Skip to main content
  Log In
Menu
Displaying 1 of 1
Something in common : contemporary Louisiana stories
Book
1991
Google Books Preview
Add to My List  
Availability
Large Cover Image
Trade Reviews
Publishers Weekly Review
In the introduction, Lewis P. Simpson locates the inherent weakness of regional fiction: ``the tyranny of local color.'' Noting that ``rich historical heritage can be more an impediment . . . than a help,'' Simpson writes that what these stories have in common is their rejection of cliched Louisiana exoticism. But though these tales eschew the timeworn Southern stereotypes, taken together they do conjure up a picture of a particular time and place. In ``The Blue Cat Club,'' Elton Glaser ably combines music and sensuous detail, describing jazz as ``a sound like moonlight over a tin roof.'' Ernest Gaines's ``The Turtle'' shows the poignant and brutal coming-of-age of two boys when their fathers take them to a local brothel. Other older voices include Walker Percy, represented by a chapter from The Moviegoers , and Andre Dubus, with ``A Father's Story,'' a nearly flawless tale of a man who keeps secret his daughter's culpability in a fatal hit-and-run accident. When confronted by God in his imagination, he replies, ``But You never had a daughter.'' These standards are largely upheld by the less familiar names. Carl Wooten's ``The Auctioneer,'' about an appraiser's visit after a couple's personal bankruptcy, is quiet and moving, while Frederick Barton's story of a fed-up grad student provides some welcome cynicism and humor. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
School Library Journal Review
YA-- A wonderful collection of short stories by Louisiana writers, some well known, but each with a voice that is both unique and characteristically Southern. All capture the flavor, accents, and images of life in this region. A vague malaise seems to haunt the characters; aside from their obvious connection to place, their stories are pervaded by a sense of loss: lost innocence, lost relationships. This volume is an ideal means for adolescent readers to discover Southern literature and provide a bridge to more traditional writers such as Faulkner. Especially appealing are some of the classic coming-of-age stories, such as ``The Peaceful Eye'' by Martha Lacy Hall and Ernest Gaines's ``The Turtles.'' --Barbette Timperlake, R. E. Lee High Sch . , Springfield, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
CHOICE Review
Collections of short stories are brought together under a variety of umbrellas--e.g., "contemporary," "American," "best," etc. Dobie has chosen wisely in assigning a double unifying element: Louisiana stories and "something in common." In his introduction, Lewis P. Simpson suggests that the common element is that "they are linked by a negation of the image of the exotic Louisiana." The writers also resist historifying their region. Another common trait might be suggested: it is in the distinctive quality of "telling" the story. The short story writer from the South, and especially from southern Louisiana, does not consciously narrate the story nor does he/she "craft" fiction. Rather, the story seems to flow from its teller, whether from the pen or by word of mouth. One looks in vain through any of the 19 stories for a self-conscious narration. Both as to diction and cadence, the reader senses immediately that this is indeed a contemporary Louisiana story. One finds well-known names--e.g., John William Corrington, Ernest Gaines, and Walker Percy, but it is stimulating to see new authors also: Elton Glaser, Dev Hathaway, and Stella Nesanovich. Recommended for academic and public libraries and, especially, for Louisiana collections. -A. G. Tassin, University of New Orleans
Summary

The nineteen stories that this memorable collection comprises are a powerful testament to the continuing vitality of the literary tradition in Louisiana. Something in Common includes work by such well-known Louisiana writers as Walker Percy, Ernest Gaines, Shirley Ann Grau, and André Dubus, as well as stories by younger writers whose reputations are still being established. Together the stories provide a remarkable record of the vigor of fiction in Louisiana as the twentieth century draws to a close.

Though contemporary, these stories are a result of the habit of telling tales that goes back to the earliest days of the state's history. They come from writers who may now live in Maine or California but who remember that our stories become a mirror in which we can see ourselves and know who we are, and where we have come from.

The stories have in common a fundamental belief in the power of the written word to define a particular place and time. They testify to the rich culture of the past, when Louisiana's ways set it apart, and to present that is pulling the state to be part of social forces once foreign to its ways. They reveal a society of several races and many histories, with fading definitions of traditional roles and changing family patterns.

Additionally, these stories depict the changes brought on by merging the old with the new. They rehearse the familiar themes of good, evil, freedom, and reality with a voice not heard in the Louisiana of the past. To establish tradition they bring a fresh point of view. Something in Common remembers the past, shows us the present, and points the way to the future.

List of Stories and Authors

The Pearl, Stella Nesanovich
The New Orleans of Possibilities, David Madden
Blue Cat Club, Elton Glaser
Mr. Bo William Mills Because I Was Naked, James H. Wilson
The Peaceful Eye, Martha Lacy Hall
Reunion, John William Corrington
The Man Outside, Shirley Ann Grau
The Goose and the Thorn, Dev Hathaway
When The Bang Comes, She'll be Lying in Bed Dreaming, Patrick Andrews
The Turtles, Ernest Gaines
Sieur Iberville , Walker Percy
A Father's Story, André Dubus
Piccadilly , John S. Tarlton
Beach Balls, Gold Stars, Mahatma Gandhi, and Hell , Frederick Barton
The Auctioneer, Carl Wooton
There Are No Birds in Hoboken, James Knudsen
Annie, Listening, Nancy Richard
The Mississippiman's Son, Albert Belisle Davis

Librarian's View
Syndetics Unbound
Displaying 1 of 1