Synopses & Reviews
Founded at the University of Georgia in 1947 and published there ever since,
The Georgia Review has become one of America’s most highly regarded journals of arts and letters. Never stuffy and never shallow,
The Georgia Review seeks a broad audience of intellectually open and curious readers—and strives to give those readers rich content that invites and sustains repeated attention and consideration. Pulitzer Prize winners and never-before-published writers are equals during the journal’s manuscript evaluation process, whose goal is to identify and print stories, poems, and essays that promise to be of lasting merit.
The year 2012 marks the sixty-fifth anniversary of The Georgia Review, and Stories Wanting Only to Be Heard will acknowledge that milestone by presenting a selection of the remarkable short fiction published across the decades. The collection includes the work of well-known writers, many of whom were not yet so well known when first selected for publication by The Georgia Review, and also highlights compelling work from writers whose names may not be as familiar but whose stories are equally compelling and memorable.
The stories collected here—each one vivid, distinctive, and worthwhile to read—stand as testament to the significance of The Georgia Review’s decades of work to identify and promote writing of exceptional quality.
Publication of this book was made possible, in part, by the President’s Venture Fund through generous gifts of the University of Georgia Partners.
Review
"Stories Wanting Only to Be Heard is an anthology of twenty-eight stories that must be read, from the backcountry blues of Jesse Stuart and Harry Crews to the intellectual sophistication of Fred Pfeil and Fred Chappell, from Pam Durban’s terrific “This Heat” to Donald Hall’s blistering “The World Is a Bed,” from Jim Heynen’s charming “Stories about the Boys” to Jack Driscoll’s devastating story about a boy named Judge. In my experience, no other literary publication could shape an anthology as wide in its range of subjects or as varied in its modes of telling. This is not only an excellent anthology but an exciting one."—Kelly Cherry, author of Girl in a Library: On Women Writers & the Writing Life and We Can Still Be Friends: A Novel
Review
“When a journal can bring together work originally published in its pages by such authors as diverse as Mary Hood and Harry Crews, Pam Durban and T. C. Boyle, Jesse Stuart and Ernest J. Gaines, John Edgar Wideman and Jack Driscoll, we readers out here are blessed beyond measure. This is a worthy book. Period.”—Bret Lott, author of Ancient Highway
Review
"Lovers of short fiction, rejoice: this is a volume to be celebrated. In an array of styles, across sixty-five years, these stories speak urgently—often with wit, sometimes tragically—about the turns our lives take, the unexpected heartbreak, the astonishing triumph. Voices sing out in these pages, a chorale that expresses the steady, illuminating intelligence of this work and the editors who selected it. Maybe, as the title says, the stories here want only to be heard. Once heard, though, they will be remembered. And passed on. And cherished."—Erin McGraw, author of The Seamstress of Hollywood Boulevard
Review
"The list of authors featured here . . . make this a veritable textbook for aspiring writers and a joy for readers. . . . There is much to be proud of in Stories Wanting Only to Be Heard, and Corey et al. have done a spectacular job of picking through the treasure trove of material from the vast archives of The Georgia Review. It's an enviable job, and one done very well. For those who have given up on fiction, this anthology will bring you back into the fold." —John G. Nettles, Flagpole
About the Author
Stephen Corey is editor of The Georgia Review and the author of nine collections of poems, most recently There Is No Finished World. Douglas Carlson and David Ingle are assistant editors, and Mindy Wilson is managing editor at The Georgia Review.
Table of Contents
Barry Lopez, "Foreword"
Acknowledgments
Stephen Corey, "Introduction: Single Sittings"
Jesse Stuart, "From the Mountains of Pike” (Summer 1953)
Harry Crews, "A Long Wail” (Summer 1964)
James Lewis MacLeod, "The Jesus Flag” (Summer 1967)
Siv Cedering, "Family Album” (Summer 1978
T. C. Boyle, "I Dated Jane Austin” (Summer 1979)
Gary Gildner, "Sleepy Time Gal” (Summer 1979)
William Faulkner, "A Portrait of Elmer” (Fall 1979)
Fred Pfeil, "The Idiocy of Rural Life” (Spring 1980)
Fred Chappell, "The Snow That Is Nothing in the Triangle” (Winter 1981)
Pam Durban, "This Heat” (Summer 1982)
Naomi Shihab Nye, "The Cookies” (Winter 1982)
Ernest J. Gaines, "Robert Louis Stevenson Banks, a.k.a. Chimley” (Summer 1983)
Donald Hall, "The World Is a Bed” (Summer 1983)
Lee K. Abbott, "The Final Proof of Fate and Circumstance” (Fall 1983)
T. E. Holt, "Apocalypse” (Winter 1983)
Mary Hood, "Manly Conclusions” (Winter 1983)
Jim Heynen, "Stories about the Boys” (Fall 1984, Summer 1993, Summer 2001)
Jack Driscoll, "Wanting Only to Be Heard” (Winter 1987)
John Edgar Wideman, "Concert” (Fall 1989)
Liza Wieland, "The Columbus School for Girls” (Fall 1991)
Lee Martin, "Light Opera” (Summer 1995)
Marjorie Sandor, "Portrait of My Mother, Who Posed Nude in Wartime” (Fall 1997)
William Gay, "I Hate to See That Evening Sun Go Down” (Fall 1998)
Kevin Brockmeier, "These Hands” (Fall 1999)
Phyllis Moore, "Rembrandt's Bones” (Winter 1999)
Barry Lopez, "The Mappist” (Spring 2000)
Joyce Carol Oates, "Three Girls” (Fall 2002)
George Singleton, "Which Rocks We Choose” (Summer 2006)
Contributors
Credits