This same red damask, on which distinguished and undistinguished guests had sat in her old lost home. And it wasn’t so much the case in Paris either. Two triumphs—her paper ready for its last polishing and anonymous submission; her lover growling but cheerful, eagerly returned from his banishment and giving every indication, as she thought, that he intended to make her the woman of his life. . I’m glad you asked! It wasn’tthat he was invisible there, in Sonya’s limelight, as that he was the usual. “You know that one of us will die,” she says. (image from Pinterest), The Suit: For Deal Me In 2020, ♦♦♦Diamonds♦♦♦ is my Suit for “Favorite Female Authors,” and I’m reading from three collections – Margaret Atwood’s “Dancing Girls,” Daphne Du Maurier’s “The Birds and Other Stories,” and Alice Munro’s “Too Much Happiness”, The Author: Alice Munro (one of the world’s most acclaimed short story writers). Excerpt: 'Too Much Happiness' December 15, 2009 • Alice Munro's latest book of short stories is peopled with flawed human beings in compromising, even desperate situations. There need be no agonizing. They flew at each other as if they had indeed been long-lost relatives. She tore herself from thoughts of him, from daydreams, back to the movement of rigid bodies and the solution of the so-called mermaid problem by the use of theta functions with two independent variables. Picture from nobelprize.org. The 10 spare, lovely tales are . It dazzles. She was so sure of herself then, and especially sure of him. And at the end of his letter one terrible sentence. “A brand-new collection of short stories from Alice Munro—winner of a Man Booker Prize—is always cause for celebration, and Too Much Happiness doesn’t disappoint. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Can’t you leave me alone?”. This lady was in distress and needed his attention at the moment. “Of course. January 12, 2020 at 5:00 pm (Uncategorized) . He has, however, been forbidden to hold an academic post in Russia, because of being a Liberal. See here for the list I’ll be reading in 2020. He is very joyful, and at the same time very gloomy—Disagreeable neighbor, excellent comrade—Extremely light-minded, and yet very affected—Indignantly naïve, nevertheless very blasé—Terribly sincere, and at the same time very sly. These last days consist largely of a train journey that takes her around Western Europe, including Paris, Germany, and finally back to Stockholm, her home. Too Much Happiness “Always remember that when a man goes out of the room, he leaves everything in it behind,” her friend Marie Mendelson has told her. Hardcover, 303 pages, Random House Inc, List Price: $25.95 |. December 15, 2009 • What makes a good book-club selection? The end of everything. “If I loved you I would have written differently.”. He stayed late at her apartment. The same divan in front of her that had recently, gallantly, supported his bulk. - a 2018 Frankenstein Bicentennial Reading Challenge, "It was the narcotic of generalship. It could be brimful of occupations which did not weary you to the bone. “I am neglecting not only my Functions but my Elliptic Integrals and my Rigid Body,” she joked to her fellow mathematician, Mittag-Leffler, who persuaded Maksim that it was time to go and deliver lectures in Uppsala for a while. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Concentration is on other things.”. I had originally intended to read 4 novella-length “short stories” for Deal Me In this year, assigning them to the nines in my short story deck (‘it’s “Nine for Novella” this week at Deal Me In’ blah blah blah) , but in the end I only included two. Kurt Vonnegut's short story, "All the King's Horses", "The Autopsy" - a horror story by Michael Shea, The Romance of Certain Old Clothes - a short story by Henry James. In story collections: Alice Munro's strong and subtly mysterious women; Ha Jin's immigrants caught between two worlds. hide caption. She met him for the first time in 1888. She worked desperately but happily, because he was still in the back of her mind. November 3, 2010 • Veteran short-story writer Alice Munro and novelist Elizabeth Kostova contemplate lovers and losers, while international human rights activist Greg Mortenson, comedian George Carlin, and musician and avant-garde icon Patti Smith reflect on their lives in new memoirs. Tags: #DealMeIn2020, Alice Munro Too Much Happiness, Deal Me In Short Story Reading Challenge, Too Much Happiness short story, The Card: ♦King♦ of Diamonds. Most of Lynn Neary's picks are quick reads. On the first day of January, in the year 1891, a small woman and a large man are walking in the Old Cemetery, in Genoa. (A jab there, a suggestion familiar to her, of faulty motherhood?). I always enjoy reading about the genesis of stories…, I couldn’t find this story available online anywhere, but if you’re a Munro fan, the book is worth picking up. She herself was taken in by it at first, dazzled by all the chandeliersand champagne. asks reviewer Alan Cheuse. “When a woman goes out she carries everything that happened in the room along with her.”. She went alone to lunch with him at his hotel. Her resolve in the face of the obstacles of her time should be inspiring to all, women and men. The woman with him is also a Kovalevsky. They leave melted, black footprints where they’ve walked. While she was basking Maksim decamped. At present he is crouching over tombstones and writing in his notebook, collecting inscriptions and puzzling over abbreviations not immediately clear to him, though he speaks Russian, French, English, Italian and has an understanding of classical and medieval Latin. This was at the very time when she should have been working day and night, preparing her submission for the Bordin Prize. It was the essence of war." When he hurt his leg in a mishap on the ice, she helped him with the soaking and dressing and, what was more, she told people about it. The 82-year-old author recently announced that she plans to stop writing. References In all the stories, people who seem to be living ordinary lives do unexpected, sometimes disturbing things. Its titular story is based on the life of pioneering Russian novelist and mathematician Sofia Kovalevskaya, who excelled in these male-dominated fields due to a combination of feminist values, curiosity, and strong will. The woman has a childishly large head, with a thicket of dark curls, and her expression is eager, faintly pleading. Never a word about the real reason, of course—just the papers he had to write, his need for the peace and quiet of Beaulieu. The title story is a fictional retelling of the life of Sofia Kovalevskaya. Their behavior, as well, soon overflowed the proprieties of Stockholm. Although the story is set just before her death, it includes several flashbacks that end up telling the story of her life. Both of them are around forty years old. Too Much Happiness is a short story collection by Canadian writer Alice Munro, published on August 25, 2009 by McClelland and Stewart's Douglas Gibson Books imprint. He weighs 285 pounds, distributed over a large frame, and being Russian, he is often referred to as a bear, also as a Cossack. (Be honest)  This week’s “Deal Me In Coincidence?” (almost) – Kovalevsky’s birthday is January 15th. Introducing "The Frankenslam!" So Sophia believed. The Shubert grandparents. About Too Much Happiness. He had a lady staying with him, he said, whom he could not possibly present to her. No comfort there. Acquiring what you needed for a comfortably furnished life, and then to take on a social and public life of entertainment, would keep you from even being bored or idle, and would make you feel at the end of the day that you had done exactly what pleased everybody. “When a woman goes out she carries everything that happened in the room along with her.” Too Much Happiness is a 2009 collection of short stories by Canadian Nobel Prize-winning author Alice Munro. . Back from Paris with her prize and her freaky glittery fame, back to her friends who suddenly meant no more than a snap of her fingers to her. Just missed it by a few days. Full details may be found here  but generally speaking it’s a reading challenge where participants try to read one short story a week for the year, the reading order being determined by the luck of the draw. October 10, 2013 • Munro's short-story collections include Dance of the Happy Shades, The Moons of Jupiter and, most recently, Dear Life. A torrent of jokes and questions followed, an immediate understanding, a rich gabble of Russian, as if the languages of Western Europe had been flimsy formal cages in which they had been too long confined, or paltry substitutes for true human speech. Note: Book excerpts are provided by the publisher and may contain language some find offensive. The man is immense. In spite of his size he was never clumsy in lovemaking. Maksim Maksimovich Kovalevsky. He wrote his cold and sulky apologies from Beaulieu, refusing her offer to visit once her flurry was over. "Is there anyone writing short fiction today in English who has more authority?" It is simply impossible for me, in his presence, to think ofanything but him.”. And back to her supposedly neglected but devastatinglymerry little Fufu. Witty quotations like the above point out that there may be, of course, differences between men and women in the way they view the world or think or act. She wrote a description of him to a friend, borrowing from De Musset. Maksim. See here for the list I’ll be reading in 2020. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sofya_Kovalevskaya, Book Club (Indianapolis) of the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library, Baltimore Chapter of Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library book club, “Deal Me In” – 2011 short story selections, “Deal Me In” – 2012 Short Story Selections, “Deal Me In” – 2013 Short Story Selections, Deal Me In 2014 – A Short Story Reading Challenge, Kiss Me Again, Stranger by Daphne DuMaurier – Selection 6 of #DealMeIn2020, A Woman of the Limberlost (Gene Stratton-Porter) by Ray Boomhower – Selection 5 of #DealMeIn2020, The Prairie Fire by Larry Sweazy – Selection 4 of #DealMeIn2020, A Voyage Against War (May Wright Sewell and the Ford Peace Ship) by Ray Boomhower – selection 3 of #DealMeIn2020, "Reunion" - A Short Story by Maya Angelou, Another Reading Challenge!? So have a glass of wine, maybe a bite to eat, and let the discussions begin. Another quotation from the story which I found interesting was the following (and my kindle tells me it has been highlighted by a great many of the book’s readers): “She was learning, quite late, what many people around her appeared to have known since childhood – that life can be perfectly satisfying without major achievements. The author, who has been writing for more than 60 years, is only the 13th woman to win the prize. When he returned she was worn out but triumphant. But that turned out to be no duty at all. He had come to Stockholm to advise on the foundation of a school of social sciences. In the first story a young wife and mother receives release from the unbearable pain of losing her three children from a most surprising source. How else could you be such a prodigy of industry? In … December 30, 2009 • Too Much Happiness, the newest collection of short stories from the master of the form, features a cast of lovers and losers, husbands and widows, scientists and woodworkers. This nearly novella length story led me down a rabbit hole of discovery, learning about “the most famous woman scientist before the 20th century,” Sophia Kovalevskaya (pictured below), who struggled against the prejudices of her time, yet achieved much in her too-short life. On the first day of January, in the year 1891, a small woman and a large man are walking in the Old Cemetery, in Genoa. She sat in the same room, with the furniture brought at such foolish expense across the Baltic Sea. What still shone through, however,  was the story of an exceptional woman who, through her determination, began to blaze a trail that many others would follow – and are still following today (Even now, I am often reading or hearing about the under-representation of women in the STEM fields).

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