The Kentucky stories / Joe Ashby Porter.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Porter, Joseph A., 1942-2019, author.

Contributor:

Mathews, Harry, 1930-2017, former owner.

Johns Hopkins University. Press, publisher.

Gotham Book Mart Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Harry Mathews Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Series:

Johns Hopkins, poetry and fiction

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Kentucky--Social life and customs--Fiction.

Kentucky.

Manners and customs.

Genre:

Fiction.

Short stories.

Penn Provenance:

Gotham Book Mart (former owner) (Gotham Book Mart Collection copy)

Mathews, Harry, 1930-2017 (inscription) (Mathews copy)

Porter, Joseph A., 1942- (autograph) (Mathews copy)

Physical Description:

ix pages, 1 unnumbered page, 128 pages, 4 unnumbered pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983.

Summary:

In these eight stories, the state of Kentucky becomes a state of mind--a semi-mythical realm of the heart's fidelities and predilections, of violence, fear, and love. It is a land where the commonplace takes on a new and marvelous glow as quixotic individuals explore the enduring puzzles of human existence.

Joe Ashby Porter brings a distinctive freshness to universal themes: the commerce of love and abandonment, the sometimes mysterious influence of a place on events, the relationship between pride, humility, and justice, and the rewards of allegiance and persistence. His characters--innocents all--resolutely pursue their life's goals through picaresque tales that are continually unfolding from surprise to surprise. From the urbane twins of "In the Mind's Eye" to the isolated mountain family of "A Child of the Heart," Porter's protagonists share a stubborn optimism and trust and a readiness to see things through to their conclusion.

In Porter's half-lost and half-remembered Kentucky, only fiction is true. He beckons the reader with all the promised adventure and exhilaration that drew Daniel Boone to a similarly unexplored land two centuries ago.

Contents:

Bowling Green

Murder at the Sweet Variety

A child of the heart

The vacation

Nadine, the supermarket, the story ends

In the mind's eye

Bright glances

Yours.

Local Notes:

Gotham Book Mart Collection copy has dustjacket retained.

Kislak Center Harry Mathews Collection copy presented to the Penn Libraries in 2018 by Harry Mathews.

Harry Mathews Collection copy has inscription: "11/96 for Harry with love and admiration --Joe"

Harry Mathews Collection copy retains dustjacket.

ISBN:

0801830087

9780801830082

OCLC:

9111681