The Collected Stories of Peter Taylor (Contemporary American Fiction)

Rating:
Summary: Amazing, under-read writer
Review: Peter Taylor is a master stylist, writing taught, compelling Southern fiction. It is surprising he's not more widely read.

Rating:
Summary: Caveat emptor
Review: There's no denying that Taylor is a very good writer of short stories, but this selection will not do, for the serious reader, scholar, or intrigued novice. There is no documentation whatsoever! One does not know, for example, when these stories were written, where they were first published, who made the selection and on what basis. The last complaint is made even more egregious by the misleading title: this book does not "collect" all of Taylor's stories. Certainly, a preface or introduction would have been helpful. And what's with the photo of a southern plantation on the cover? These stories are set in a post-bellum, mostly urban South. Peter Taylor deserves better than this shoddy, sloppy presentation. So do his readers.

Rating:
Summary: A Master's Masterpieces: Southern, thoughtful, modern, homey
Review: This is my favorite compilation of short stories. The best are Dean of Men, At the Drugstore, Miss Leonora When Last Seen, and First Heat, which is the best fictional representation of the political mind ever written. The stories represent the many faces of the shifts in the Southern and American cultures that have troubled and consumed us for most of the century. To know thyself, know Peter Taylor.