Beyond the Pale & Other Stories
by William Trevor
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[This review refers to the Folio Society collection originally published in 2010, which is NOT the same collection published earlier by others under the same title]
A fine collection of short stories by an acknowledged master. Looking back over my notes, I ended up marking half of the 18 stories in this collection as exceptional - a high percentage relative to most collections I've read. These stories take place in Ireland or England, and some touch on the painful history between these two nations.
Trevor packs a lot of character and atmosphere in a few pages. There is a bittersweet character to these stories, but I'd propose that that's a characteristic common to the best short stories.
My note after reading "The Dancing-Master's Music" show more reads: "marvellous paeon to the power of music for one who hears!". (spoiler alert>>>) In "The Hill Bachelors", which may be the highlight of this collection, Trevor charts the subtle but inexorable transition from a young man with marriage prospects to a confirmed bachelor - happy to return to the land and to work it alone.
Os. show less
A fine collection of short stories by an acknowledged master. Looking back over my notes, I ended up marking half of the 18 stories in this collection as exceptional - a high percentage relative to most collections I've read. These stories take place in Ireland or England, and some touch on the painful history between these two nations.
Trevor packs a lot of character and atmosphere in a few pages. There is a bittersweet character to these stories, but I'd propose that that's a characteristic common to the best short stories.
My note after reading "The Dancing-Master's Music" show more reads: "marvellous paeon to the power of music for one who hears!". (spoiler alert>>>) In "The Hill Bachelors", which may be the highlight of this collection, Trevor charts the subtle but inexorable transition from a young man with marriage prospects to a confirmed bachelor - happy to return to the land and to work it alone.
Os. show less
Short stories with an Irish accent, all subtle, some infused with a genteel nastiness, some a pastel-shaded sadness. Skilfully done.
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Folio Archives 299: Beyond the Pale and Other Stories by William Trevor 2010 in Folio Society Devotees (December 2022)
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120+ Works 13,446 Members
William Trevor Cox was born in Mitchelstown, County Cork, Ireland on May 24, 1928. He received a degree in history from Trinity College in 1950. Before becoming a full-time author in 1965, he worked as a sculptor, a teacher, and a copywriter at an advertising agency. He exhibited his sculptures in Dublin and England and was joint winner of the show more International Year of the Political Prisoner art competition in 1952. His first novel, A Standard of Behaviour, was published in 1958. His other novels include Other People's Worlds, Nights at the Alexandra, The Silence in the Garden, The Story of Lucy Gault, My House in Umbria, and Love and Summer. He won the Hawthornden Prize in 1964 for The Old Boys, the Whitbread Award in 1976 for The Children of Dynmouth, the Whitbread Award in 1983 for Fools of Fortune, and the Whitbread Award in 1994 for Felicia's Journey. His short story collections include The Day We Got Drunk on Cake and Other Stories, The Ballroom of Romance and Other Stories, Beyond the Pale, A Bit on the Side, Cheating at Canasta, and The Mark-2 Wife. The Hill Bachelors received the 2001 Irish Times Irish Literature Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Macmillan Silver Pen Award for Short Stories. He received the Allied Irish Banks' Prize in 1976, The Sunday Times Award for Literary Excellence in 1992, the David Cohen British Literature Prize in 1999, and the Bob Hughes Lifetime Achievement Award in Irish Literature in 2008. In 1977, he was awarded an honorary CBE in recognition of his services to literature. He died on November 20, 2016 at the age of 88. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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- Canonical title
- Beyond the Pale & Other Stories
- Disambiguation notice
- This Work is the collection entitled "Beyond the Pale & Other Stories," originally published by The Folio Society (2010). It is not the same collection published under the title "Beyond the Pale and Other S... (show all)tories" by The Bodley Head (1981) and Viking Press (1982). Please do not combine with other works of the same title unless you first determine that they are the same collection.
Contains 18 stories:
• A Meeting in Middle Age
• The Ballroom of Romance
• The Grass Widows
• The Distant Past
• Mr McNamara
• Matilda's England
• Lovers of Their Time
• Beyond the Pale
• A Trinity
• August Saturday
• Kathleen's Field
• The Piano Tuner's Wives
• Three People
• The Hill Bachelors
• The Dancing-Master's Music
• A Bit on the Side
• The Dressmaker's Child
• Folie à Deux
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- Members
- 68
- Popularity
- 457,051
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (4.00)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ASINs
- 6
