I thought my father was God and other true tales from the National Story Project / edited and introduced by Paul Auster ; Nelly Reifler, assistant editor.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Auster, Paul, 1947-2024.

Reifler, Nelly.

National Story Project (U.S.)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Social conditions.

United States--Social life and customs--20th century--Anecdotes.

United States.

Manners and customs.

United States--Social conditions--1945---Anecdotes.

United States--Biography--Anecdotes.

Oral history.

Genre:

Anecdotes.

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xxi, 383 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Henry Holt, 2001.

Summary:

When Paul Auster and NPR's Weekend All Things Considered introduced the National Story Project, the response was overwhelming. Not only was the monthly show a critical success but the volume of submissions was astounding. Letters, e-mails, and faxes poured in on a daily basis -- more than four thousand of them by the time the project celebrated its first birthday. Everyone, it seemed, had a story to tell.

I Thought My Father Was God gathers 180 of these personal, true-life accounts in a single, powerful volume. They come from people of all ages, backgrounds, and walks of life. Half of the contributors are men; half are women. They live in cities, suburbs, and rural areas, and they come from forty-two different states. Most of the stories are short, vivid bits of narrative, combining the ordinary and the extraordinary; most describe a single incident in the writer's life. Some are funny, like the story of how a Ku Klux Klan member's beloved dog rushed out into the street during the annual KKK parade and unmasked his owner as the whole town looked on. Some are mysterious, like the story of a woman who watched a white chicken walk purposefully down a street in Portland, Oregon, hop up some porch steps, knock on the door -- and calmly enter the house. Many involve the closing of a loop, like the one about the woman who lost her mother's ashes in a burglary and recovered them five years later from the mortuary of a local church.

Hilarious blunders, wrenching coincidences, brushes with death, miraculous encounters, improbable ironies, premonitions, sorrows, pains, dreams -- this singular collection encompasses an extraordinary range of settings, time periods, and subjects. A testament to the important role story-telling plays in all our lives, I Thought My Father Was God offers a rare glimpse into the American soul.

Contents:

Animals

The Chicken / Linda Elegant 3

Rascal / Yale Huffman 4

The Yellow Butterfly / Simonette Jackson 6

Python / Judith Beth Cohen 7

Pooh / Patricia L. Lambert 9

New York Stray / Edith S. Marks 11

Pork Chop / Eric Wynn 12

B / Suzanne Stroh 14

Two Loves / Will Coffey 16

Rabbit Story / Barry Foy 17

Carolina / Kelly O'Neill 19

Andy and the Snake / Ron Fabian 21

Blue Skies / Corki Stewart 24

Exposure / Michael Oppenheimer 25

Vertigo / Janet Schmidt Zupan 27

Objects

Star and Chain / Steve Lacheen 33

Radio Gypsy / Bill Calm 34

A Bicycle Story / Edith Riemer 36

Grandmother's China / Kristine Lundquist 39

The Bass / Mark Snyder 41

Mother's Watch / Raymond Barry 44

Case Closed / Jerry Hoke 46

The Photo / Beverly Peterson 47

MS. Found in an Attic / Marcus Rosenbaum 49

Tempo Primo / Lauren Shapiro 50

A Lesson Not Learned / Carol Sherman-Jones 52

A Family Christmas / Don Graves 54

My Rocking Chair / Dick Bain 55

The Unicycle / Gordon Lee Stelter 57

Moccasins / Fr. Keith Clark 59

The Striped Pen / Robert M. Rock 61

The Doll / Robert McGee 63

The Videotape / Marie Johnson 66

The Purse / Barbara Hudin 68

A Gift of Gold / John Keith 70

Families

Rainout / Stan Benkoski 75

Isolation / Lucy Hayden 76

Connections / Miriam Rosenzweig 78

The Wednesday Before Christmas / Jack Fear 80

How My Father Lost His Job / Fred Muratori 82

Danny Kowalski / Charlie Peters 85

Revenge / Eric Brotman 87

Chris / Edwina Portelle Romero 89

Put Your Little Foot / Anna Thorson 92

Aunt Myrtle / Laura Braughton Waters 95

American Odyssey / Jane Adams 97

A Plate of Peas / Rick Beyer 99

Wash Guilt / Heather Atwood 101

Double Sadness / Martha Russell Hsu 103

A Picture of Life / Jeanine Mankins 106

Margie / Christine Kravetz 109

One Thousand Dollars / I. Z. 111

Taking Leave / Joe Miceli 114

Act of Memory / Mary Grace Dembeck 120

Slapstick

Bicoastal / Beth Kivel 125

A Felt Fedora / Joan Wilkins Stone 126

Man vs. Coat / Mel Singer 127

That's Entertainment / Nancy Wilson 128

The Cake / G. B. 129

Riding with Andy / Jim Furlong 131

Sophisticated Lady / Joan Vanden Heuvel 132

My First Day in Priest Clothes / Eugene O'Brien 133

Jewish Cowboy / Jennifer Pye 134

How to Win Friends and Influence People / Jerry Yellin 135

Your Father Has the Hay Fever / Tony Powell 136

Lee Ann and Holly Ann / Holly A. Heffelbower 139

Why I Am Antifur / Freddie Levin 140

Airport Story / Randy Welch 142

Tears and Flapdoodle / Alice Owens-Johnson 144

The Club Car / John Flannelly 146

Bronx Cheer / Joe Rizzo 148

One Day in Higley / Carl Brooksby 150

Strangers

Dancing on Seventy-fourth Street / Catherine Austin Alexander 153

A Conversation with Bill / John Brawley 154

Greyhounding / Beth Twiggar Goff 156

A Little Story about New York / Dana T. Payne 159

My Mistake / Ludlow Perry 162

No Forwarding Address / Josh Dorman 164

The New Girl / Marc Mitchell 165

The Iceman of Market Street / R. C. Van Kooy 168

Me and the Babe / Saul Isler 171

Lives of the Poets / Clayton Eshleman 172

Land of the Lost / Erica Hagen 173

Rainbow / Katie Letcher Lyle 175

Rescued by God / Mary Ann Garrett 177

My Story / Rachel Watson 179

Small World / Paul K. Humiston 183

Christmas Morning, 1949 / Sylvia Seymour Akin 186

Brooklyn Roberts / Adolph Lopez 188

$1,380 per Night, Double Occupancy / Bruce Edward Hall 190

A Shot in the Light / Lion Goodman 195

Snow / Juliana C. Nash 202

War

The Fastest Man in the Union Army / Michael Kuretich 207

Christmas, 1862 / Grace Sale Wilson 208

Mount Grappa / Mary Parsons Burkett 210

Savenay / Harold Tapper 212

Fifty Years Later / Gisela Cloos Evitt 213

He Was the Same Age as My Sister / Mieke C. Malandra 214

Betting on Uncle Louie / Jeanne W. Halpern 216

The Ten-Goal Player / Paul Ebeltoft 218

The Last Hand / Bill Helmantoler 220

August 1945 / Robert C. North, Dorothy North 222

One Autumn Afternoon / Willa Parks Ward 224

I Thought My Father Was God / Robert Winnie 226

The Celebration / Reginald Thayer 228

Christmas, 1945 / Lloyd Hustvedt 230

A Trunk Full of Memories / Morton N. Cohen 232

A Walk in the Sun / Donald Zucker 235

A Shot in the Dark / David Ayres 237

Confessions of a Mouseketeer / Doreen Tracey 239

Forever / Maria Barcelona 241

Utah, 1975 / Steve Hale 243

Love

What If? / Theodore Lustig 247

The Mysteries of Tortellini / Kristina Streeter 249

An Involuntary Assistant / C. W. Schmitt 251

The Plot / Bev Ford 253

Mathematical Aphrodisiac / Alex Galt 255

Table for Two / Lori Peikoff 257

Suzy's Choosy / Suzanne Druehl 259

Top Button / Earl Roberts 260

Lace Gloves / Karen Cycon Dermody 262

Susan's Greetings / Susan Sprague 263

Edith / Bill Froke 264

Souls Fly Away / Laura McHugh 267

Awaiting Delivery / John Wiley 269

The Day Paul and I Flew the Kite / Ann Davis 270

A Lesson in Love / Alvin Rosser 272

Ballerina / Nicolas Wieder 274

The Fortune Cookie / Sharli Land-Polanco 276

Death

Ashes / Sara Wilson 279

Harrisburg / Randee Rosenfeld 281

Something to Think About / P. Rohmann 283

Good Night / Ellise Rossen 285

Charlie the Tree Killer / Frank Young 287

Dead Man's Bluff / Joel Einschlag 288

My Best Friend / Olga Hardman 290

I Didn't Know / Linda Marine 291

Cardiac Arrests / Sherwin Waldman 293

Grandmother's Funeral / Martha Duncan 294

High Street / Judith Englander 296

A Failed Execution / David Anderson 297

The Ghost / G. A. Gonzalez 299

Heart Surgery / Dr. G. 301

The Crying Place / Tim Gibson 302

Lee / Jodie Walters 303

South Dakota / Nancy Peavy 305

Connecting with Phil / Tom Sellew 308

The Letter / Brian F. McGee 310

Dress Rehearsal / Ellen Powell 312

The Anonymous Deciding Factor / Hollie Caldwell Campanella 315

Dreams

4:05 A.M. / Matthew Menary 319

In the Middle of the Night / Steve Harper 320

Blood / James Sharpsteen 321

T321 Interpretation of Dreams / V. Ferguson-Stewart 322

Half-Ball / Jack Edmonston 323

Friday Night / Steve Hodgman 325

Farrell / Stew Schneider 327

"Jill," / Kara Husson 329

D-day / Richard R. Rosman 330

The Wall / Vicky Johnson 331

Heaven / Grace Fichtelberg 333

My Father's Dream / Mary McCallum 335

Parallel Lives / Timothy Ackerman 337

Anna May / Jeff Raper 340

Long Time Gone / Lynn Duvall 342

Meditations

Sewing Lessons / Donna M. Bronner 347

Sunday Drive / Bob Ayers 350

Mayonnaise Sandwiches / Thomas Corrado 354

Seaside / Tanya Collins 355

After a Long Winter / Eileen O'Hara 358

Martini with a Twist / Dede Ryan 359

Nowhere / John Howze 362

Where in the World Is Era Rose Rodosta? / Carolyn Brasher 363

Peter / Mark Gover 365

Early Arithmetic / Sandra Waller 368

Reflections on a Hubcap / Roger Brinkerhoff 371

Homeless in Prescott, Arizona / B. C. 373

Being There / Tim Clancy 376

An Average Sadness / Ameni Rozsa 378.

Notes:

Includes index.

ISBN:

0805067140

OCLC:

45800022