Andre Dubus
November 4, 2005
I brood (so much so that I had to think for a really long time before I decided to use the word “brood”—I also considered dwell, and considered the noun form, “brooder.”) I have the kind of mind that yields few immediate and clear answers. Ask me my favorite food, and I will begin to list almost every style, “Italian, Thai, Indian, Sushi, Korean…” (Ask me my favorite color, and I will say “blue,” but I don’t really believe it.)
However, there is one question for which I have a firm answer, and that is, “Who is your favorite author?” I will immediately answer, Andre Dubus, and, knowing that he is not the best known author and is sometimes confused with his son, I often provide a brief introduction. “He was a writer’s writer,” I will usually say. “He wrote almost exclusively short stories, and many people count him among the greatest short story writers ever.”
I could go on, but I usually don’t. I don’t say too often that I have read everything he wrote, and even less often do I say that I read his stories over and over and over again. And I probably almost never say that certain of his stories have informed and moved me more than anything else I have ever read. Reviewing one of Dubus’ books for Harper’s, Frances Taliaferro said it best, “Dubus at his best can evoke thoughts that lie too deep for tears.”
I recently found one of my favorite Dubus stories, “If They Knew Yvonne,” online. Recovering Catholics will especially like it, I think.
Posted by Bill Trippe at November 4, 2005 11:09 AM
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And you kept this a secret from me why???? ;)
Posted by Kim at November 5, 2005 7:36 PM