Our strangers : stories
Call Number
- FICTION DAVI (CEN, OSH)
Publication Information
[Brooklyn, New York] : Bookshop Editions, [2023]
Physical Description
xiv, 353 pages ; 19 cm
Summary
"From one of the most accomplished writers of our time comes another brilliant collection of short fiction. Artful, agile, and inventive; Lydia Davis' newest collection of stories delves into topics ranging from marriage to tiny insects. These stories are a celebration of language and careful observation that once again confirms Davis' sincere love and mastery of the form." --
Notes
"This book will ONLY be available at independent bookstores, libraries, and Bookshop.org."--Page [viii].
Contents
- I. My briefcase
- On sufferance
- Just a little
- The stages of womanhood
- A Brief news story from long ago
- Fear of loose tongue
- Caramel drizzle
- The talk artist
- The other she
- Everyone used to cry
- Father has something to tell me
- A moment long ago: the itinerant photographer
- Claim to fame #2: Karl Marx and my father
- The joke
- Fear of aging
- Addie and the chili
- Tantrums
- Claim to fame #7: A.J. Ayer
- Young housewife
- Here in the country
- Egg
- The afternoon of a translator
- At the movies last night
- Sunday night at the summer cottages
- A theory
- II. Community notice: example of redundancy
- Conversation at noisy party on snowy winter afternoon in country
- A question for the writing class concerning a type of furniture
- In a hotel room in Ithaca
- Incident on the train
- Letter to the father
- Conversation at noisy party on snowy winter afternoon in country (short version)
- Democracy in France, in 1884
- Claim to fame #8: on the way to Detroit
- England
- Criminal activity in historic colonial Williamsburg
- Conversation in hotel Lounge
- Claim to fame #9: in Detroit
- A friend borrows a better shopping cart
- Sabbath story #1: circuit breaker
- Letter to the U.S. Postal Service concerning a poster
- Mature woman toward the end of a conversation about raincoats over lunch with another mature woman
- Sabbath story #2: minyan
- Our network
- William Cobbett and the the stranger
- Claim to fame #3: June Havoc
- A matter of perspective
- Master builder
- Enemies
- Lonely (canned ham)
- That obnoxious man
- Wistful spinster
- Old men around town
- Marriage moment of annoyance-coconut
- On their way South on Sunday morning (they thought)
- Claim to fame #1: Ezra Pound
- III. Woman goes to racetrack owner
- Aging
- Our stranger
- Conversation before dinner
- Father enters the water
- Bothered scholar on train
- Encounter in landscape
- Betrayal (tired version)
- End of phone conversation with Verizon adjustment person
- An explanation concerning the rug story
- An ant
- Gramsci
- Pardon the intrusion
- Hands on the wheel
- Heron in the headlights
- Marriage moment of annoyance-insurance
- Marriage moment of annoyance-mumble
- Not yet ring lardner
- On the train to Stavanger
- How sad?
- Crepey
- A mother's devotion
- IV. On a winter afternoon
- Interesting personal vegetables
- Second drink
- Commentary on "interesting personal vegetables"
- Claim to fame #4: Sally Bowles
- A person asked me about lichens
- Spelling problem
- Multiple-choice question posed by stranger in pamphlet
- Her selfishness
- Three Musketeers
- Neighbor stare
- Helen's father and his teeth
- Fun
- The investigation
- In truth
- Feeling small
- Recurring turnip problem
- Learning to sing
- But after all, this is the necessary first stage of his construction work
- Two mayors and a word
- New things in my life
- Not much to tell
- Late afternoon
- Worrying about father's arm
- Opportunistic seed
- Our young neighbor and his little blue car
- Those two loud women
- Winter letter
- Caruso
- Pearl and Pearline
- What you could get for your turnips
- A woman offering magazines
- Marriage moment of annoyance-dinner
- Marriage of annoyance-speculations
- Unhappy Christmas tree
- Improving my German
- -- V. Poem of greeting
- Two stories about boys
- Claim to fame #5: Rex Dolmith
- Unfinished business
- Lost by Yanda Hedge (personal)
- After reading Peter Bichsel
- Claim to fame #6: Theodoric
- Overheard on the train: two old ladies agree
- More corrections
- Dear who gives a c***
- Sneezes on the train
- (Some of) his drinking habits
- The interests of old age
- The people in my dreams
- The sounds of a summer afternoon
- Three deaths and one old saying
- True fact
- Wedding
- Trying to get in touch with her
- Two drunks at dinnertime
- Ugly?
- What I understand
- How he changed over time
- Wise old men
- Unusual ornament
- Emergency preparation
- The left hand
- Up so late
- Your music selection of the day
- When we are dead and gone.