Breaking into Print

by Henry, DeWitt

• ISBN13: 9780807062357
• ISBN10: 0807062359
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2000-04-21
• Publisher: Beacon Press

Summary

BREAKING INTO PRINT, a collection of famous author's first or very early fiction as it appeared in the prizewinning journal PLOUGHSHARES, presents a broad range of writing styles and some surprising narrative leaps. For example, a young man writes from the perspective of an elderly women, and a Caucasian woman writes from the point of view of a black man. BREAKING INTO PRINT includes some of the most lauded fiction writers today, such as Tim O'Brien, Howard Norman, Sue Miller, Gina Berriault, David Gates, Carolyn Chute, Carolyn Ferrell, and Mona Simpson. Headnotes to each story discuss how the authors received their first break, and then shaped a successful writing career. DeWitt Henry interleafs "Shoptalk" from PLOUGHSHARES throughout the book including reflections on the writing life from James Carroll, Richard Yates, Tobias Wolff, and Rosellen Brown. The book also contains two annotated appendices, rich with lists of web sites and links for new writers in addtion to MFA programs and writers' conferences, books about careers in writing, and an extensive slate of literary magazines and prize anthologies.

Author Biography

DeWitt Henry is an essayist and fiction writer. The founding editor of Ploughshares literary magazine, he teaches writing at Emerson College in Boston.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Kept Promises	ix
Going After Cacciato	1	(28)
Tim O'Brien
Gemcrack	29	(14)
Jayne Anne Phillips
Expensive Gifts	43	(11)
Sue Miller
``Ollie, Oh...''	54	(20)
Carolyn Chute
A Dark Night	74	(15)
Edward P. Jones
After Rosa Parks	89	(26)
Janet Desaulniers
Approximations	115	(16)
Mona Simpson
Unicycle	131	(14)
Howard Norman
Little White Sister	145	(19)
Melanie Rae Thon
Displacement	164	(20)
David Wong Louie
Back	184	(8)
Susan Straight
Mary in the Mountains	192	(17)
Christopher Tilghman
A Wronged Husband	209	(18)
David Gates
Proper Library	227	(21)
Carolyn Ferrell
The Infinite Passion of Expectation	248	(35)
Gina Berriault
Resources for Writers on Contemporary Writing Careers and the Writing Life	261	(11)
The Adventure: Recommended Literary Magazines for Short Fiction	272	(11)
Credits	283	(2)
Acknowledgments	285