I had a lovely surprise this morning when I woke up to a Tweet from @BristolPrize about a blog post by Professor Charles May: 'Carys Bray and Carol Shields: Whimsy and Artifice'.Professor May writes a blog called Reading the Short Story. He is one of the leading literary scholars of the short story and has published numerous books on the subject including Edgar Allan Poe: A Study of the Short Fiction (1993), New Short Story Theories (1994), The Short Story: The Reality of Artifice (1995), and Critical Survey of Short Fiction (2001).
I mailed a copy of Sweet Home to Professor May earlier this year. I didn't expect a response because I know how busy academics are (even, or perhaps especially, retired academics). So I was delighted to read Professor May's piece about Sweet Home and the short stories of Carol Shields.
Very cool. Saw that this morning as I follow Professor May's blog. Great stuff. His post is in my Pocket list to read as soon as I've read your collection. Which is next on my short fiction too read pile btw.
ReplyDeleteThanks Dan, hope you enjoy it!
ReplyDeleteI thoroughly enjoyed your stories, Carys, in all their settings - settings I found to be recognisable and earth-set, so that what Professor May describes as whimsy, actually, I felt as the very reality of my mundane motherly experience where there the wonderful emerges sparkling from the commonplace.
ReplyDeleteThanks Rachel. I was so excited to read my name next to Carols Shields' name in the title - I should probably go back and read Professor May's piece again now that I've calmed down :)
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