Best American Short Stories 1980 Completed

So, here are a few basic stats concerning the volume and my reading. I’ll delve deeper into some of them below.

There are 22 stories.

17 of the authors are men

4 of the authors are women*

*Mavis Gallant is published twice

In the stories, 17 of them center on men, 2 about women, 1 about a couple, 1 split pretty evenly about between the two genders (but leaning towards a male) and 1 unknown.

My first post about the BASS 1980 was made on Friday, October 23, 2009 and the final post on Wednesday, January 20, 2010.

2 months and 28 days were devoted to this volume. Broken down, that is:

12 weeks 5 days or

89 days or

63 weekdays or

0.2438 years.

This works out to a story read and posted about every 4.04 days.

Now that we have all that out of the way, lets get down to some words about this book.

My favorite story – Into the Wind

My least favorite- The Faithful

Overall impression of this collection.

You know, I think I have beat this dead horse enough, but I can’t help but feel that Elkin killed this edition.

Honestly, I would expect far more quality stories showing a greater diversity than he gave. I am sick of reading about a man’s struggle...

89 days - that is about all of the time I am willing to devote to this book. I wish I had given less.

The photo at the top of this entry is a good illustration of how I feel.

In the photo,

I am doing pull-ups at work.

We should all do pull-ups (reading and learning)

Pull-ups are difficult (as are some stories)

Pull-ups are good for us (as is reading)

(I’m at the top of a steep set of stairs, hanging from a pipe containing...probably something dangerous or important. – but aren’t we all hanging from a dangerous important pipe?).

The struggle is worth it.

Hog’s Heart – Gordon Weaver

Gordon Weaver - 2 February 1937- still alive??!!

The final story in this collection. I know that these stories are arranged in this volume alphabetically, but I also can’t help but notice that this story is about the final days of a man.

Could Elkin have picked a better story to round out his selections?

I think it’s rather fitting.

I’ll address the nature of his selections in my next post which will reflect on the BASS 1980, but for now, the death of Hog comes as a welcome death for me signaling the end of me reading of BASS 1980.

This story prompted me to think of my own death and how it might come about. Not so much as how it might come about but the last moments of my life and how I would like those to be ordered.

So, when I die, how would I want it to happen? I think that if it were to happen tomorrow, I would wish it to be non-violent and sudden.

I would hate to be hit by a car as I crossed the street, dying on the way to the hospital, thinking over my life, and of those I’m about to leave behind. That’s so sad.

If I were to die tomorrow, I’d want to be walking to work, feeling the sun on my face, a cool breeze carrying an unknown pleasant scent as I watched a bird fly from the ground up into a tree. I’d want to be thinking of M and our life together. As I tilted my head back to watch the ascent of the bird, I’d want a blood vessel to pop in my brain, immediately causing me to lose consciousness and causing my knees to buckle as I fell slowly into a patch of grass where I would die peacefully a minute or so later.

Quick, clean, natural and painless.

If my death is one that comes at the end of a long life rather than the one I described above, I’d like to be in a place of peace, my home, surrounded by my family. I’d like to go in my sleep...dreaming of them.

Again, quick, clean, natural painless and not coming as a surprise to my family but as a relief because they would know that I lived a full happy life and it was just my time to go. Everyone would be at peace with my passing.

I think it’s fine to think about death. You need to be at peace with it. To not be afraid of it.

The hardest part for me is knowing the pain of those that will remain living.

Markowitz and the Gypsies – Norman Waksler

Norman Waksler - July 19, 1941 – Still alive!!!

Waksler following Updike. What company. And a nice follow.

It was good to see that Waksler is still alive. And, very reachable. He has a page on Goodreads as well as a Facebook page.

He is a librarian (yea!) and is still writing.

The story.

I was happy to encounter this story. I do hope that its placement at the end of the volume did not result in readers not reading it. I’ll state it once again, and will state it yet again in another post, I think Elkin has done a really poor job with some of his selections and organization of the stories in this volume.

This was a very readable story. It would have done the BASS a service to be included more towards the front of the collection where it could have received more eyes and kept readers more engaged in the whole book.

What did Markowitz teach me?

Well, it brought back to my attention, that in life, we are all “Marks”. And, we have no problem playing the role of a gypsy from time to time.

The “humanness” of Markowitz was clearly developed and I feel that this was a strong part of what kept me engaged in the story.

It’s part of what makes us human I suppose. The push and pull of everyday life.

There is a fine balance that runs along with that push/pull.

Personally, I feel that I have not been the victim of, or played gypsy, too often in my life.

In that case, I think I’m lucky.

Gesturing – John Updike

John Updike - March 18, 1932 – January 27, 2009

True confessions time:

This is probably the third story I have read by Updike. That’s it. Three total.

And the funny thing is, after each story, I vowed to read more of him. He’s just so damn good. I mean, really good. Really, really, really good.

And – I never follow through on this vow. My loss.

You see, I know that he has so much to teach me.

About myself, my parents, my friends, my country and the society I live in.

What the hell is wrong with me?

Look at the guy. He looks so happy, it’s like he was born with a smile on his face. And, behind that face, in his brain, he knows us all.

I was exposed to him a great deal through Joyce Carol Oates’ Journal. She and Updike had a great friendship. I think the paring is perfect.

So, as I do with all of these stories, I take a look at the author – read about them, contact them if they are still alive and reachable, then I usually stand in awe of their achievements and finally write a couple of lines about them before I write about what the story provided me with.

Concerning Updike – I am struggling right now to find the words to convey what an author like him can/has done or will do for me.

And the realization that I have recognized for so long now and that I am finally committing to type, is that there are simply so many good authors, so many good stories and I just do not have time to read them all.

Updike, Oates, David Foster Wallace, Zadie Smith and ...

I have obligations in life – we have obligations in life – that prevent us from reading (or insert vice/pastime here).

Mornings are spent exercising (I gotta keep healthy if I’m gonna live long and read) – days are spent at work (must make money to buy books) – evenings are spent catching moments to read between being a good husband and companion to my wife.

Here’s how I look at it.

How would I feel if after a full day of work, my wife came home and buried her face in a book?

If my wife wants to lie in bed and watch The Food Network for an hour with me next to her, I feel that it’s my obligation to the marriage to lay there next to her.

Honestly, if that small gesture “keeps the peace” then I’m a pretty lucky guy. The books can wait.

These thoughts play into what I think I enjoy about Updike, and with this particular story. We all know what Updike writes about, and in “Gesturing” his story of marital infidelity, separation, love, and everything surrounding all of the above, is explored once again.

One of the reasons why I enjoy Updike is because he so vividly takes me places I have never been and will probably never go.

But...he takes me places that I know have been visited by people very close to me. My parents – co-workers and former classmates.

I’m no saint, but I can say that a lot of what he writes about I haven’t done and I hope will never do.

Just as I like Oates – I don’t have the desire to kill anyone ( then eat part of them) in some perverted fashion...but she takes me places that I find fascinating. She peels off the “normal” world that we live in and shows us what really lies just beneath the surface. Updike does the same.

I often wonder, as M and I take our evening walk – which lasts about an hour or so – of what goes on behind the doors of the houses we pass by. Updike knows.

Is there a husband physically abusing his wife or children? A mother drowning her pain by taking another shot of Vodka with a couple of pills. Teenagers looking for attention by “cutting”...or vomiting dinner into the toilet? And on and on and on...

What really happens behind these perfect lawns and front porches?

I think it’s worse than we let ourselves believe.

Gesturing –

Sometimes it’s the small things in life that mean the most. A simple word, a look, a smile, comment or email.

It is said that we live in a connected world. Are we really connected? Are we able to recognize subtle gestures in our “new” world?

I will continue to look for the small gestures – and make small gestures. They work and they help us be better friends, husbands, sons, and parents.