Criers & Kibitzers, Kibitzers & Criers [Paperback]

Stanley Elkin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2000

"This imagination of Elkin's sneaks up, tickles, surprises, shocks and kills. It makes stories that are deadly funny."—The New York Times

These nine stories reveal a dazzling variety of styles, tones and subject matter. Among them are some of Stanley Elkin's finest, including the fabulistic "On a Field, Rampant," the farcical "Perlmutter at the East Pole," and the stylized "A Poetics for Bullies." Despite the diversity of their form and matter, each of these stories shares Elkin's nimble, comic, antic imagination, a dedication to the value of form and language, and a concern with a single theme: the tragic inadequacy of a simplistic response to life.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Virtually any story in this collection contains more art than 98% of the thousands of novels published in this country in the past five years. Elkin's stories are fully realized expressions of the comic sense of tragedy. (Life )

I've spent days reading (and rereading) these superb stories. There are indeed some giants in the English language, and I now count Elkin among them. (New Republic )

These nine stories have no missteps, nothing that does not contribute to the artfulness of the storytelling. (Chicago Tribune )

Stanley Elkin is one of the bigs of American comic fiction, which puts him in a small room with wonderful company. His work is funny and moral and wildly adventurous, and this early rambunctious collection will please admirers of The Dick Gibson Show and The Living End. (Garrison Keillor )

A master storyteller of formidable imagination and stunning insight. His stories sparkle. (National Observer )

Stanley Elkin has a remarkable talent, composed of many important virtues: originality, wit, insight, an unusually sharp eye for irony, verbal exuberance, precision, detachment. I did not read one of his nine stories without absorption, even renewed expectation. (The New York Times Book Review )

About the Author

Stanley Elkin—a two-time recipient of the National Book Critics Circle Award—is widely regarded as one of America's most important contemporary writers. During his lifetime he wrote more than a dozen novels and short-story collections, including The Magic Kingdom, The Franchiser, and The Dick Gibson Show.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press (June 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1564782344
• ISBN-13: 978-1564782342
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #854,353 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Stanley Elkin (1930-1995) was an award-winning author of novels, short stories, and essays. Born in the Bronx, Elkin received his BA and PhD from the University of Illinois and in 1960 became a professor of English at Washington University in St. Louis where he taught until his death. His critically acclaimed works include the National Book Critics Circle Award-winners George Mills (1982) and Mrs. Ted Bliss (1995), as well as the National Book Award finalists The Dick Gibson Show (1972), Searches & Seizures (1974), and The MacGuffin (1991). His book of novellas, Van Gogh's Room at Arles, was a finalist for the PEN Faulkner Award.