This is the best short story I’ve ever read. There, I’ve said it. I don’t want to give too much away about what happens, but it’s the story of Anders, am embittered literary critic, who was once generous and hopeful. There’s an extraordinary section in which Wolff slows time down, but what’s really remarkable about this story is how he gives us Anders’ entire life and significant relationships in just a few pages. It has the most perfectly placed adjective I can think of – check out that “sullen” four pages in. And the ending – oh my god. A story for anyone who has sometimes wondered whether they love books more than life.
First published in The New Yorker, 1995, and available to read online here. Collected in Our Story Begins, Bloomsbury, 2008
A Personal Anthology 