Lives of the Poets: Six Stories and a Novella

by E. L. Doctorow

Hardcover, 1984

Status

Available

Publication

New York : Random House, 1984.

Description

Innocence is lost to unforgettable experience in these brilliant stories by E. L. Doctorow, as full of mystery and meaning as any of the longer works by this American master. In "The Writer in the Family," a young man learns the difference between lying and literature after he is induced into deceiving a relative through letters. In "Wili," an early-twentieth-century idyll is destroyed by infidelity. In "The Foreign Legation," a girl and an act of political anarchy collide with devastating results. These and other stories flow into the novella "Lives of the Poets," in which the images and themes of the earlier stories become part of the narrator's unsparing confessions about his own mind, offering a rare look at the creative process and its connection to the heart.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member Sean191
I'm not sure if this was a hit-and-miss collection of stories so much as maybe a constant "bump." There's no arguing Doctorow is talented and can turn a phrase, but I was reading these stories because I kept thinking there would be just a little bit more to the characters . . . just a little bit
Show More
more to make it a good read rather than an okay read. By the time I closed the book, I think I was left with an okay read.

Thinking about it more, I feel like his writing is similar to Nadine Gordimer's. I can't put my finger on why though.

I'd give Doctorow another shot, maybe his characters are better in other books.
Show Less

Language

Barcode

10258
Page: 0.4466 seconds