The unnamed narrator must prove his worth – it’s a dance. She’s had her share of thoughtless, condescending students who think her precious artifacts are “junk,” as they too have gone hunting for the same class. What could be more American than folk art? When he stumbles into Theodosia’s Antiques, he’s met by an ornery, eccentric (“weighing under ninety pounds” wearing “a county’s worth of brooch timepieces”), and wise proprietor who has plenty to sell but isn’t welcoming. On page one, we’re told he’s written his master’s thesis on Hand-Wrought Iowa-Illinois Farm Toys, 1880-1920, part of his “American Studies” program. The narrator in the lead story is a graduate student scouting for art that’s “ethnographic” for a class assignment. Every story comes with a novel’s worth of heft and insight.” Not to be overlooked is that both writers have a distinctly authentic way with words and remarkable compassion.
He writes with a deep and joyful expansiveness that is completely his own. One of his students is one of my favorite writers and most everyone else’s, Ann Patchett, who wrote that Gurganus “was and is my most important teacher. Although it’s not set in North Carolina as others are, it takes place in eastern Iowa within striking distance of the University of Iowa where Gurganus taught creative writing at the Iowa Writer’s Workshop. It also sets a semi-autobiographical tone. As you’ll see in all of the stories, the plot – in this case about collecting Americana – goes far deeper than that. The opening story, for instance, “ The Wish for a Good Young Country Doctor, ” first appeared in the New Yorker magazine in its issue. While this is the first time these stories have appeared in one collection, most have appeared in another publication at some earlier time, as noted in the Acknowledgements. While the voice of some of the narrators in the nine stories conveys an old-timey style of storytelling, there’s nothing old-fashioned about the contemporary issues Gurganus tackles exquisitely – subtly, cynically, wittily, compassionately, open-mindedly, poignantly. His last work, Local Souls, was published in 2013, so these uncollected stories were anxiously awaited by the literary community. You may know the author from his award-winning debut novel that brought him instant acclaim, Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells Us, in 1989. Hailing from the South, Rocky Mount, North Carolina, many of his stories are set in his invented town of Falls, and yet he speaks to and for all of America. Gurganus is a keen and empathetic observer of people. Based on his new collection of stories on the stuff of life and what makes us humans, there’s reason to feel hopeful about the future. Humanity in storytelling (North Carolina, Iowa, Florida 1970s to present day): “Literature represents my greatest hope for our species at its very best,” Allan Gurganus said when asked about his ideal reading experience.
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