Gryphon: New and Selected Stories [Deckle Edge] [Hardcover]

Charles Baxter (Author)

Book Description

Release date: January 11, 2011

Ever since the publication of The Harmony of the World in 1984, Charles Baxter has slowly gained a reputation as one of America’s finest short-story writers. Each subsequent collection—Through the Safety Net, A Relative Stranger, and Believers—was further confirmation of his mastery: his gift for capturing the immediate moment, for revealing the unexpected in the ordinary, for showing how the smallest shock can pierce the heart of an intimacy. Gryphon brings together the best of Baxter’s previous collections with seven new stories, giving us the most complete portrait of his achievement.
 
Baxter once described himself as “a Midwestern writer in a postmodern age”: at home in a terrain best known for its blandness, one that does not give up its secrets easily, whose residents don’t always talk about what’s on their mind, and where something out of the quotidian—some stress, the appearance of a stranger, or a knock on the window—may be all that’s needed to force what lies underneath to the surface and to disclose a surprising impulse, frustration, or desire. Whether friends or strangers, the characters in Baxter’s stories share a desire—sometimes muted and sometimes fierce—to break through the fragile glass of convention. In the title story, a substitute teacher walks into a new classroom, draws an outsized tree on the blackboard on a whim, and rewards her students by reading their fortunes using a Tarot deck. In each of the stories we see the delicate tension between what we want to believe and what we need to believe.
 
By turns compassionate, gently humorous, and haunting, Gryphon proves William Maxwell’s assertion that “nobody can touch Charles Baxter in the field that he has carved out for himself.”

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Baxter's skill with short fiction is confirmed in this stellar collection of 23 stories, seven of which are new. The title story is deservedly a classic, and other favorites, such as "Fenstad's Mother," have gathered resonance as well, and the new stories show Baxter working a quirky beat. In each, the acutely observed real world is rocked by the exotic or surreal. In "Poor Devil," the "devils" are a self-destructive couple headed for a divorce, while, in "Ghosts," a stranger enters a young woman's house and tells her they are soul mates. She accuses him of being a devil, but his intentions are much less sinister than she imagines. "Nightfall had always brought his devils out," the narrator says in "The Old Murderer," a touching story about an alcoholic and an ex-con, each trying to get through the day. In "Royal Blue," arguably the best of the new stories, an undertow of mystery shadows a handsome young art dealer who understands that 9/11 has affected a fundamental change in his life. In Baxter's comic-melancholic world, people may be incapable of averting sadness or violence, but they survive. (Jan.) (c)
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From Bookmarks Magazine

With one notable exception, the critics labeled Baxter a “writer’s writer” (Los Angeles Times) whose finely honed powers of observation and expert manipulation of his reader are well suited to short fiction. He skillfully distills his stories down to small but revealing moments of self-awareness, plumbing universal themes of love, duty, and “the rewards of plain everyday life.” The critics noted a peculiar apathy that afflicts many of his characters and an unsettling lack of resolution to his story lines. Nevertheless, most judged the stories worthwhile for Baxter’s elegant prose and astute characterizations. By turns uplifting and bleak, comic and heartbreaking, this new collection by “a master of the form” (Minneapolis Star Tribune) should entertain readers who prefer technique to theatrics.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Pantheon; First Edition edition (January 11, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307379213
• ISBN-13: 978-0307379214
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 1.4 x 9.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #569,841 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Finding the extraordinary in the ordinary January 16, 2011

By K. Corn TOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I bought this book after it was mentioned in Handing One Another Along: Literature and Social Reflection (a book worth reading in its own right). "Gryphon" was included in "The Reading List for Life" section at the back of the Coles book. It definitely deserves to be on any list where readers want books which illuminate both individual experiences and also contain very believable stories, ones which reveal the challenges of living in the world. The stories are multi-faceted and worth savoring. They'll challenge your typical view of the world. The volume also contains 7 new stories, a treat for fans of Baxter.

Also included are Baxter's rich and insightful poems, many of them focusing on his own struggles with alcohol. Nonfiction essays as well as the fiction noted above work to create a very satisfying volume.

Since time and place are an essential part of many short stories, it is worth noting that Baxter's work primarily centers on the Midwestern experience. Baxter describes the characters who inhabit his Midwest in stark detail and in plain prose. The area is often noted as being boring and the characters in each story frequently seem tired or numbed - but look beyond the surface of the author's words to find the beauty of his prose and the reality behind the sentences.

The title story is particularly compelling, focusing on a teacher who is willing to reach beyond the often polite and quiet aspects of typical Midwestern citizens (seen through the eyes of one of her students). She is far more emotional than many of those around her. Since she is a teacher the story automatically brings up questions about the role of teachers and is particularly timely given the state of our educational system today. "Gryphon" deserves to be reread and revisited regularly.

I found "Royal Blue" to be equally resonant. Although 9/11 didn't just happen yesterday, it often seems that way to me, with the memories strong and still painful. "Royal Blue" tackles that event and how it has affected him permanently. I have to be honest and note that if you're looking for upbeat works you might want to think about whether this book is for you. But I find the stories inspiring, full of characters who manage to survive and often have a kind of resilience. Not surprisingly, "Royal Blue" is one of the 7 new stories, revealing the evolution of Baxter's style, yet also familiar. You're apt to find some of these works to be eerie and unsettling but don't let that dissuade you from purchasing this. Like Coles, I agree that this one deserves to be on "A Reading List for Life" because (as he notes) it will definitely challenge your conventional views of life. And isn't that a part of what good literature should do? You may find the works seemingly plain and even nothing special but go back and read them again and again and prepare to be amazed.

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars BAXTER AT HIS BEST January 13, 2011

By S. F Gulvezan

Format:Hardcover

Charles Baxter is perhaps best known to the general public for his fine novel, THE FEAST OF LOVE, but over the last 30 years he has also produced an impressive body of work in that most difficult medium, the short story, and 23 of Mr. Baxter's selected stories from over that span of time are collected herein. The delicate music of "Harmony of the World," the riveting "Winter's Journey," and the penetrating, previously uncollected story, "Royal Blue," are all examples of the storyteller's craft. Mr. Baxter has received the praise of a host of critics and readers alike, and this volume is a testament to the astuteness of their opinions.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Stories February 12, 2011

By Ethan Cooper VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

In the hilarious LUCKY JIM, Kingsley Amis comes close to the perfect description of a hangover. "A dusty thudding in his head made the scene before him beat like a pulse... His mouth had been used as a latrine by some small creature of the night, and then as its mausoleum. During the night, too, he'd somehow been on a secret cross-country run and then been expertly beaten up by secret police. He felt bad."

I reference Amis because Charles Baxter adds meaningfully to the literature of intoxication in two stories in the excellent GRYPHON: NEW AND SELECTED STORIES. In particular, "Winter Journey" shows the sozzled Harrelson, a perpetual Ph.D. student, driving in a night-time snowstorm to pick up his weather-marooned fiancé. "He is seeing two of everything: two sets of streetlights, two streets, two steering wheels, two dashboards. And two red lights, both of which he now runs, unable and unwilling to stop the car before entering the intersection. With scholarly interest he observes that he has missed hitting a blue parked car by perhaps two or three feet. For the first time he understands that it might be a moral offense against God and man to be out driving in a snowstorm, drunk. But it is more of an offense before women to be a nerd, a coward, a man who will not help. He accelerates."

Meanwhile, "The Old Murderer" presents Ellickson, who has been sober for "forty-three and a half days, but he still had the shakes. Just filling the coffeepot required maximum concentration... Everything, even the drinking of tap water, called for discipline and tenacity... All day Ellickson endured. The sun rattled violently in the sky. After the passing hours had presented their trials by fire and ice, he would go to bed feeling that his skin was layered with sandpaper. The post-alcohol world contained no welcoming surfaces... He was in a permanent sulk."

I mention these two terrific stories because Baxter gets pigeonholed as a writer who explores life in the Upper Midwest, where people are decent and contend constantly with boredom. But the stories in this collection really have no such geographic or emotional limitations. Instead, they are rich and diverse and never repeat. Besides "Winter Journey" and "The Old Murder", my favorites include:

o The Next Building I Plan to Bomb: A man faces overwhelming guilt and a sense of insignificance after a reckless and irresponsible liaison at a motel.

o Gryphon: An oddball substitute teacher brings strange but inspiring thoughts to a classroom before she implodes.

o Ghosts: A single mother makes unnerving and risky choices as she tries to cope with her father's illness and the legacy of her own mother.

Still, I do acknowledge that those who grew up in the Upper Midwest (yours truly) may find an extra level of pleasure in some of Baxter's work. In the excellent "Fenstad's Mother", for example, Baxter explores a lyrical connection between abstract academic issues and their ultimate and surprising personalization. At the same time, this story did remind this reader of a forgotten pleasure of Minnesota winters. "Passing a frozen pond in the city park, Fenstad slowed down to watch the skaters, many of whom he knew by name and skating style. From a distance, they were dots of color ready for flight, frictionless. To express grief on skates seemed almost impossible and Fenstad liked that. He parked his car on a residential block and took out his skates..."

A terrific collection and highly recommended.