Alice Munro, acclamée auteure canadienne, saisit magistralement la complexité des relations humaines à travers le prisme de la vie quotidienne. Ses histoires, qui explorent souvent les profondeurs des expériences quotidiennes, lui ont valu le surnom de "Tchekhov canadien". L'approche narrative de Munro examine méticuleusement les nuances subtiles des interactions interpersonnelles, révélant leur résonance universelle. Son importance littéraire réside dans sa capacité inégalée à transformer des moments apparemment ordinaires en récits profondément marquants qui sondent la condition humaine.
La quatrième de couverture indique : "Comment vider des dindes peut marquer à jamais une jeune fille de 14 ans... Comment un cadeau simple et doux comme un sac de petites algues peut réchauffer un coeur désespéré... Douze nouvelles composent des portraits de femmes qui, sous une apparence fragile, cachent souvent un caractère étonnant et courageux. Avec lucidité, elles affrontent la vie, ses joies et ses peines, ses luttes et ses déceptions."
Dans ce recueil, les personnages courent après le bonheur et tentent de surmonter un deuil, une crise conjugale, une humiliation. L’histoire qui clôt le livre évoque Sofia Kovaleskaïa, mathématicienne russe qui vécut à la fin du XIXe siècle et qui fut l’une des premières femmes à enseigner dans une université européenne. Mais les faits bruts, ceux qui nourrissent les biographies, ne constituent pour Alice Munro qu’un arrière-plan : elle passe la vie exemplaire de Kovaleskaïa, et celles de tous les protagonistes de Trop de bonheur, au filtre de l’intime, de la sensibilité, pour mettre en évidence les lignes de force invisibles qui guident chaque destin. « Aucune nuance du cœur n’échappe à Alice Munro. » (Claire Devarrieux, Libération). La lauréate du Man Booker International Prize nous offre dix nouvelles inédites et prouve une fois de plus qu’elle est l’un des plus grands écrivains contemporains de langue anglaise.
Alice Munro explore sa propre histoire familiale dans cette collection de récits. Elle remonte jusqu'à William Laidlaw en Écosse au 17e siècle, puis suit l'évolution vers le Canada avec Andrew et d'autres, des personnages simples mais originaux, souvent passionnés par l'écriture.
A New York Times Editors’ Choice Book Spanning almost thirty years and settings that range from big cities to small towns and farmsteads of rural Canada, this magnificent collection brings together twenty-eight stories by a writer of unparalleled wit, generosity, and emotional power. In A Wilderness Station: Selected Stories, 1968–1994, Alice Munro makes lives that seem small unfold until they are revealed to be as spacious as prairies and locates the moments of love and betrayal, desire and forgiveness, that change those lives forever. A traveling salesman during the Depression takes his children with him on an impromptu visit to a former girlfriend. A poor girl steels herself to marry a rich fiancé she can’t quite manage to love. An abandoned woman tries to choose between the opposing pleasures of seduction and solitude. To read these stories is to succumb to the spell of a true narrative sorcerer, a writer who enchants her readers utterly even as she restores them to their truest selves.
**Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature** These dazzling and utterly satisfying stories explore varieties and degrees of love - filial, platonic, sexual, parental and imagined - in the lives of apparently ordinary folk. In fact, Munro's characters pulse with idiosyncratic life. Under the polished surface of these unsentimental dispatches from the small-town and rural front lies a strong undertow of violence and sexuality, repressed until something snaps, with extraordinary force in some of the stories, sadly and strangely in others.
Short Stories. This first-ever selection of Alice Munro's stories sums up her genius. Her territory is the secrets that cackle beneath the facade of everyday lives, the pain and promises, loves and fears of apparently ordinary men and women whom she renders extraordinary and unforgettable.
An array of short fiction, selected by the author and spanning the full range of her career, encompasses seventeen stories, drawn from such collections as The Beggar Maid, The Moons of Jupiter, and Runaway.
** Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature ** 'Munro is still one of our most fearless explorers of the human being, as she descends, time and again, headlamp on full beam, pickaxe and butter-knife at the ready' The Times Spanning her last five collections and bringing together her finest work from the past fifteen years, this new selection of Alice Munro's stories infuses everyday lives with a wealth of nuance and insight. Beautifully observed and remarkably crafted, written with emotion and empathy, these stories are nothing short of perfection. A masterclass in the genre, from an author who deservedly lays claim to being one of the major fiction writers of our time.
Exploring the complexities of the human mind, this anthology features a collection of short stories, artwork, and photography that blend archetypal themes with contemporary insights. The narratives navigate the fine line between reality and delusion, presenting illusory and ethereal tales that reflect the depths of the subconscious. Each piece invites readers to engage with the fleeting nature of dreams and nightmares, creating a rich tapestry of thought-provoking and spectral experiences.
"From the winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature ... a new selection of her ... short fiction, gathered from the collections of the last two decades, a companion volume to Selected stories (1968-1994)"-- Dust jacket flap.
