American Masculine: Stories [Paperback]

Shann Ray (Author)

Book Description

Release date: June 21, 2011

Winner of the 2010 Bakeless Prize for Fiction, a muscular debut that reconfigures the American West

The American West has long been a place where myth and legend have flourished. Where men stood tall and lived rough. But that West is no more. In its place Shann Ray finds washedup basketball players, businessmen hiding addictions, and women fighting the inexplicable violence that wells up in these men. A son struggles to accept his father’s apologies after surviving a childhood of beatings. Two men seek empty basketball hoops on a snowy night, hoping to relive past glory. A bull rider skips town and rides herd on an unruly mob of passengers as he searches for a thief on a train threading through Montana’s Rocky Mountains.

In these stories, Ray grapples with the terrible hurt we inflict on those we love, and finds that reconciliation, if far off, is at least possible. The debut of a writer who is out to redefine the contours of the American West, American Masculine is a deeply felt and fiercely written ode to the country we left behind.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“The sentences in this book have such grace and muscularity that they seem more performed than written, and the author’s images and events carry the nearly visceral weight of memory . . . American Masculine is a powerful, resonant work of literature, and Shann Ray is a masterful and original writer.”

—Robert Boswell, Bakeless Prize Judge

 

“Shann Ray writes about small western towns and their residents in tough, poetic, and beautiful ways. I recognize many of these people, and that's good, but I'm also surprised and stunned by many others, which is great. Buy the book and read it tonight. You'll love it, too.”

—Sherman Alexie

 

“Shann Ray's prose brings to mind Cormac McCarthy and Annie Proulx but is, thankfully, entirely his own. His work is lyrical, prophetic, brutal yet ultimately hopeful.”
—Dave Eggers

 

“Written in prose both fierce and elegant, American Masculine is a commanding debut. With stories set in and around the reservation lands of the American West, Shann Ray hones the cutting edge between desire and need, despair and beauty. The scope of these stories and depth of their complexity result in an extraordinary collection that is the gift of an exceptional talent. I am reminded once again, of what it means to encounter genuine grace.”
—Claire Davis, author of Winter Range

 

“American Masculine is a powerful fiction debut. These ten stories reveal Shann Ray's unique voice, his lyrical vision of the West, and his always-eloquent contemplation of the mysteries of grace and forgiveness.”

—Jess Walter, National Book Award finalist for The Zero

 

R...

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

About the Author

Shann Ray holds a PhD in psychology from the University of Alberta. His work has appeared in McSweeney’s, Narrative Magazine, and Story Quarterly. He teaches at Gonzaga University, and lives in Washington State.

Product Details

• Paperback: 185 pages
• Publisher: Graywolf Press; Original edition (June 21, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555975887
• ISBN-13: 978-1555975883
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.6 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #736,416 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

SHANN RAY's debut collection of stories, AMERICAN MASCULINE, won the prestigious Katherine Bakeless Nason Prize from the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference and appears with Graywolf Press. Sherman Alexie called it "tough, poetic, and beautiful" and Dave Eggers said Ray's work is "lyrical, prophetic, and brutal, yet ultimately hopeful." He writes poetry and prose under Shann Ray in honor of his mother, with whom he shares the same middle name. As Shann Ray Ferch, his scholarly work has appeared in scientific journals internationally. He is a leadership and forgiveness researcher and is the author of Forgiveness and Power in the Age of Atrocity (Rowman & Littlefield), and The Spirit of Servant Leadership published by Paulist Press.

He is "Dad" to three marvelous daughters and "Ray" to his glorious wife Jennifer.

Praise for AMERICAN MASCULINE:
"Shann Ray's prose brings to mind Cormac McCarthy and Annie Proulx but is, thankfully, entirely his own. His work is lyrical, prophetic, brutal yet ultimately hopeful."
--Dave Eggers, National Book Critics Circle Award finalist for WHAT IS THE WHAT

"Shann Ray writes about small western towns and their residents in tough, poetic, and beautiful ways. I recognize many of these people, and that's good, but I'm also surprised and stunned by many others, which is great. Buy the book and read it tonight. You'll love it, too."
--Sherman Alexie, National Book Award Winner for THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN, Pen Faulkner Award Winner for WAR DANCES

"Written in prose both fierce and elegant, American Masculine is a commanding debut. With stories set in and around the reservation lands of the American West, Shann Ray hones the cutting edge between desire and need, despair and beauty. The scope of these stories and depth of their complexity result in an extraordinary collection that is the gift of an exceptional talent. I am reminded once again, of what it means to encounter genuine grace."
--Claire Davis, author of WINTER RANGE

"The sentences in this book have such grace and muscularity that they seem more performed than written, and the author's images and events carry the nearly visceral weight of memory... AMERICAN MASCULINE is a powerful, resonant work of literature, and Shann Ray is a masterful and original writer."
--Robert Boswell, Bakeless Prize Judge

"Shann Ray has been up close with the vividly contrary complexities of the present-day American West, the harshness and sweetness. He's seen a lot of vast and miniscule things, and tells of them with compelling honesty. What a fine break-out collection."
--William Kittredge, author of HOLE IN THE SKY

"Shann Ray knows his place and he knows his people. AMERICAN MASCULINE is a rock-solid, permanent collection with a great deal of moral heft. These Montana stories dig deep into the heart of a landscape and more importantly into the hearts of flawed men and women whose lives, in Ray's hands, are given real weight and meaning. I'm grateful for this collection, for the depth of these characters and the beautiful patience of this writing."
--Peter Orner, author of THE SECOND COMING OF MAVALA SHICONGO

"AMERICAN MASCULINE is a powerful fiction debut. These ten stories reveal Shann Ray's unique voice, his lyrical vision of the West, and his always-eloquent contemplation of the mysteries of grace and forgiveness."
--Jess Walter, National Book Award finalist for THE ZERO

"Shann Ray writes about men and women, white and Native American, full bred and half bred; he writes about love and betrayal, alcohol and abuse, pride, vanity, everyday losses and recoveries transpiring in ranch towns and small cities. Most of all he writes about the soul in search of its reason and its peace."
--Tom Jenks, Editor, Narrative Magazine
Co-editor with Raymond Carver of AMERICAN SHORT STORY MASTERPIECES

"Bold. Lyrical. Deeply felt. Fiercely written.
In these stories, Shann Ray grapples with the terrible hurt we inflict on those we love, and finds that reconciliation, if far off, is at least possible." --Graywolf

Shann is the winner of the Subterrain Poetry Prize, the Crab Creek Review Fiction Award, and the Ruminate Short Story Prize. His work has appeared in some of the nation's leading literary venues including McSweeney's, Narrative, StoryQuarterly, Five Chapters and Poetry International. Shann grew up in Montana, spent part of his childhood on the Northern Cheyenne reservation, and now lives with his wife and three daughters in Washington where he teaches leadership and forgiveness studies at Gonzaga University.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Spare and Elegant June 25, 2011

By Salt Lake City Reader

Format:Paperback

AMERICAN MASCULINE is remarkable for its spare, lyrical prose; the stunningly original metaphors and perceptions; and the tenderness with which Shann Ray sees his people even in the midst of dangerous, self-destructive, disturbing circumstances.

I especially love the passages of rapturous poetry: the lucid, elegant description of the golden eagles on page 14, for example. That movement, from human to more-than-human, resonates with the gloriously expansive spiritual vision that informs and illuminates all these transcendent stories.

The experimentation with form ("Three from Montana" and "Rodin's the Hand of God") highlight Ray's extraordinary flexibilty as an artist and thinker, his willingness to let the reader enter his work in the silent spaces he leaves open.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Masterpiece of American Fiction July 25, 2011

By Mark W. Fox

Format:Paperback

Stunning stories in this collection, stories of pain, sorrow, loss, and ultimately, redemption. Off but near the reservations of rural Montana, the narrators all suffer the ravages of alcoholism, child abuse, and the alienation of life in the city. The first story (How We Fall) sets the tone for the collection: Benjamin Killsnight, having left the reservation and married a white woman, stoically struggles with his own alcoholism and his wife's steady disintegration. She runs away from him, and "He worked on small hopes and limited understanding" while waiting for his wife to return. He considers the sorrowful history of suicides among his friends, she returns, and they survive.

Bleak but hopeful, the stories ring with austere images of natural life:

"In Montana on the high steppe below the great mountains the great birds called raptors fly long and far, and with their translucent predatory eyes they see for miles. The Blackfeet called it the backbone of the world. Once he watched two golden eagles sweeping from the pinnacled heights, the great stone towers. He was three hours from Billings, west past Bozeman. The day was crisp, the sky free of clouds, the sun solitary and white at the zenith. Hunting whitetail he sat on his heels, his rifle slung across his back as he glassed the edge of coulees and the brush that lined the fields. He used the binoculars with focused precision, looking for the crowns of bucks , that would be lying down, hiding. But it was high up to his right, along the granite ridge of the nearest mountain where he'd seen movement."

These are powerful and affecting stories, almost unbearable in their intensity, yet they almost all end in healing, forgiveness, and in the final story, a marriage. Shann Ray has an engaging, unassuming voice that is clear and deeply genuine. Transcending the boundaries of regional fiction, Ray speaks to universals with calm, unblinking accuracy. Only someone with a heart of stone could read these stories and not be shaken.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars graceful, powerful, muscular, and forgiving June 24, 2011

By Jonathan E. Evison

Format:Paperback

There's a ton of humanity in these stories, a ton of heart, a ton of gratitude. They are the antithesis of post-modern coolness, and that in itself is something worthy of celebration. The people who populate these stories are the hardscrabble people of Carver, and early Richard Ford, and Sherman Alexie, but Ray's treatment is unique and transformative, graceful, powerful, muscular, and forgiving.