BAD DIRT: Wyoming Stories 2 (Basic) - Softcover

Proulx

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007198876 ISBN 13: 9780007198870

Publisher: Fourth Estate, 2009

Synopsis

A remarkable collection of short stories set in Wyoming from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of ‘The Shipping News’ and ‘Brokeback Mountain’.

‘Bad Dirt’ is filled with the vivid and willful characters for which Proulx has become known. Each story occupies a community or landscape described in rich and robust language, with an eye for detail unparalleled in American fiction.

In ‘The Contest’, the men of Elk Tooth, Wyoming, vow to put aside their razors for two seasons and wait to see who has the longest beard come the 4th of July. Deb Sipple, the moving protagonist of ‘That Trickle Down Effect’, finds that his opportunism – and his smoking habit – lead to a massive destruction. And ‘What Kind of Furniture Would Jesus Pick?’ is the story of Gilbert Wolfscale, whose rabid devotion to his ranch drives off his wife and sons.

Proulx displays her wit in every story of this stunning collection, as well as her knowledge of the West, of history, of ranching and of farming. Her profound sympathy for characters who must use sheer will and courage to make it in tough territory makes this collection extraordinarily compelling.

About this title

Review:

‘Proulx writes in wonderful stews, everything thrown in together...the stories demand a second reading.’ Daily Telegraph

‘Her keen eye for idiosyncrasy ensures her continuing reputation as one of the shrewdest chroniclers of contemporary America.’ David Robson, Sunday Telegraph

‘Vivid and evocative...as [the stories] gather force, you find yourself being drawn in to their momentum.’ Financial Times

‘Proulx['s]...stories’ sour sometimes brutal folksiness gains a singular resonance from the fine, sinewy prose in which they are rendered.’ The Times

‘Packed with grittily persuasive detail, they feel both modern and as timeless as the Wyoming plains.’ Marie Claire

‘Performs inspired imaginative feats.’ Alex Clark, Sunday Times

From the Back Cover:

Annie Proulx's Wyoming - already familiar to readers of the best-selling collection Close Range - is at once ordinary and extraordinary, an isolated expanse of wasters and dreamers, whose inhabitants say there's no place like home but long for buffets and icebergs, imported olives and French cornichons. It is a state in which men grow beards competitively, in which a magic wish-granting kettle is as likely to bring microwave ovens as murder, in which Bible classes wonder 'What Kind of Furniture Would Jesus Pick?'

Bad Dirt is filled with the vivid and wilful characters for which Annie Proulx has become known: Cheri Wham, who married the sociopathic school bully and is raising a herd of beer-swilling children; Dr Playfire, who casts smug aspersions on his patients' paternity; Gilbert Wolfscale, who farms turkeys and adorns them with cranberry Thanksgiving necklaces to outdo the plastic-wrapped supermarket birds and their 'breasts like Las Vegas strippers'.

Annie Proulx has a profound sympathy for her unassumingly innocent characters, whose deepest secrets and desires are revealed with masterful skill. With cleverly wrought complications and magical twists, her latest collection is a work of wonderful imagination and unrivalled storytelling.

About this edition

• Publisher: Fourth Estate
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0007198876
• ISBN 13: 9780007198870
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240