Home
Richard Sullivan Prize in Short Fiction
Solitude and Other Stories

Solitude and Other Stories

by Arturo Vivante

Series: Richard Sullivan Prize in Short Fiction

214 pages, 5.50 x 8.50 in

Hardcover

Published: April 2004

ISBN 9780268043650

$20.00

BUY

Also available from

BUY

Bookshop.org Amazon Barnes and Noble Books-A-Million

Other Retailers:

Bookshop.org
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Books-A-Million

Request Review Copy

Request Exam Copy

Rights and Permissions

Description
Authors
Praise

Katherine Anne Porter Award
Richard Sullivan Prize in Short Fiction

Solitude and Other Stories represents Arturo Vivante's quest to use writing to uncover hidden truths. These twenty-four short stories—set in Italy, New England, and Canada—explore various themes, including, as the title story says, solitude. Vivante begins the narrative with a self-oblivious solitude that will become loneliness. Day after day, night after night, Vivante's narrator becomes aware of his isolation, and he decides to seek the company of others. Companionship, therefore, becomes another theme developed in these stories.

Although not explicitly autobiographical, many of these stories do have an autobiographical tone. Vivante writes about things that may have happened in his life. His stories often stem from the observation of a bright or meaningful moment, and always center on exploring the ideas and emotions of his characters.

Written with clarity, simplicity, and sincerity, Solitude and Other Stories is a lovely collection from an accomplished author.

Arturo Vivante was born in Rome in 1923 and grew up in Italy, England, and Canada. He earned a medical doctorate from Rome University in 1949, but left his medical practice in the mid-1950s when his short stories began to be published. Seventy of his short stories have appeared in the New Yorker. He has published two novels, five short-story collections, a book of poetry, essays, translations, and plays. Vivante has received many awards, including a Fulbright, an N.E.A., and a Guggenheim Fellowship, and an award from the American Academy. He lives in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

“Arturo Vivante’s stories glow with a special radiance. Solitude is a fine collection.” —Elizabeth Spencer

“No one can touch Vivante for his affectionate mix of lively story and both serious and funny sensuality. When the author himself likes life and people and nature this much, the world’s big joys and little joys spring up in any reader. There isn’t a dud in the lot, and several of this collection are extraordinary. Vivante is just plain more affectionate toward the world than most story tellers. The book is incandescent all through.” —Carol Bly

"In Solitude and Other Stories, Vivante muses on the essential loneliness of our human existence and our yearning for connection. He describes with delicacy and passion those precious moments when we reach out to another person, or, in some cases, to another creature of nature, and there is a vivid response. Vivante is a master of capturing the essence of a moment. Vivante's stories shine with intensity and passion; they tell the stories of the human heart in prose that is lyrical and luminous." —Los Angeles Times