Most Popular Books by GRACE PALEY

The collected poems--some never previously published--of one of our best-loved, most respected authors. Combining Grace Paley''s four previous collections and new unpublished work, Begin Again traces the career of this direct, attentive, never predictable poet. Whether she describes the vicissitudes and pleasures of life in New York City or the hard beauty of her adoptive rural Vermont, whether she celebrates the blessings of friendship or protests against social injustice, her poems brim with the compassion and tough good humor that have made her stories and essays famous.

Grace Paley''s stature among writers of short fiction was established by her first collection, The Little Disturbances of Man (1959), and reconfirmed with the publication of Enormous Changes at the Last Minute in 1974. This new book, a selection from her work over the past ten years, is appropriately titled Later the Same Day: Paley''s concerns, or themes, have changed only as much as life''s constants change with the passage of time. Those characters familiar to readers of her previous volumes have grown older but are still deeply involved with their parents, their lovers and friends, and their children--the past, present, and future--and the welfare of the wider community. We meet the neighborhood druggist with his tale of familiar heartbreak and small-time bigotry ("Zagrowsky Tells"); a willful father in Puerto Rico who cannot accept the obvious loss of his child by kidnapping ("In the Garden"); a black woman who mourns the fact that her daughter, "born in good cheer," has become only "busy and broad" ("Lavinia: An Old Story")'' a visitor from China whose concern is about the children, how to raise them" (The Expensive Moment:); a craftsman whose beautiful creation is stillborn ("This is a Story about My Friend George, the Toy Inventor"). The seenteen stories in Later the Same Day are marked by Paley''s low-keyed humor, her rich but economical use of language, and her seemingly endless capacity for empathy. Their substance--the persistence of human and political concerns, despite practical pressures--subtly overwhelms less important matters.

Whether writing about relationships, sexy little girls, loving and bickering couples, angry suburbanites, frustrated job-seekers, or Jewish children performing a Christmas play, Grace Paley captures the loneliness, poignancy, and humor of the human experience with matchless style in this book of short stories. "Fresh and vigorous...Mrs. Paley’s view of life is her own."--The New Yorker "The glad tidings from this reviewer’s corner are of the appearance of a [writer] possessed of an all-too-infrequent literary virtue--the comic vision."--The New York Times

Two married writers express their shared activism in a surprising range of styles and voices.

At long last, here are all of Grace Paley''s classic stories collected in one volume. From her first book, The Little Disturbances of Man, published in 1959, to Enormous Changes at the Last Minute (1974) and Later the Same Day (1985), Grace Paley''s quirky, boisterous characters and rich use of language have won her readers'' hearts and secured her place as one of America''s most accomplished writers. Grace Paley''s stories are united by her signature interweaving of personal and political truths, by her extraordinary capacity for empathy, and by her pointed, funny depiction a the small and large events that make up city life. As her work progresses, we encounter many of the same characters and revisit the same sites, bearing witness to a community as it develops and matures, becoming part ourselves of a dense and vital world that is singular yet achingly familiar.

In Enormous Changes at the Last Minute, originally published in 1974, Grace Paley "makes the novel as a form seem virtually redundant" (Angela Carter, London Review of Books). Her stories here capture "the itch of the city, love between parents and children" and "the cutting edge of combat" (Lis Harris, The New York Times Book Review). In this collection of seventeen stories, she creates a "solid and vital fictional world, cross-referenced and dense with life" (Walter Clemons, Newsweek).

FROM THE PULITZER PRIZE AND NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST, GRACE PALEY ''Grace Paley''s is exceptional'' KASIA BODDY, GUARDIAN ''Her unladylike gutsiness and friendliness are nonpareil'' EDMUND WHITE, OBSERVER ''They are stories full of the stories we all tell and live by, tall stories as well as short'' SALMAN RUSHDIE Here are all Grace Paley''s classic stories in one volume. From her first book The Little Disturbances of Man (1959) to Enormous Changes at the Last Minute (1974) and Later the Same Day (1985), Grace Paley''s quirky, boisterous characters and rich use of language have won her readers'' hearts and secured her place as one of America''s most accomplished short story writers. Her stories are united by her signature interweaving of personal and political truths, her extraordinary capacity for empathy and her pointed depiction of the small and large events that make up daily life.

Just before her death in 2007 at the age of 84, Paley completed this wise and poignant book of poems. Mournful and nostalgic, but also ruefully funny and full of love, "Fidelity" is her passionate and haunting elegy for the life she was leaving behind.

This rich and multifaceted collection is Grace Paley''s vivid record of her life. As close to an autobiography as anything we are likely to have from this quintessentially American writer, Just As I Thought gives us a chance to see Paley not only as a writer and "troublemaker" but also as a daughter, sister, mother, and grandmother. Through her descriptions of her childhood in the Bronx and her experiences as an antiwar activist to her lectures on writing and her recollections of other writers, these pieces are always alive with Paley''s inimitable voice, humor, and wisdom.

One of The New Yorker''s "Books We Loved in 2017" A Grace Paley Reader compiles a selection of Paley’s writing across genres, showcasing her breadth of work as well as her extraordinary insight and brilliant economy of words. "A writer like Paley," writes George Saunders, “comes along and brightens language up again, takes it aside and gives it a pep talk, sends it back renewed, so it can do its job, which is to wake us up.” Best known for her inimitable short stories, Grace Paley was also an enormously talented essayist and poet, as well as a fierce activist. She was a tireless member of the antiwar movement, the civil rights movement, the tenants’ rights movement, the anti-nuclear-power movement, and the Women’s Pentagon Action, among other causes, and proved herself to be a passionate citizen of each of her communities—New York City and rural Vermont.

With firm authority Paley discusses topics of wide range, many of which she describes as personal discoveries. She includes politics and environmentalism, the family and human relationships, the impact of background and education, the moral importance of community, feminism and women''s liberation, the sexual self and role enforcement, America''s need for communality and women''s creative response to it, the art of teaching, and the importance of friendship.

Like her celebrated short fiction, Paley''s poems are street-smart yet vulnerable, full of earthy observations and a refreshing bemusement; they display a wonderful ear for the rhythm of the speech of her native New York, where "talk is cheap but comes in variety." She "tells the story of the stories" told by children and grandmothers, which resonate "in the mind''s ear" as "talk talk talk/the tickling tongue/of strangers." These poems are rich with the fullness of everyday life: the doings of Paley''s Greenwich Village neighborhood, summers in Vermont, fulltime political activism, memories of family and friends. Paley''s wonderful economy with words recalls William Carlos Williams and the objectivist poets. ISBN 0-88448-098-4: $19.95.

“While nearly every Jewish female reader will find herself reflected here, the poignancy of these stories will be felt by readers of all ethnicities.”—Library Journal Chicken soup and Barbra Streisand, lost fathers and first dates, Hebrew school and Queen Esther, seders and seductions. In this insightful, original anthology, forty-five American Jewish writers explore the richness of their shared heritage, from the tragic to the trivial. In memoirs, fiction, and poetry new and favorite writers like Grace Paley, Amy Bloom, Vivian Gornick, and Laura Cunningham brilliantly reveal the challenges of coming of age as a Jewish woman in America today. What have we lost that our mothers and grandmothers had? Do we still feel close ties to family and community? Can we make a decent pot roast? This spirited collection is full of humor and wisdom, memory and affection—and there isn’t a Jewish girl (nice or otherwise) who won’t find herself reflected in these vibrant pages.

Presenting mathematical ideas of peoples from a variety of small-scale and traditional cultures, this book humanizes our view of mathematics and expands our conception of what is mathematical.

    This first collaboration of two long-time feminist and antiwar activists is a wonderful melding of word and image that creates a powerful call for world peace. Paley''s poems and short fiction and William''s vivid watercolors depict the beauty and dignity of "ordinary" lives from El Salvador to the Bronx, from New Hampshire to Vietnam. Scenes and stories of domestic life, solitude, and nature are interspersed with heart-wrenching images of women widowed and children crippled by war and incarcerated by urban poverty, Here, too, are stories and paintings of protest, joyous and defiant.

A teacher, activist, feminist and masterful writer of short fiction and essays, Paley was also an accomplished poet. Combining her two previous collections with unpublished work, Begin Again traces the career of a direct, attentive, and always unpredictable poet. Whether describing the vicissitudes of life in New York City or the hard beauty of rural Vermont, whether celebrating the blessings of friendship or protesting against social injustice, her poems brim with compassion and tough good humour.

Dreamer in a Dead Language is a story from Pulitzer Prize finalist Grace Paley...

«I racconti di Grace Paley sono fra i tesori della letteratura americana contemporanea: nessuno meglio di lei è riuscito a catturare lo spirito e il ritmo della parlata di New York; nessuno è mai riuscito a osservare con piú acume e simpatia le piccole cose che costituiscono la vita di tutti i giorni». Paul Auster

Twórczość Grace Paley, pisarki, poetki, eseistki i działaczki pacyfistycznej, sytuuje się w najlepszych tradycjach amerykańskiej i światowej nowelistyki. W jej opowieściach słychać głosy z różnych klas społecznych i grup etnicznych tworzących barwną mozaikę Nowego Jorku, głównie lat pięćdziesiątych i sześćdziesiątych dwudziestego wieku. Żydzi, Irlandczycy, Włosi, Latynosi i Afroamerykanie – każdy przemawia własnym głosem, opowiadając o codziennych „małych ludzkich zawirowaniach”, ale także niecodziennych tragicznych wydarzeniach. Bohaterami i bohaterkami Paley są samotne matki na placach zabaw w Greenwich Village i w Central Parku, z dziećmi wystawionymi na towarzystwo przelotnych ojców, stopniowo coraz bardziej świadome i zaangażowane w polityczne dylematy tamtych czasów, imigranci szukający swojego miejsca w molochu wielkiego miasta przedstawionego w sposób nadzwyczaj plastyczny i intymny, ludzie w różnym wieku pochłonięci na pozór trywialną krzątaniną... Opowiadania Grace Paley, zabarwione humorem i ironią, pisane językiem na przemian potocznym i poetyckim, mimo osadzenia w konkretnym miejscu i czasie zawierają uniwersalne przesłanie, wstrząsają, wzruszają i bawią. Grace Paley (1922–2007) – amerykańska pisarka, poetka, eseistka, nauczycielka i aktywistka. Urodziła się na nowojorskim Bronksie w rodzinie żydowskich emigrantów z Rosji. Uczyła kreatywnego pisania w Sarah Lawrence College i w City College of The City University of New York. Wykładała także w Columbia University i Syracuse University. W 1980 roku została członkinią prestiżowej American Academy of Arts and Letters. Zdobyła wiele nagród literackich, w tym im. O. Henry’ego (1969) za opowiadanie Distance (Odległość) oraz imienia Edith Wharton (1986) za całokształt twórczości. Została też uhonorowana mianem „pisarki nowojorskiej”, tytułem w pełni zasłużonym, bo Nowy Jork to ukochane miasto Grace Paley, które pokazuje w różnych odsłonach.

«Una voce che non si può paragonare a nessun''altra: divertente, malinconica, semplice, energica, acuta». Susan Sontag

" Une douzaine de nouvelles qui sont d''une lecture désopilante. Des histoires de femmes de tous âges, racontées à la première personne par un écrivain qui sait raconter et qui s''est forgé un style tout à fait original et personnel. " Nicole Zand, Le Monde. " Avec Grace Paley, on ne saura jamais si le monde est un sujet de cafard ou de rigolade... Grace Paley, c''est Salinger au féminin. " Frédéric Ferney, Le Nouvel Observateur.

Im Mittelpunkt von Grace Paleys Storys steht die Stadt New York mit ihren Vororten. Ihr Figurenensemble aus Freundinnen, Liebhabern und Exmännern macht Schulpolitik und geht gegen Krieg, Rassismus und Umweltzerstörung auf die Strasse. Männer und Frauen sind älter geworden, treiben neuerdings Yoga, interessieren sich für gesunde Ernährung und unternehmen Exkursionen ''kreuz und quer durch die Hälfte der meisten beinahe-sozialistischen Länder'', nach China und zurück in die verwahrloste South Bronx. Sie müssen sich abgrenzen von den eigenen Eltern, zugleich aber behaupten gegen die nachrückenden zornig-zynischen Kinder. Dabei reden die Freundinnen über die Liebe unter den veränderten Vorzeichen des Älterwerdens und wie man es aushält, wenn ein Mann sich in eine fiktive Figur verliebt. Bei aller Selbstironie gegenüber den liebenswert verrückten Idealisten von einst sind Paleys Geschichten nie harmlos, sondern handeln von zutiefst menschlichen Themen. Grace Paley, 1922 als Tochter russisch-jüdischer Einwanderer in New York geboren, war neben ihrer schriftstellerischen Tätigkeit in der Friedens-, Frauen- und Bürgerrechtsbewegung aktiv. Sie veröffentlichte zahlreiche Shortstorys und Gedichtbände und erhielt mehrere bedeutende Auszeichnungen und Preise für ihr Lebenswerk, das vollständig in Neuübersetzungen bei Schöffling Co. erscheint. Grace Paley starb 2007 in Vermont.

Als reinen Glücksfall bezeichnete Grace Paley das Erscheinen ihres ersten Erzählungsbands DIE KLEINEN WIDRIGKEITEN DES LEBENS im Jahr 1959. Bis zum Beginn der amerikanischen Frauen-, Friedens- und Bürgerrechtsbewegung hatte die selbstbewusste New Yorker Hausfrau und Mutter ausschliesslich Gedichte geschrieben. Aber dann habe sie ihr Gehör für die Geschichten ihrer Mitmenschen entdeckt, beschrieb Paley den Wechsel zu dem Genre, für das sie berühmt wurde. Diese Erfahrungen gibt sie mit ihrem ganz eigenen, von der Sprache der jüdisch-osteuropäischen Einwanderer gefärbten Ton wieder: im Sound ihrer Generation, in schlagfertigen Wortwechseln und Szenen urbanen Lebens. "Grace Paley gehört zu einer seltenen Gattung von Schriftstellern mit einer Stimme, wie niemand sonst sie hat: komisch, traurig, bescheiden, energisch, genau", schwärmte Susan Sontag. Die Neuübersetzung der Erzählungen erschliesst erstmals Paleys lakonische Genauigkeit, ihren eigenwilligen Witz und ihren ironisch unbekümmerten Blick auf die absurden Wendungen des Alltags: "Einmal hat mir mein Mann zu Weihnachten einen Besen geschenkt. Das war nicht recht. Niemand kann mir erzählen, er hätte es nett gemeint." Grace Paley, 1922 als Tochter russisch-jüdischer Einwanderer in New York geboren, war neben ihrer schriftstellerischen Tätigkeit in der Friedens-, Frauen- und Bürgerrechtsbewegung aktiv. Sie veröffentlichte zahlreiche Shortstorys und Gedichtbände und erhielt mehrere bedeutende Auszeichnungen und Preise für ihr Lebenswerk, das jetzt vollständig in Neuübersetzungen bei Schöffling Co. erscheint. Grace Paley starb 2007 in Vermont.

Wer "Die kleinen Widrigkeiten des Lebens", den ersten Erzählungsband von Grace Paley, gelesen hat, wird sich freuen, hier einigen ihrer temperamentvollen Figuren wiederzubegegnen. Allen voran Faith, dem Alter Ego der Autorin, ihren Exmännern und Liebhabern, ihren wilden Söhnen Tonto und Richard, aber auch ihrer Nachbarin und Mietshausphilosophin Mrs. Raftery oder ihren Eltern, die inzwischen im jüdischen Altersheim leben und Faith in Gespräche über Leben und Schreiben verwickeln. Auf den Vortreppen der New Yorker Brownstones oder auf dem Spielplatz machen Frauen und Männer Politik, demonstrieren in der City Hall und im Central Park, kämpfen gegen den Atomkrieg und für Bürgerrechte; Protestsongs erklingen oder werden parodiert. Als unkonventionelle Feministin lässt Grace Paley in "Ungeheure Veränderungen in letzter Minute" Menschen jeglicher Herkunft aufeinandertreffen - in teils komischen, teils dramatischen Situationen. Grace Paley, 1922 als Tochter russisch-jüdischer Einwanderer in New York geboren, war neben ihrer schriftstellerischen Tätigkeit in der Friedens-, Frauen- und Bürgerrechtsbewegung aktiv. Sie veröffentlichte zahlreiche Shortstorys und Gedichtbände und erhielt mehrere bedeutende Auszeichnungen und Preise für ihr Lebenswerk, das jetzt vollständig in Neuübersetzungen bei Schöffling Co. erscheint. Grace Paley starb 2007 in Vermont.