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| Publishers: |
ISBN: 0375405054 - Alfred A. Knopf - 2002 (Hardcover)
ISBN: 0436205947 - Secker & Warburg (UK) - 2002
(Paperback)
ISBN: 0375704523 - Vintage - 2003 (Paperback)
ISBN: 0786251948 - Thorndike Press - 2003
(Hardcover)
ISBN: 0099443686 - Random House - 2003 (Paperback) |
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| Description: |
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In his second collection of short
fiction, 'Great Dream of Heaven,' Pulitzer Prize-winning
playwright Sam Shepard offers a resonant examination of
interpersonal crisis and revelation in 18 lean tales. At
times humorous, tense, and tragic, these stories often
focus on the elusive search for connection and
understanding, visiting characters at key moments of
consciousness or detachment. Seized by compulsion or
repression, many in this work disengage from life by
assuming familiar roles or patterns. In "The Stout of
Heart," a man obsessed with horse breeding locks himself
in his room annually to study catalogues, shutting out
his family, while in "An Unfair Question," another man's
frustration with his role as husband and father surfaces
when he engages a party guest in friendly conversation
and ends up holding her at gunpoint. These stories
achieve an understated impact due in part to Shepard's
knack for acute dialogue and descriptions that reveal
his dramatist's eye for sparse but evocative detail. In
"Living the Sign," a handmade sign in a fast food
restaurant inspires a man to self-awareness, though he
finds that its teenage creator is only dimly aware of
its significance. "The Remedy Man," the collection's
first and strongest story, tells of a guarded boy who
comes to realize his potential by helping E.V., the
road-worn title character (a fixer of bad horses), break
a stallion. "Horse is just like a human being," E.V.
tells him. "He's just gotta know his limits. Once he
finds that out he's a happy camper." Offering many such
moments of distilled wisdom, the stories in Great Dream
of Heaven are no less brief but memorable encounters.
(Source: Amazon.com) The cover of the
book is actually a family photograph showing Sam and his
son Walker. |
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| Reviews |
"These stories - some of them only a couple of pages
- slide down as sweetly as Jack Daniels and Coke,
but are a little more satisfying."
...Peter Bacon, The Birmingham Post
"Shepard's mastery as a short story writer reflects
his gifts as both playwright and actor."
...Booklist
"Though better known as a playwright, Shepard is
also an accomplished narrative writer, as these
brief and intensely focused tales attest. Rendering
small events with poetic compression, the author
typically zeroes in on lonely souls whose thoughts
reveal how everyday life intersects with truths as
large as the Western landscape." ...Scott
Veale, NY Times
"Shepard is adept at point-of-view, uses words
wisely, and returns to many past themes in these
stories — the value of persistence, the struggle to
understand relationships, attraction and regret, and
the ruthless nature of wide-open country that still
trumps urban life. He plies his particular brand of
brilliance with a flair for the flinty."
...Wolf Schneider, The Sante Fe New Mexican
"Sam Shepard's new collection of stories, 'Great
Dream of Heaven,' is an unalloyed triumph."
...Frank J. Baldaro, American Theatre
"While he's justly famous as a playwright, Shepard
is more than a dabbler in prose fiction. The best
stories in 'Great Dream of Heaven' can stand up to
those of any wunderkind in the New Yorker."
...Jim Higgins, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
"When it resists self-explication and lets the
lonely silences breathe, Shepard's prose recalls a
smokier Raymond Carver -- and where he's calling
from is a motel on the highway headed out of town."
...Scott Brown, Entertainment Weekly
"Shepard demonstrates that his talents aren't
restricted to playwriting and acting...
Shepard's dialogue is as sharp as you'd expect, but
one of his real strengths is the feel of space he
gives to his stories, not just because of the
settings - deserts, isolated towns and long, empty
roads - but because of what's left unsaid."
...Simon Beckett, BBC
"These sketches are simple but deeply intuitive and
true." ...Publisher's Weekly
"This new collection of 18 stories by Sam Shepard
reveals - yet again - the multi-faceted talents of a
writer who may be better known for his dramas or for
his acting." ...Richmond Times-Dispatch
"Shepard does to fiction what a good espresso
machine does to coffee -- he makes it dense, and he
makes it fast. He doesn't give up much in the
process. The themes are vintage Shepard."
...Seattle Times
"In 'Great Dream of Heaven,' the playwright-actor
crafts fine short stories." ...The Oregonian
"With 45 plays to his credit, Sam Shepard would be
excused if he took a break now and then, but he
appears to have nothing of the kind in mind. Between
plays and movies, he writes fiction. His new
collection of 18 tales, 'Great Dream of Heaven, ' is
terse, tough, fine reading."
...Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"These new stories from the prize-winning playwright
should not be missed." ...Library Journal
"Shepard largely eschews the lazy indulgences of the
dilettante and mostly succeeds in putting his gifts
as a playwright to fine and understated use in his
short fiction. He has, as expected, a terrific ear
for dialogue and an eye for telling details that is
missing in much modern fiction. In their careful
craft and mysterious revelations, the best stories
in 'Great Dream of Heaven' recall no one so much as
the greatest of literary crossover artists,
Chekhov." ...Brad Zellar, Minneapolis Star
Tribune
"Strong emotions . . . make a Sam Shepard story as
familiar as an old leather saddle. . . . Shepard’s
terse, lyrical style excels. . . . There’s something
broadly American . . . about the frustrations his
characters feel." ...San Francisco Chronicle
"His playwriting skills . . . make his fiction
shimmer with a brutal clarity." ...Los
Angeles Times Book Review
"Collections like this can sometimes be a pretty
mixed bag but with the confident hand of Shepard you
are guaranteed a fascinating and alluring read.
Highly recommended." ...Mike Atherton, Bookslut.com
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