffedge’ seems a dry run for Swift’s great novel Waterland but more than holds its own. The title story is the most optimistic and superbly executed: the child’s sudden bid for freedom mirrored in the text by the switch to free indirect speech.
It puzzles me that ‘Hotel’ and ‘The Tunnel’ weren’t printed in magazines, but ‘funny foreigner’ pieces like ‘Gabor’ and ‘The Son’ were. ‘Cliffedge’ seems a dry run for Swift’s great novel Waterland but more than holds its own. The title story is the most optimistic and superbly executed: the child’s sudden bid for freedom mirrored in the text by the switch to free indirect speech.
April 2, 2024
A mixed back of short stories, most of which were published in different magazines at different times.
SERAGLIO
An unsettling story about a marriage hurt by a death in the family. The husband describes their anguish, told in the first person. Why do they stay together? They have all the money they need which enables their continental holidays. These seem to preserve their uneasy relationship.
THE TUNNEL
A young couple have just finished with school, leave home and start living together in a flat due for demolition. It's what they see from their window that gives us a horrible non-ending.
HOTEL
Our narrator leaves a type of mental hospital and after saving for many years, opens his own hotel. Successful at first but not until ...... Strange and surreal.
HOFFMEIER'S ANTELOPE
A kind of philosophical question about existence. A story about a zookeeper, as crazy as the title suggests.
THE SON
Some strange family history erupts for a man from Greece.
THE HYPOCHONDRIAC
A young GP ruminates on his marriage to a much younger wife. But more troublesome is a patient referred to as "M". who visits the surgery all the time complaining about various symptoms. The doctor has no explanation and believes there is nothing wrong. But this does not satisfy "M" until .....
GABOR
Perhaps the most memorable of these stories concerns Roger, looking back to his youth in 1957. Joining the family as a refugee is Gabor from Budapest. He's the same age as Roger, but how will he fit in?
THE WATCH
Another surreal piece about a family of clock and watch watch makers. But our narrator Adam Krepski tells us this is not a story about clock making. It is the day of his wedding anniversary, even though his wife left him thirty years before. Adam thinks about when they married in 1957. His grandfather is one hundred and fifty years old, continuing the extreme longevity of the male line. Is this all to do with the watch? Later, Adam's grandfather, now 161, accompanies him to the Sussex South Downs, leaving behind the failing shop. A fantasy that I just did not get. Such as "Our ancestors are our first and only Gods. It is from them we get our guilt, our duty, our sin - our destiny". Then " Time is circular. The longer you live, the more you long to go back, to go back". Maybe. But having toiled through this unusual story, the last ten pages are the best in the book.
CLIFFEDGE
A proper short story about a brother and a wife, and how both are lost. There are glimpses of the lives we all lead. Excellent.
CHEMISTRY
The narrator lives with his mother and grandfather in the later's house, his father having disappeared. Ralph is a friend of the mother and he eventually moves in. A cuckoo in the nest? Leading to the son and his grandfather taking up residence in the shed where they practice chemistry. Again, all very strange. Not a nice ending.
LEARNING TO SWIM
A story that lends the book it's title. Mrs Singleton is the central character, her marriage and an unexpected child. While Mr Singleton tries to teach the young boy to swim, his wife contemplates their early relationship and where that fell away. A tug of war between the two ends in neither winning.
I much prefer Graham Swift's novels so these stories were mainly a big disappointment.
SERAGLIO
An unsettling story about a marriage hurt by a death in the family. The husband describes their anguish, told in the first person. Why do they stay together? They have all the money they need which enables their continental holidays. These seem to preserve their uneasy relationship.
THE TUNNEL
A young couple have just finished with school, leave home and start living together in a flat due for demolition. It's what they see from their window that gives us a horrible non-ending.
HOTEL
Our narrator leaves a type of mental hospital and after saving for many years, opens his own hotel. Successful at first but not until ...... Strange and surreal.
HOFFMEIER'S ANTELOPE
A kind of philosophical question about existence. A story about a zookeeper, as crazy as the title suggests.
THE SON
Some strange family history erupts for a man from Greece.
THE HYPOCHONDRIAC
A young GP ruminates on his marriage to a much younger wife. But more troublesome is a patient referred to as "M". who visits the surgery all the time complaining about various symptoms. The doctor has no explanation and believes there is nothing wrong. But this does not satisfy "M" until .....
GABOR
Perhaps the most memorable of these stories concerns Roger, looking back to his youth in 1957. Joining the family as a refugee is Gabor from Budapest. He's the same age as Roger, but how will he fit in?
THE WATCH
Another surreal piece about a family of clock and watch watch makers. But our narrator Adam Krepski tells us this is not a story about clock making. It is the day of his wedding anniversary, even though his wife left him thirty years before. Adam thinks about when they married in 1957. His grandfather is one hundred and fifty years old, continuing the extreme longevity of the male line. Is this all to do with the watch? Later, Adam's grandfather, now 161, accompanies him to the Sussex South Downs, leaving behind the failing shop. A fantasy that I just did not get. Such as "Our ancestors are our first and only Gods. It is from them we get our guilt, our duty, our sin - our destiny". Then " Time is circular. The longer you live, the more you long to go back, to go back". Maybe. But having toiled through this unusual story, the last ten pages are the best in the book.
CLIFFEDGE
A proper short story about a brother and a wife, and how both are lost. There are glimpses of the lives we all lead. Excellent.
CHEMISTRY
The narrator lives with his mother and grandfather in the later's house, his father having disappeared. Ralph is a friend of the mother and he eventually moves in. A cuckoo in the nest? Leading to the son and his grandfather taking up residence in the shed where they practice chemistry. Again, all very strange. Not a nice ending.
LEARNING TO SWIM
A story that lends the book it's title. Mrs Singleton is the central character, her marriage and an unexpected child. While Mr Singleton tries to teach the young boy to swim, his wife contemplates their early relationship and where that fell away. A tug of war between the two ends in neither winning.
I much prefer Graham Swift's novels so these stories were mainly a big disappointment.
June 21, 2022
This was Swift's first story collection, and it is quite different in subject and tone than his more recent stories/novels. A common theme is alienation in families, marriages, and life in general. Some stories touch on mental illness, and the final story - quite a good one - seems to be channeling Edgar Allan Poe. These sorts of collections are always a mixed bag, but this one should be of interest to Swift fans.
August 27, 2020
Well written but - for me - mostly unsatisfying stories, apart from 3 of the last 4. Like too many collections, most read like ideas for novels that the author grew tired of or found unable to develop and therefore labelled them short stories. I found 'The Watch' the most absorbing.
February 7, 2021
Absolut favorite !! A compilation of short stories about love, friendship and family- relationships and dynamics. Going deep, deep into complex dynamics between people. His style and words are super atmospheric and detailed. Highly recommend
February 12, 2018
Swift is a gifted writer.
February 23, 2021
Very enjoyable excellent prose
August 3, 2022
3.5 very british elder core
August 27, 2024
I liked these stories. They were human
February 27, 2026
Terrible
March 15, 2013
Learning To Swim is a set of short stories by Graham Swift. Their focus is fundamentally and repeatedly on human relationships, especially those within the nuclear family. And though it would be wrong to suggest that Learning To Swim and the other stories delve deeply into the human psyche, it would also be wrong to dismiss them as light touches on the fabric of life.
In the title story, for instance, we have a family on holiday. The father is a proud achiever, very much the centre of attention, usually by his own demand. The mother is apparently a self-confident poser, beautiful and both conscious and proud of the fact. We feel there is potential for conflict here if, at any point, life does not work out exactly as these participants demand it should.
And then there’s a child. Perhaps the child is the image of both parents, perhaps neither. The parents might compete over the youngster, but the parents might also be trying to impose themselves of on the growing personality. And so the child, itself, becomes a site of conflict, a conflict that is not voiced in any way other than a competition over its very identity. How might this appear from the child’s point of view? It may be the case that these particular parents might not seek to canvas this position, since it might just conflict with their presumptions. But then the child might just have a mind of its own, and indeed its own life to live.
It is a simple idea and a small element of what surely would be a larger picture, but, even with its limited objectives, the story really does come to life. In a short space we come to know these people intimately. If we were to meet them, we might already think we can predict how they might behave, or even what they might say, since Graham Swift’s characterisation is so carefully drawn.
The author’s observations on and descriptions of relationships are consistently perceptive throughout. The pace may not often change appreciably, and the range of scenarios presented might not be great. But travel and new experience feature strongly in these texts and the characters often find themselves in places where they feel out of place, out of context and in need of change. Thus their reactions and decisions often surprise.
In The Watch the scenario shifts somewhat, as we are introduced to a family of watchmakers who, via their own creation, can not only measure time but also control it. This ability is passed from father to son with remarkable results. It seems that any commodity that we can access in abundance is automatically devalued. The science fiction element in The Clock is thus only a minor part of what remains a study of human relationships and aspirations.
Learning To Swim is a rewarding set of stories. In short spaces of time we get to know these people who become truly three-dimensional as well as emotionally complex individuals. Though the stories are not related, their intended similarity makes them better read as a group from beginning to end.
In the title story, for instance, we have a family on holiday. The father is a proud achiever, very much the centre of attention, usually by his own demand. The mother is apparently a self-confident poser, beautiful and both conscious and proud of the fact. We feel there is potential for conflict here if, at any point, life does not work out exactly as these participants demand it should.
And then there’s a child. Perhaps the child is the image of both parents, perhaps neither. The parents might compete over the youngster, but the parents might also be trying to impose themselves of on the growing personality. And so the child, itself, becomes a site of conflict, a conflict that is not voiced in any way other than a competition over its very identity. How might this appear from the child’s point of view? It may be the case that these particular parents might not seek to canvas this position, since it might just conflict with their presumptions. But then the child might just have a mind of its own, and indeed its own life to live.
It is a simple idea and a small element of what surely would be a larger picture, but, even with its limited objectives, the story really does come to life. In a short space we come to know these people intimately. If we were to meet them, we might already think we can predict how they might behave, or even what they might say, since Graham Swift’s characterisation is so carefully drawn.
The author’s observations on and descriptions of relationships are consistently perceptive throughout. The pace may not often change appreciably, and the range of scenarios presented might not be great. But travel and new experience feature strongly in these texts and the characters often find themselves in places where they feel out of place, out of context and in need of change. Thus their reactions and decisions often surprise.
In The Watch the scenario shifts somewhat, as we are introduced to a family of watchmakers who, via their own creation, can not only measure time but also control it. This ability is passed from father to son with remarkable results. It seems that any commodity that we can access in abundance is automatically devalued. The science fiction element in The Clock is thus only a minor part of what remains a study of human relationships and aspirations.
Learning To Swim is a rewarding set of stories. In short spaces of time we get to know these people who become truly three-dimensional as well as emotionally complex individuals. Though the stories are not related, their intended similarity makes them better read as a group from beginning to end.
January 24, 2008
Graham Swift, Learning to Swim and Other Stories (Washington Square Press, 1982)
Graham Swift is something of a one-trick pony, actually, but the one trick he does he does exceptinoally well. This is less obvious when you're reading the man's wonderful novels-- Waterland, for instance, which someone will hopefully soon canonize as one of the classics of twentieth-century literature-- but when you get digging into a story collection, you realize that Swift, or a close family member, was in the throes of the nasty ending of a relationship while he was writing these stories. His main characters, at least those of an age to be so,
are almost alwast divorced men, and the tale of the leaving wife is either the main thread of the story or part of the circumstance leading up to the main part of the story. Swift just takes that tale and paints it with different hues.
Any fan of Mondrian or his brethren will hasten to comment here that different hues are usually enough to make the same thing interesting anew. Indeed, and such is the case with Swift's stories. Recognizing the similarity between the characters doesn't make them any less interesting, and it certainly doesn't lessen the top-notch quality of Swift's writing, which has
yet to flag in any book of his I've read even for an instant. The man is truly gifted.
It's likely the publication date will give some readers pause. Yes, it's a collection of short stories published during the nineteen eighties. And yes, that should set off justifiable alarm bells in the reader who's been turned off to eighties lit. But what characterizes the good eighties lit (Vanderhaeghe, Swift, McInerney on his good days) and separates it from the bad eighties lit (Ellis, McInerney on his bad days) is emotion. Rest assured that Swift has emotion in spades. While his stories cover much of the same territory as those of his contemporaries, Swift is not the detached observer who narrated most eighties fiction; he is down in the muck of emotion, and has no qualms about dragging the reader in with him.
Another excellent book from Graham Swift. ****
Graham Swift is something of a one-trick pony, actually, but the one trick he does he does exceptinoally well. This is less obvious when you're reading the man's wonderful novels-- Waterland, for instance, which someone will hopefully soon canonize as one of the classics of twentieth-century literature-- but when you get digging into a story collection, you realize that Swift, or a close family member, was in the throes of the nasty ending of a relationship while he was writing these stories. His main characters, at least those of an age to be so,
are almost alwast divorced men, and the tale of the leaving wife is either the main thread of the story or part of the circumstance leading up to the main part of the story. Swift just takes that tale and paints it with different hues.
Any fan of Mondrian or his brethren will hasten to comment here that different hues are usually enough to make the same thing interesting anew. Indeed, and such is the case with Swift's stories. Recognizing the similarity between the characters doesn't make them any less interesting, and it certainly doesn't lessen the top-notch quality of Swift's writing, which has
yet to flag in any book of his I've read even for an instant. The man is truly gifted.
It's likely the publication date will give some readers pause. Yes, it's a collection of short stories published during the nineteen eighties. And yes, that should set off justifiable alarm bells in the reader who's been turned off to eighties lit. But what characterizes the good eighties lit (Vanderhaeghe, Swift, McInerney on his good days) and separates it from the bad eighties lit (Ellis, McInerney on his bad days) is emotion. Rest assured that Swift has emotion in spades. While his stories cover much of the same territory as those of his contemporaries, Swift is not the detached observer who narrated most eighties fiction; he is down in the muck of emotion, and has no qualms about dragging the reader in with him.
Another excellent book from Graham Swift. ****
September 10, 2019
Graham Swift once won the Hawthornden Prize, which is a prize for truly imaginative writing. This book of his short stories, from the early 1980's, shows why. These are truly imaginative stories, of very un-ordinary people. What some writers don't realise is that nobody is ordinary, so they write ordinary stories. Graham Swift knows that everybody is extra-ordinary!
My favourite is 'Hoffmeier's Antelope'. The beast in question is a hopelessly rare jungle animal, the last pair in existence reside in London Zoo, under the devoted care of Uncle Walter. But this is not the story of the antelope.
The longest of Graham Swift's short stories is either too long, or too short. 'The Watch' is interesting and contains fascinating characters but could do with being severely edited and compacted to truly work as a short story. I think it's really an embryonic novel, a dark, brooding family saga of a family of Polish clockmakers whose lives are both extended and destroyed by a magical timepiece. I'd read that!
My favourite is 'Hoffmeier's Antelope'. The beast in question is a hopelessly rare jungle animal, the last pair in existence reside in London Zoo, under the devoted care of Uncle Walter. But this is not the story of the antelope.
The longest of Graham Swift's short stories is either too long, or too short. 'The Watch' is interesting and contains fascinating characters but could do with being severely edited and compacted to truly work as a short story. I think it's really an embryonic novel, a dark, brooding family saga of a family of Polish clockmakers whose lives are both extended and destroyed by a magical timepiece. I'd read that!
June 3, 2016
Graham Swift has a collection of short stories that deal with relationships and how the brush up against the individual narratives of needs, neurosis, and often the passive aggressive games played by those who are co-dependent to the dysfunction they find themselves surrounded by.
I never read a collection of short stories through, but in spurts, one r two stories at a time so that they can be absorbed and thought over. I recognized both myself and others in these characters that are so well constructed in each story. Swift is an excellent writer and seems to have a deep understanding of the unconscious things from our pasts and the emotions that move our decisions even when our rational mind knows we are doing the wrong thing for the wrong reasons. Highly recomend.
I never read a collection of short stories through, but in spurts, one r two stories at a time so that they can be absorbed and thought over. I recognized both myself and others in these characters that are so well constructed in each story. Swift is an excellent writer and seems to have a deep understanding of the unconscious things from our pasts and the emotions that move our decisions even when our rational mind knows we are doing the wrong thing for the wrong reasons. Highly recomend.
April 16, 2008
A beautiful collection of short stories with a melancholy feel, mainly centering around themes of loss. Apparently simple events are invested with depth and yearning. I loved the story about the zookeeper and the antelope, and the title story brings a great sense of the hidden drama in the everyday.
March 25, 2011
The title story was my favorite of the collection. I read these many years ago (somewhere near the end of the 1980s). I clearly remember the melancholy and the feeling that this was the reflections of someone trying not to be bitter about women while sorting out alot of loss. I guess I give the author credit for trying not to be bitter, but it wasn't a fun read.
April 8, 2011
Contemporary family tensions written in a semi-classical way. Personal highlights were the long short-story 'The Watch' based on a life-preserving timepiece passed down the generations of father to son and 'The Tunnel' featuring runaway lovers encamped in a South London flat.
August 16, 2007
I've never read any of Graham Swift's novels. But I loved this collection of short stories he wrote from way back. Imaginative and moving.
February 10, 2009
Swift is a good story writer,I wish he'd write more now. I read a few of these in London Magazine and elsewhere in the 80s, and was impressed: themes of loss and childhood well handled.
August 5, 2016
Die Geschichten packen einen nicht wirklich, aber die Feinheiten und Abgründe der Charaktere sind zum Teil wunderbar herausgearbeitet
Want to read
September 27, 2025Read so far:
*Seraglio--
*The Tunnel--
Hotel--
*Hoffmeier's Antelope--
The Son--
The Hypochondriac--
Gabor--
*The Watch--
Cliffedge--
*Chemistry--
Learning to Swim--2
*Seraglio--
*The Tunnel--
Hotel--
*Hoffmeier's Antelope--
The Son--
The Hypochondriac--
Gabor--
*The Watch--
Cliffedge--
*Chemistry--
Learning to Swim--2
November 21, 2022
Proxy for ‘Hinges’ - Swift’s short story in the current New Yorker. The death of a parent triggers a powerful memory.
November 25, 2015
Beautifully written.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews