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A new collection of stories by Mavis Gallant is always a major publishing event. For this is the writer who–like Margaret Atwood and Alice Munro–has made Canadian short stories a presence on the world literary scene, and on our bestseller lists.
In Across the Bridge four of the eleven stories are connected, following the fortunes of the Carette family in Montreal. In “1933” their widowed mother teaches Berthe and Marie to deny that she was a seamstress and to say instead that she was “clever with her hands.” In “The Chosen Husband” the luckless suitor Louis has to undergo the front-parlour scrutiny of Marie’s mother and sister: “But then Louis began to cough and had to cover his mouth. He was in trouble with a caramel. The Carettes looked away, so that he could strangle unobserved. ‘How dark it is,’ said Berthe, to let him think he could not be seen.”
We then follow their marriage, the birth of Raymond, and Raymond’s flight from his mother and aunt to his eventual role as a motel manager in Florida. “‘The place was full of Canadians,’ he said. ‘They stole like raccoons...’”
With the exception of “The Fenton Child,” an eerie story set in postwar Montreal, the other stories take place in the Paris Mavis Gallant knows so well. “Across the Bridge,” the title story, begins with the narrator’s mother throwing her reluctant daughter’s wedding invitations into the Seine. “I watched the envelopes fall in a slow shower and land on the dark water and float apart. Strangers leaned on the parapet and stared, too, but nobody spoke.”
This is a superb collection of stories by a writer at the top of her form.
In Across the Bridge four of the eleven stories are connected, following the fortunes of the Carette family in Montreal. In “1933” their widowed mother teaches Berthe and Marie to deny that she was a seamstress and to say instead that she was “clever with her hands.” In “The Chosen Husband” the luckless suitor Louis has to undergo the front-parlour scrutiny of Marie’s mother and sister: “But then Louis began to cough and had to cover his mouth. He was in trouble with a caramel. The Carettes looked away, so that he could strangle unobserved. ‘How dark it is,’ said Berthe, to let him think he could not be seen.”
We then follow their marriage, the birth of Raymond, and Raymond’s flight from his mother and aunt to his eventual role as a motel manager in Florida. “‘The place was full of Canadians,’ he said. ‘They stole like raccoons...’”
With the exception of “The Fenton Child,” an eerie story set in postwar Montreal, the other stories take place in the Paris Mavis Gallant knows so well. “Across the Bridge,” the title story, begins with the narrator’s mother throwing her reluctant daughter’s wedding invitations into the Seine. “I watched the envelopes fall in a slow shower and land on the dark water and float apart. Strangers leaned on the parapet and stared, too, but nobody spoke.”
This is a superb collection of stories by a writer at the top of her form.
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Review:
"There isn't a finer writer in the English language."-"Books in Canada""She is a very good writer indeed."-"The New York Times""Mavis Gallant is a marvellously clear-headed observer and a rare phrase-maker." -"Times Literary Supplement""Mavis Gallant writes some of the most superbly crafted and perceptive stories of our time."-"Globe and Mail""One of the best writers of our language, an artist who is above fad and fashion."-"Saturday Night""From the Hardcover edition."
About the Author:
Mavis Gallant was born in Montreal and has lived in Paris for many years. She has written eleven books, including GREEN WATER, GREEN SKY, her first novel, and PARIS NOTEBOOKS: ESSAYS AND REVIEWS.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherMcClelland & Stewart
- Publication date1993
- ISBN 10 0771033052
- ISBN 13 9780771033056
- BindingHardcover
- Number of pages208
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Across the Bridge
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Random House, New York
(1993)
ISBN 10: 0771033052
ISBN 13: 9780771033056
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Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: New. 1st Edition. NEW YORK: Random House, 1993. First Edition. First printing. Hardbound. New, in dust jacket. A perfect unread copy, tight and clean. Comes with mylar dust jacket wrapper. Smoke-free. Shipped in well padded box. Seller Inventory # 325
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Stock Image
Across the Bridge
Published by
McClelland & Stewart
(1993)
ISBN 10: 0771033052
ISBN 13: 9780771033056
New
Hardcover
Quantity: 1
Seller:
Rating
Book Description Condition: New. Buy with confidence! Book is in new, never-used condition 1.2. Seller Inventory # bk0771033052xvz189zvxnew
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