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photo
credit: Marco Soave
KenKalfus.com
Ken Kalfus is
the author of two novels, The
Commissariat of Enlightenment
and A
Disorder Peculiar to the Country,
which was a finalist for the 2006 National Book Award. He's also
published two collections of stories, Thirst
and Pu-239
and Other Russian Fantasies,
a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award.
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Short
Story Collections
Three Stories
(Madras Press, 2010)
reviewed
by Alex Thornber
PU-239 and Other Russian Fantasies
(1999)
Thirst (1998)
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Interview
with Ken Kalfus
The
Short Review:
How long did it take you to write all the stories in your collection?
Ken Kalfus: I would guess one, two
or three months each, plus revision time, over a period of years,
while taking breaks from my novels.
TSR:
Did you
have a collection in mind when you were writing them?
KK:
I like to think everything will get published at some point, and I like
to think I will keep writing stories and collecting them from time to
time. I see these three stories, collected in chapbook form, as part of
a larger collection down the road.
TSR:
How did
you choose which stories to include and in what order?
KK: These are my three most
recent short stories. They were published in Harper's Magazine and
Agni. Their order was determined by considerations of mood, voice and
content.
TSR:
What
does the word "story"
mean to you?
KK:
I'm sorry, I don't
understand the question's significance.
TSR:
Do you have a reader in mind when you write stories?
KK:
In the course of
learning how to write, an author creates in his mind the idea of the
perfect reader, the one who is most open to his interpretation of the
narrative, who is most receptive to his images, who most gets his
allusions and jokes, building her bit by bit. The invention of this
reader is never completed.
TSR: Is
there
anything you'd like to ask someone who has read your collection,
anything at all?
KK:
Are you that reader?
TSR: How does
it feel knowing that people are buying your book?
KK: Fine.
TSR:
What are you working on now?
KK: A novel.
TSR:
What are
the three most recent short story collections you've read?
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