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Welcome to Narrative,
a resource site to select
information on authors,
writing workshops,
degree programs, conferences, grants, awards, literary organizations, libraries,
bookstores, magazines,
publishers, agents, legal
advice, and other items
of interest to literary
readers and writers. |
Carol Edgarian and Tom Jenks head Narrative,
a magazine of fiction and nonfiction
devoted to the art of storytelling.
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Recommended Reading
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American Short Story Masterpieces, edited by Tom Jenks and Raymond Carver. First published in 1987, this outstanding anthology has been continuously in print, selling hundreds of thousands of copies, and is a standard text in colleges and universities throughout the United States. |
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In our Alumni Classes in Fall 2007, we will be teaching Robert Stone’s National Book Award-winning novel
A Flag for Sunrise (Vintage), along with his memoir
“Riding the Dawg,” excerpted from his recent book, Prime Green. The excerpt may be downloaded for free from
the Narrative Archive. We will also be teaching the following authors and works:
The Death of the Heart,
Elizabeth Bowen, Anchor, and Bowen’s essay “Notes on
Writing a Novel,” from the Narrative Archive.
“The Rock,” Ann Beattie, from the Narrative Archive, and “Ann Beattie:
A Profile,” Lacy Crawford, from the Narrative Archive.
Laughing in the Hills,
Bill Barich, DRF Press, and Barich’s essay, “A Real Writer,”
from the Narrative Archive.
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Carol Edgarian's essay "Sister Rue" appears in Forever Sisters, an anthology of essays about sisterhood that also includes essays by Ann Beattie, Alice Walker, and other well-known writers. Kirkus Reviews loved the book and singled out Carol's essay for special mention as embodying the essence of sisterhood.
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James Baldwin’s book-length essay The Fire Next Time, which appeared ten years after his famous short story "Sonny's Blues" (1951), demonstrated the author's intelligent, heartfelt will to counter the rage and hatred created by racial inequality in America. The Fire Next Time reveals the thinking and autobiography that Baldwin brought to bear in writing "Sonny's Blues" and makes a good study of how he transformed life into art. |
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Henry James's novella The Aspern Papers concerns a publisher eager to obtain the correspondence that a famous romantic poet wrote long ago to his lover, who survived him and is now an old woman living in Venice. The publisher stoops to deception and nearly to theft in his lust for the old woman's papers, and the contest between the two characters gives James ample material for psychological drama and a rich satire on the acquistiveness of publishers. The story was inspired by Clare Claremont, one of Byron's lovers, and the world's inevitable pursuit of him through her, as the years passed after his death. |
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Carol Edgarian's provocative essay "The Soul of San Francisco", "city of gold dust and wireless dreamers, of causes and capitalists — a city finally of immigrants," appeared in the February 2003 issue of Travel & Leisure. The essay celebrates the city's micro-environments, fractious diversities, hedonism, and perennial talent for remaking itself without losing its charm. |
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The Writer's Life: Intimate Thoughts on Work, Love, Inspiration, and Fame from the Diaries of the World's Great Writers, edited by Carol Edgarian and Tom Jenks. An invaluable resource for any writer -- or for anyone seeking expert instruction in the art of living. Available from Amazon or by calling 1-800-223-6834 or from your bookstore. |
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Irwin Shaw's 1969 novel Rich Man, Poor Man sold six million copies and was made into a popular television miniseries starring Nick Nolte and Peter Straus, as two brothers bitterly set against each other yet inextricably drawn back to each other. The novel is a page-turner, a quintessential American tale of self-made fortunes and tragedy. For the ready diversion and the lessons on craft it offers, Rich Man, Poor Man is well worth taking the trouble to find via Alibris or a rare book dealer. |
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James Welch drew on his Native American heritage to write poems, stories, and novels, including the masterly Fools Crow, which one reviewer noted "may be the closest we will ever come in literature to an understanding of what life was like for a western Indian." The novel details a crucial year in the life of a Blackfoot tribe in the Montana territory, shortly after the end of the Civil War and during the sudden increase of the white man’s encroachment on tribal lands. The story is remarkable for Welch’s even-handedness and ability to put any reader directly inside the experience of his Indian characters as well as for the novel’s portrayal of the stunning swiftness of the alteration in the Indians’ lives. What comes home finally in Welch’s telling is the universality of the spirit life of the tribes, the dignity of that life, and the loss and sorrow visited on it in the irresistible momentum of history. |
> Other highly recommended books |
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