The Lonely Voice: A Study of the Short Story (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This take on the short story offers a virtual master class by one of the art's most distinguished craftsmen. By special arrangement with Frank O'Connor's widow and in honor of his centenary, this popular but long out-of-print treatise not only discusses the techniques and challenges of the short story but also delves into passionate consideration of some of O'Connor's favorite writers and their greatest works, including Anton Chekhov, Ernest Hemingway, and James Joyce. Written with O'Connor's characteristically sharp wit and prose, this collection of writings illuminates the insights of a man universally regarded as one of the most celebrated practitioners of the short story.

About the Author

Frank O'Connor is widely recognized as one of Ireland's greatest writers and cultural figures. His most popular works include his Collected Stories, Guests of the Nation, and An Only Child.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Melville House (April 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 097186599X
• ISBN-13: 978-0971865990
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #389,688 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential reading for students of the short story genre, March 4, 2005

By	Ogden Gnash (London, UK) - See all my reviews

O'Connor's in-depth analysis goes to the heart of what the short story genre is about. It is written with unstinting commitment and erudition, and never strays into shallowness of any kind. For those who love his stories, it is perhaps surprising to find the beguiling storyteller in this academic vein. What is convincing is not so much his arguments as his evident passion and long reflection on the topics he chooses. To grapple with the theories he propounds, such as that of the short story representing "submerged populations" is to try and share a little in the maestro's genius. Something to come back to again and again. I'm sure my little review hardly does justice to it, so I suggest you read the book and see for yourself.

16 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars An influential but grotesquely dated work, January 26, 2005

By	Jay Dickson (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Lonely Voice: A Study of the Short Story (Harper colophon books) (Paperback)

There have been few fulllength studies of the short story, and Frank O'Connor's was one of the first and remains among the most influential. But it has held up miserably over the years. Even granted that he published the work in 1962, was it really necessary for O'Connor to refer so patronizingly to Katherine Mansfield as "the brassy little shopgirl of literature"? Or to treat Joyce's DUBLINERS as if it had been written in lightning on the summit of Mt. Sinai? (Of a sentence from "The Sisters," O'Connor writes, "You may play about as you please with alternatives to this phrase; you will find no combination of adjectives that will produce a similar effect, nor any way of reading the passage that will produce a different one.") Objectivity goes straight out the window; as a result, this study is much more useful as a picture of the literary attitudes of O'Connor's time than it is as any sort of rigorous study of the form it purports to analyze.