Mary Ladd Gavell (1919–1967)
Auteur de I Cannot Tell a Lie, Exactly: And Other Stories
A propos de l'auteur
She was born in Cuero, Texas, in 1919 and graduated from Texas A&M University in 1940. She married Stefan Gavell in 1953 and had two sons. They lived in Washington, D.C. where she worked at Psychiatry magazine. Gavell died in 1967. Stefan Gavell lives in Palm City, Florida. (Bowker Author Biography)
Œuvres de Mary Ladd Gavell
Oeuvres associées
Étiqueté
Partage des connaissances
- Date de naissance
- 1919
- Date de décès
- 1967-01-19
- Sexe
- female
- Nationalité
- USA
- Lieu de naissance
- Cuero, Texas, USA
- Lieu du décès
- Washington, D.C., USA
- Lieux de résidence
- Washington, D.C., USA
Cuero, Texas, USA - Études
- Texas A&M University
Membres
Critiques
I Cannot Tell a Lie, Exactly: And Other Stories par Mary Ladd Gavell
Stories by a nearly forgotten author. 3.5
Lovely, quiet stories of everyday life, lost in a drawer for 30 years and published posthumously. To be read, and then re-read.
As even the most earnest student longs for graduation, the most faithful employee yearns for retirement, so Martha Hedges looked forward to widowhood. She would not by word or deed have attempted to hasten such an outcome; this is not a murder story. On the contrary, she was a devoted wife who lived in loving concord with a genuinely good husband. Being, in her shy and quiet way, a devout woman, she expected eventually to join Harold in Heaven for all eternity; but she counted on a nice long vacation first.
Were John Cheever to have had a twin sister who also wrote short stories, and had that imaginary sister spent time as a child in the loving care of her aunts, Dorothy Parker and Dawn Powell, she might write like Mary Ladd Gavell, the author of a single slim book of short stories. I Cannot Tell a Lie, Exactly: And Other Stories is a collection of wonderfully written stories that combine both depth and heart, while avoiding sentimentality and regard life with an eye for the subtle humor. Gavell died unpublished; it was only when a single short story (The Rotifer) was published in a trade magazine as a tribute to her, that she was discovered. The few stories she did write are sublime. My favorite is Baucis, which begins with the above paragraph. Gavell's stories concern the domestic; a child taking the school bus, an older couple caring for her mother as she dies, another couple on the search for antiques in New England, and they are pitch perfect. I'll be holding on to my copy because I know that I'll want to reread this more than a few times.… (plus d'informations)
Were John Cheever to have had a twin sister who also wrote short stories, and had that imaginary sister spent time as a child in the loving care of her aunts, Dorothy Parker and Dawn Powell, she might write like Mary Ladd Gavell, the author of a single slim book of short stories. I Cannot Tell a Lie, Exactly: And Other Stories is a collection of wonderfully written stories that combine both depth and heart, while avoiding sentimentality and regard life with an eye for the subtle humor. Gavell died unpublished; it was only when a single short story (The Rotifer) was published in a trade magazine as a tribute to her, that she was discovered. The few stories she did write are sublime. My favorite is Baucis, which begins with the above paragraph. Gavell's stories concern the domestic; a child taking the school bus, an older couple caring for her mother as she dies, another couple on the search for antiques in New England, and they are pitch perfect. I'll be holding on to my copy because I know that I'll want to reread this more than a few times.… (plus d'informations)
3 
RidgewayGirl | 6 autres critiques | Dec 12, 2014 |
RidgewayGirl | 6 autres critiques | Dec 12, 2014 | If you prefer your short stories to be rip-roarin', sexed up, or fantastic, you probably won't appreciate this collection. Gavell's stories are, for the most part, gentle slice-of-life tales of ordinary people; many of them are set in and around the small Texas town where she lived until her death in 1967. I first discovered Gavell's short story "The Swing" (included here) a few years ago, when looking for themed stories for a course I was teaching, and I liked it so well that I sought out more of her work. While "The Swing" remains my favorite, I also enjoyed all of the stories in this collection. They are small stories: a girl gives a doll to someone less fortunate; a couple makes their son's George Washington costume; a farmer's wife dupes a city couple; a family gathers at an old woman's deathbed; a teacher regrets not having praised a child's beautiful handwriting; a woman comes to appreciate the daughter-in-law she initially rejected. There's an apt quote form the Chicago Sun-Times on the cover: Everyone should have this book on their shelf . . . for the pleasure of reading a perfect story again and again. The Random House edition includes a fine introduction by Kaye Gibbons and a short essay by Gavell's son, remembering his mother.… (plus d'informations)
4 Cariola | 6 autres critiques | Sep 22, 2012 |
Cariola | 6 autres critiques | Sep 22, 2012 | Vous aimerez peut-être aussi
Auteurs associés
Statistiques
- Œuvres
- 1
- Aussi par
- 2
- Membres
- 104
- Popularité
- #184,481
- Évaluation
- 3.9
- Critiques
- 7
- ISBN
- 3