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Peter Gordon Stories.com
Peter Gordon is a graduate of Yale whose short
stories have appeared in Ploughshares,
The New Yorker, Glimmer Train, and elsewhere. His work has
been anthologised, awarded a Pushcart Prize and cited in The Best American Short Stories
series. He lives in Massachusetts with his wife and two sons.
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Interview
with Peter Gordon
The
Short Review:
How long did it take you to write all the stories in your collection?
Peter Gordon: Most
of the stories in the collection were written over a five year period.
A couple of the stories were previously published over a decade ago but
were extensively revised.
TSR:
Did you
have a collection in mind when you were writing them?
PG: No.
But as I began to put together the collection, it was pretty clear that
most of the stories I’ve written – and certainly the ones I thought
would best cohere as part of a unified collection – reflected similar
themes.
TSR:
How did
you choose which stories to include and in what order?
PG: I
considered over 30 published stories, and a few unpublished ones, for
the collection. My biggest goal was to create a book where the sum
total adds up to something bigger than each part. It’s like climbing a
hill one step at a time with each step affording a different view, and
then reaching the top and looking back at something that surprises you.
I left out many stories that I’m very attached to but that just didn’t
make thematic sense as part of the collection. As for the order, I
fiddled around with that quite a bit, and ultimately ordered the
stories based largely on my own sense of natural progression as well as
suggestions from the publisher.
TSR:
What
does the word "story"
mean to you?
PG:
It means going on a journey, however brief, propelled by people, ideas
and language that give you a fresh glimpse of what it means to be human.
TSR:
Do you have a reader in mind when you write stories?
PG:
The only reader I have in mind is someone who is open to the experience
of reading serious fiction, in whatever mode or style that experience
is delivered.
TSR: Is
there
anything you'd like to ask someone who has read your collection,
anything at all?
PG: Do
you ever think about the stories – perhaps one story, or even one image
– that relates in some way to the particular circumstances of your own
life?
TSR:
How does
it feel knowing that people are buying your book?
PG:
It’s a wonderful, wonderful feeling. I love thinking about the fact
that the book is out there in different places and in the hands of
different people.
TSR:
What are you working on now?
PG: I’m working on a cycle of new stories that are designed to ultimately add up to a collection.
TSR:
What are
the three most recent short story collections you've read?
PG: Irish Girl, by Tim Johnston. If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This, by Robin Black. Reasons for and Advantages of Breathing, by Lydia Peelle. I enjoyed them all.
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