The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis

In place of a blurb, here is but one (very short) story from the wonderful Lydia Davis, a story-teller celebrated for her emotional acuity, her formal inventiveness, and her ability to capture the human mind in overdrive:- It is extraordinary, says one woman.It is extraordinary, says the other. Find out why fellow authors like Ali Smith, Dave Eggers, Jonathan Franzen love her writing so much in this landmark collection of all of her stories to date from across three decades. And why James Wood described this book in the New Yorker as a body of work probably unique in American writing and one of the great, strange American literary contributions. a rich volume…a deeply involving, extraordinary book. The Times This extended and constantly entertaining demonstration of Lydia Daviss range and acuteness ought to create a large, intelligent audience. Philip Hensher Spectator A revelation. Daviss stories are best read not in isolation from one another but cumulatively; the more you read her, the more you come to appreciate her singular mindset. The other great thing about Daviss fiction - which again takes time to appreciate - is how funny it is. From an oblique revenge fantasy such as Idea for a Short Documentary Film to the marvellously surreal The Race of the Patient Motorcyclists, which imagines a motorbike race where the object is to go as slowly as possible, Daviss humour is of a kind to make you simultaneously laugh and think. Her work, like that of Kafka - whom she cites as her biggest influence - is a semi-comic, semi-tragic investigation of the oddness of existence. It is experimental writing at its best. Will Skidelsky - The Observer- This collection seems to have been received with more critical praise than any other piece of fiction published in the US in 2009 London Review of Books