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About
When asked to describe her short stories, Edith Pearlman replied that they are stories about people in peculiar circumstances aching to “Do the Right Thing.” She elaborated with the same wit and intimacy that make her stories a delight to read: Before I was a writer, I was a reader; and reading remains a necessary activity, occupying several joyous hours of every day. I like novels, essays, and biographies; but most of all I like the short story: narrative at its most confiding.
My own work, and particularly the stories in Vaquita, aims at a similar intimacy between writer and reader. My imagined reader wants to know who loves whom, who drinks what, and, mostly, who answers to what summons. Thank Heavens for Spike Lee! Before his movies writers and critics had to natter about moral stances; now I can say with a more tripping tongue that my characters are people in peculiar circumstances, aching to “Do the Right Thing” if only they can figure out what “The Right Thing” is. If not, they'll at least “Do Their Own Right Thing Right.”
My own work, and particularly the stories in Vaquita, aims at a similar intimacy between writer and reader. My imagined reader wants to know who loves whom, who drinks what, and, mostly, who answers to what summons. Thank Heavens for Spike Lee! Before his movies writers and critics had to natter about moral stances; now I can say with a more tripping tongue that my characters are people in peculiar circumstances, aching to “Do the Right Thing” if only they can figure out what “The Right Thing” is. If not, they'll at least “Do Their Own Right Thing Right.”