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Dancing in the Movies (Iowa Short Fiction Award) Hardcover – January 1, 1986

5.0 out of 5 stars 3 ratings

Six stories tell of a Black policeman's fear of racism, a student who tries to convince his girlfriend to stop her drug habit, lovers trying to build a relationship, and soldiers at war
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Six dexterously shaped stories make up this volume, winner of the 1985 Iowa School of Letters Award for Short Fiction. Boswell's believable characters are involved in situations that are sometimes painfully true-to-life. One story concerns an American soldier who loses both feet while fighting in the Korean War; another tells of a black New York City policeman who visits his in-laws in Tennessee, where he is tormented by his fear that he is a racist and by the discovery that he loves his wife's sister. The author's ability to create affecting relationships is evident in such entries as "Kentucky," which deals with the growing pains of three brothers, and the title story, in which a young man returns home from college and tries to save his girlfriend from her destructive lifestyle. A satisfying, if at times disturbing, collection. January
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This collection of six short stories (four of which were previously published in literary magazines) won the 1985 Iowa School of Letters Award for Short Fiction, judged by Tim O'Brien. Boswell's stories depict the distress and confusion of people entangled in difficult situations: "Little Bear" and "The Right Thing" express the pain of combat veterans (in Korea and Vietnam, respectively); the title story, "Flipflops," and "The Darkness of Love" portray the anxieties and frustrations of lovers. Compact and controlled, Boswell's style frequently succeeds in re-creating an atmosphere of tension. Recommended for collections of serious fiction. Sherrie Tuck, Episcopal Div. Sch./Weston Sch. of Theology Libs., Cambridge, Mass.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Univ of Iowa Pr; 1st edition (January 1, 1986)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 153 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0877451346
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0877451341
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.4 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    5.0 out of 5 stars 3 ratings

About the author

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Robert Boswell
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Robert Boswell has published seven novels, three story collections, and two books of nonfiction. He has had one play produced. His work has earned him two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Iowa School of Letters Award for Fiction, a Lila Wallace/Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, the PEN West Award for Fiction, the John Gassner Prize for Playwriting, and the Evil Companions Award. The Heyday of the Insensitive Bastards was a finalist for the 2010 PEN USA Award in Fiction. What Men Call Treasure was a finalist for the Western Writers of America Nonfiction Spur Award. Both the Chicago Tribune and Publisher’s Weekly named Mystery Ride as one of the best books of the year. The London Independent picked The Geography of Desire as one of the best books of the year. Virtual Death was a finalist for the Philip K. Dick Award and was named by the Science Fiction Chronicle as one of the best novels of the year. Boswell has published more than 70 stories and essays. They have appeared in the New Yorker, Best American Short Stories, O. Henry Prize Stories, Pushcart Prize Stories, Esquire, Colorado Review, Epoch, Ploughshares, and many other magazines and anthologies. He shares the Cullen Endowed Chair in Creative Writing with his wife, Antonya Nelson. They live in Houston, Texas; Las Cruces, New Mexico; and Telluride, Colorado. They also spend time in a ghost town high in the Rockies.

His novels: Tumbledown (forthcoming from Graywolf Press), Century's Son, American Owned Love, Mystery Ride, The Geography of Desire, Crooked Hearts.

His story collections: The Heyday of the Insensitive Bastards, Living to Be 100, Dancing in the Movies.

His nonfiction: The Half-Known World, a book on the craft of writing, and What Men Call Treasure: The Search for Gold at Victorio Peak, a book about a treasure hunt in New Mexico (co-written with David Schweidel).

His cyberpunk novel: Virtual Death (published under the pseudonym Shale Aaron).

His play: Tongues.

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2019
    Robert Boswell is one of the great novelists of our time. This collection proves he's also a great short story writer. The stories are often simple but profound, and their settings and plots are widely varied but work together and play off one another to make a cohesive book. The language is electric. Worth reading.
  • Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2016
    Wonderful stories.