On the River Styx and other stories
by Peter Matthiessen
On This Page
Description
Since the 1950s Peter Matthiessen has written fiction and nonfiction of elemental power and moral vision, including the acclaimed novels At Play in the Fields of the Lord and Far Tortuga and works of naturalism and exploration like the National Book Award-winning The Snow Leopard. This stunning collection of short stories, available for the first time in paperback, spans more than three decades of writing by one of the most acclaimed literary voices of our time.Tags
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Member Reviews
For an author mostly known for his books, largely non-fiction, this rare book of short stories is illuminating. Matthiessen notes at the outset that he hasn't written many short works, and always meant to write more. The stories exhibit Matthiessen's great range: rescue workers waiting for a body to surface; a German immigrant's struggle with her own family; a Native wolf tracker doubting his work; a naive nurse in a mental institution; and the racism of the Deep South. The book also details his growth as a writer, as he stories are arranged chronologically. Matthiesson grew on me with each story.
4 bones!!!!
4 bones!!!!
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Author Information
48+ Works 13,947 Members
Peter Matthiessen was born in Manhattan, New York on May 22, 1927. He served in the Navy at Pearl Harbor. He graduated with a degree in English from Yale University in 1950. It was around this time that he was recruited by the CIA and traveled to Paris, where he became acquainted with several young expatriate American writers. In the postwar years show more the CIA covertly financed magazines and cultural programs to counter the spread of Communism. While in Paris, he helped found The Paris Review in 1953. After returning to the United States, he worked as a commercial fisherman and the captain of a charter fishing boat. His first novel, Race Rock, was published in 1954. His other fiction works include Partisans, Raditzer, Far Tortuga, and In Paradise. His novel, Shadow Country, won a National Book Award. His novel, At Play in the Fields of the Lord, was made into a movie. He started writing nonfiction after divorcing his first wife. An assignment for Sports Illustrated to report on American endangered species led to the book Wildlife in America, which was published in 1959. His travels took him to Asia, Australia, South America, Africa, New Guinea, the Florida swamps, and beneath the ocean. These travels led to articles in The New Yorker as well as numerous nonfiction books including The Cloud Forest: A Chronicle of the South American Wilderness, Under the Mountain Wall: A Chronicle of Two Seasons of Stone Age New Guinea, Blue Meridian: The Search for the Great White Shark, The Tree Where Man Was Born, and Men's Lives. The Snow Leopard won the 1979 National Book Award for nonfiction. He died from leukemia on April 5, 2014 at the age of 86. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Harvill (72)
Work Relationships
Contains
Is abridged in
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- On the River Styx and other stories
- Original publication date
- 1989-03-25
- Dedication
- For Sherry
My friend
for fifty years
who pestered me to
return to fiction
before the smoke
clears
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 165
- Popularity
- 199,207
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.33)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 8
- ASINs
- 5
