Light Can Be Both Wave and Particle

by Ellen Gilchrist

Overview

Fiction from a National Book Award-winning author and “short-story writer of substantial gifts and reputation” (The New York Times). 
 
From National Book Award Winner Ellen Gilchrist, a pillar of Southern literature hailed by the Washington Post as “a national treasure,” comes a colorful collection of short stories integrating favorite characters with captivating newcomers. Rhoda’s reveling in her childhood and infinite possibility in “The Tree Fort” and “The Time Capsule” is juxtaposed with her darker adulthood in “Mexico.” Nora Jane returns alongside Lin Tan Sing, a Chinese medical student and geneticist who predicts the birth of her twins. Fans of Gilchrist won’t want to miss the author’s exploration of the many stages of life—and the lightness and darkness each can bring.

“Several stories in Gilchrist’s latest collection are distinguished by her old magic—they have energy and gusto and humor, and a dark layer of knowledge beneath their nostalgic tone.”—Publishers Weekly
 
“A validation of the author’s skill and versatility. Gilchrist creates new experiences for characters from earlier stories and … creates new characters who reveal her skill in portraying character and place.”—Library Journal

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781635763454
Publisher:	Diversion Books
Publication date:	04/30/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	180
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Ellen Gilchrist is the award-winning author of more than 20 books, including novels, short story collections, essays and poetry. Her new collection of stories, ACTS OF GOD, will be published in April 2014 by Algonquin, along with the paperback release of her novel A DANGEROUS AGE. She lives in Fayetteville, Arkansas and Ocean Springs, Mississippi, and teaches creative writing and contemporary fiction at the University of Arkansas.

Editorial Reviews

Although several stories in Gilchrist's ( The Anna Papers ) latest collection are distinguished by her old magic--they have energy and gusto and humor, and a dark layer of knowledge beneath their nostalgiac tone--too many of them seem self-indulgent and self-referential, as though Gilchrist is writing only for readers familiar with her established characters. So although we are glad to read the three tales that harken back to the shared childhoods of Rhoda, Dudley and Saint John, the fourth, ``Mexico,'' in which they are jaded adults, is a disappointment. (Much married and divorced, Rhoda, who once was so fascinating, seems tasteless and self-absorbed.) Nora Jane returns in the title story and two others, and these are vivified by the debut of a new character, Lin Tan Sing, a Chinese medical student and geneticist who has analyzed Nora's amniocentesis, and predicts the futures of her unborn twins; in one of the stories, Nora gives birth to the twins in gory detail. In two other tales, unfortunately histrionic and foolishly sentimental, Barrett Clare discovers her real mother. Gilchrist's stylistic ticks--several of her characters quote Matthew Arnold, and nearly all are obsessed with the color yellow--become somewhat exasperating in a writer with talent to burn. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

This fourth collection of 11 stories is a validation of the author's skill and versatility. Gilchrist creates new experiences for characters from earlier stories and from The Annunciation ( LJ 5/15/83), her first novel, and also creates new characters who reveal her skill in portraying character and place. The title story details the quirky courtship of Lin Tan Sing, a Chinese geneticist, and an American woman from Fayetteville, Arkansas. In another story Lin becomes a minor character who does the lab work for the protagonist's amniocentesis. Despite some contrived situations and strained connections, this collection is a worthwhile purchase for public libraries.-- Elizabeth Guiney Sandvick, North Hennepin Community Coll., Minneapolis

Library Journal