RARA-AVIS: Re: My take on Block

From: jacquesdebierue ( jacquesdebierue@yahoo.com)
Date: 20 Dec 2007


--- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, JIM DOHERTY <jimdohertyjr@...> wrote:

> I'm wondering why there's been so little comment on
> Block's short fiction during this month and the last.
> I mentioned here that I found his award-winning
> Scudder short story, "By the Dawn's Early Light,"
> superior to the expanded novel-length version, WHEN
> THE SACRED GINMILL CLOSES. Did anyone else have the
> same reaction?

Same reaction here. I have found that Block's stories are almost uniformly excellent. There is also a lot of variety. A big book of his short stories is now available (it's a fat volume!). A bargain, considering the quality, and I think the earlier volumes of stories are no longer in print, so this is the way to get them.

To put the above in context, I should say that I am more a fan of the short story than of the novel. Block is a great practitioner of the short story.

Best,

mrt



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