The Collected Stories of Caroline Gordon: With an Introduction by Robert Penn Warren

by Caroline Gordon

This collection brings together all the short fiction published in Gordon s lifetime. With an Introduction by Robert Penn Warren.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Southern, American

Paperback

First published April 1, 1981

About the author

Caroline Gordon was an American novelist and literary critic who, while still in her thirties, received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1932 and an O. Henry Award in 1934.

Reviews

[Peggy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is at least the second time I've read through this particular volume of Caroline Gordon stories. I believe I could read them over and over again. Many of them interrelate; so in some respects it feels as though reading and rereading... without the feeling ever growing old. It is like coming again into a place previously enjoyed, yet another immersion into a space recreated by the author for you in previous readings - and all the more welcomed by being, in my case, part of my present real-life environs. Yes, the time space is different, but her "old neighborhood" is one close by and still semi-accessible, at least in dreams and memories.

Even without these personal relevancies, Caroline Gordon's invoking of subtle drama within multi-level contexts and her incredible ability to illuminate the natural world into her narrative totally captures me again and again, sweeping me up into a world that seems a place I'm born into.

[Joan Colby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Her stories are well written especially the southern dialog that is her forte. Those that focused on hunting didn’t interest me as much as others. Foremost was The Captives a tale of a woman captured by Indians after her children were slaughtered and her home burned, her stamina in dealing with her captivity, and her eventual escape. This was truly riveting.

[Drew Norwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Favorites: One Against Thebes, Old Red, The Presence.

If you're looking for Aleck Maury, you'll find him in the following stories: Old Red, One More Time, To Thy Chamber Window, Sweet, The Last Day in the Field, and The Presence.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Are you into Southern Gothic? Then you'll love this. Some really great stories in here.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hate to disagree with Robert Penn Warren and Flannery O'Connor, but I don't get "great" or "masterly" from these stories. (Well at least the first 100 pps worth.) Gordon captures a time and a place and perhaps a people with a certain precision, but I question the depth O'Connor finds in them.

[Pam Hasker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable. I plan to read it again someday.