Most Popular Books by Tobias Wolff

One of the sinuous and subtly crafted stories in Tobias Wolff''s new collection--his first in eleven years--begins with a man biting a dog. The fact that Wolff is reversing familiar expectations is only half the point. The other half is that Wolff makes the reversal seem inevitable: the dog has attacked his protagonist''s young daughter. And everywhere in The Night in Question, we are reminded that truth is deceptive, volatile, and often the last thing we want to know. A young reporter writes an obituary only to be fired when its subject walks into his office, very much alive. A soldier in Vietnam goads his lieutenant into sending him on increasingly dangerous missions. An impecunious mother and son go window-shopping for a domesticity that is forever beyond their grasp. Seamless, ironic, dizzying in their emotional aptness, these fifteen stories deliver small, exquisite shocks that leave us feeling invigorated and intensely alive.

The protagonist of Tobias Wolff’s shrewdly—and at times devastatingly—observed first novel is a boy at an elite prep school in 1960. He is an outsider who has learned to mimic the negligent manner of his more privileged classmates. Like many of them, he wants more than anything on earth to become a writer. But to do that he must first learn to tell the truth about himself. The agency of revelation is the school literary contest, whose winner will be awarded an audience with the most legendary writer of his time. As the fever of competition infects the boy and his classmates, fraying alliances, exposing weaknesses, Old School explores the ensuing deceptions and betrayals with an unblinking eye and a bottomless store of empathy. The result is further evidence that Wolff is an authentic American master.

Whether he is evoking the blind carnage of the Tet offensive, the theatrics of his fellow Americans, or the unraveling of his own illusions, Wolff brings to this work the same uncanny eye for detail, pitiless candor and mordant wit that made This Boy''s Life a modern classic.

Wolff''s account of his boyhood and the process of growing up includes paper routes, whiskey, scouting, fistfights, friendship, and betrayal in 1950s America.

To American soldiers in Vietnam, "back in the world" meant America and safety. To Tobias Wolff''s characters, Back in the World is where lives that have veered out of control just might become normal again. Unfortunately, the men and women in these gripping, pungent, and wonderfully skewed stories have only the vaguest notion of what normal is. A gentle priest finds himself in a Vegas hotel with a hysterical, sun-burned stranger. A show-biz hopeful undergoes a dubious audition in a hearse speeding across the California desert. An aging soldier is distracted from a night of philandering by a gun-toting neighbor and a suicidal enlisted man. As he moves among these unfortunates, Wolff observes the disparity between their realities and their dreams, in ten stories of exhilarating lucidity and grace. Stories included are: "The Missing Person," "Say Yes," "The Poor Are Always With Us," "Sister," "Soldier''s Joy," "Desert Breakdown," "Our Story Begins," "Leviathan," and "The Rich Brother." "Terrific...The magic of his fiction cannot be explained. It is the ancient art of the master storyteller."--Tim O''Brien

This collection of stories—twenty-one classics followed by ten potent new stories—displays Tobias Wolff''s exquisite gifts over a quarter century.

A collection from the Story Prize and PEN/Faulkner Award winner and author of This Boy’s Life, “a writer of the highest order” (Los Angeles Times). Among the characters you’ll find in this collection of twelve stories by Tobias Wolff are a teenage boy who tells morbid lies about his home life; a timid professor who, in the first genuine outburst of her life, pours out her opinions in spite of a protesting audience; a prudish loner who gives an obnoxious hitchhiker a ride; and an elderly couple on a golden anniversary cruise who endure the offensive conviviality of the ship’s social director. Fondly yet sharply drawn, Wolff’s characters stumble over each other in their baffled yet resolute search for the “right path” in this collection that the San Francisco Chronicle called “one of the most impressive debuts in recent memory.” “Tobias Wolff is a captivating, brilliant writer, one of the best we’ve got.” —Annie Dillard “A masterful storyteller, a natural raconteur.” —Michiko Kakutani “I have not read a book of stories in years that has given me such a shock of amazement and recognition—and such pleasure.” —Raymond Carver

The Barracks Thief is the story of three young paratroopers waiting to be shipped out to Vietnam. Brought together one sweltering afternoon to stand guard over an ammunition dump threatened by a forest fire, they discover in each other an unexpected capacity for recklessness and violence. Far from being alarmed by this discovery, they are exhilarated by it; they emerge from their common danger full of confidence in their own manhood and in the bond of friendship they have formed. This confidence is shaken when a series of thefts occur. The author embraces the perspectives of both the betrayer and the betrayed, forcing us to participate in lives that we might otherwise condemn, and to recognize the kinship of those lives to our own.

A collection of twelve short stories that showcases Tobias Wolff’s extraordinary talent, available in a deluxe paperback edition—part of Ecco’s The Art of the Story Series. In The Garden of the North American Martyrs, Tobias Wolff’s first collection of short fiction, hailed the arrival of a major talent and the beginning of an acclaimed, bestselling career. In each of these sharply crafted stories, his characters, drawn from everyday life, stumble over each other in their baffled yet resolute search for the “right path.” Among the characters in these twelve stories are a teenage boy who tells morbid lies about his home life; a timid professor who, in the first genuine outburst of her life, pours out her opinions in spite of a protesting audience; a prudish loner who gives an obnoxious hitchhiker a ride; and an elderly couple on a golden anniversary cruise who endures the offensive conviviality of the ship’s social director.

Hunters in the Snow is a classic short story by Tobias Wolff centered around the suburbs of Spokane and featured in In the Garden of the North American Martyrs. The story deals with three characters hunting together in the woods; Kenny, who is hard and brutal; Tub, who is fat, a target of ridicule, and lags behind the rest of the party; and Frank, who is the most "frank" of the group. Each character has a distinct personality which changes as the story progresses. The story reaches its climax when Tub shoots Kenny in what appears to be an accident. Tub and Frank seem to be taking Kenny to a hospital, but wind up stopping in a diner and a roadhouse in a strange chain of events. The story ends with them driving in a direction that is opposite to the one of the hospital. This story is believed to be based upon the painting Hunters in the Snow by Pieter Bruegel, a painter involved in the realism movement.

The provocative, award-winning short story collection from one of America''s most exciting young fiction writers is about three paratroopers waiting to be shipped out to Vietnam. Six other highly acclaimed stories are also included.

"A classic of the genre."--New York Times The 30th anniversary edition of Tobias Wolff''s "extraordinary memoir" (SF Chronicle), now with a new introduction by the author. Thirty years ago Tobias Wolff wrote a memoir that changed the form. The "unforgettable" (Time)This Boy''s Life is the story of the young, tough-on-the-outside but vulnerable Toby Wolff. Separated by divorce from his father and brother, Toby and his mother travel from Florida to Utah to a small village in Washington state, with many stops along the way. As each place doesn''t quite work out, they pick up to find somewhere new. In the story of their journey, Wolff masterfully recreates the frustrations, cruelties, and joys of adolescence and presents a deeply poignant exploration of memory, dreams, and how we create a self.

Culled from over 100 prestigious writing programs around the United States and Canada, this collection offers a splendid array of writing talent that showcases the literary stars of tomorrow. Includes stories written from such programs as Breadloaf, the Sewanee Conference, the University of Iowa, and others.

From some of the worlds most recognized faces, including the Clintons, the Kennedys, the Scorsese''s, and the Dalai Lama, to those who are remarkable only in their ordinariness, these timeless photos capture brothers from all walks of life, politicians, businessmen, athletes, actors, and artists, in their most intimate moments. A unique and compelling exploration of love and friendship, rivalry and intimacy, Brothers is certain to become a perennial favourite.

«Quelli di Tobias Wolff sono racconti morali, ma non pretendono di ammonire, o insegnare alcunché. Possono essere divertenti. Ma possono anche raggelare. Tutti, senza esclusioni, hanno qualcosa da dire sulla condizione dell''uomo». Raymond Carver

Se sentir irréprochable, inébranlable, mais regarder son collègue, sa voisine, son épouse du coin de l''œil et tenter de discerner ce qui se cache sous l''eau qui dort. Faire remonter à la surface le vrai visage d''une nature humaine aseptisée, dissimulée derrière le masque du quotidien. Parmi les douze histoires ici recueillies se trouvent un adolescent qui invente de morbides mensonges sur sa famille, trois chasseurs qui se tiennent l''air de rien sur le seuil de la barbarie, une enseignante prête à venger les martyrs sacrifiés sur l''autel de la réussite. Et le regard subtil, perçant, et bienveillant d''un écrivain sensible à ceux qui ne veulent pas être des gagnants, mais refuseront toujours d''être des perdants. "Tobias Wolff est un écrivain captivant, brillant, l''une de nos plus grandes plumes." - Annie Dillard

Uno de los 100 libros más destacados de 2008 según The New York Times. Ganador del prestigioso Story Prize. Crónica impasible del tiempo que Tobias Wolff pasó combatiendo en Vietnam. Haciendo uso de sus viejos talentos y sus mejores astucias, el autor empieza en un campamento de instrucción, se alista voluntario en las Fuerzas Especialesy llega a convertirse en oficial del Ejército de los EE UU, consagrado a la muy principal tarea de salir vivo del empeño. El testimonio hondo y minucioso de la guerra por uno de los novelistas de mayor prestigio en el mundo.

Camp militaire de Fort Bragg, en Caroline du Nord, 1967. Trois jeunes paras s''apprêtent à finir leur formation avant de partir pour le Viêtnam. Trois hommes armés de fusils qui, le jour de la fête nationale, sont chargés de monter la garde autour d''un dépôt de munitions. Lorsque des civils s''approchent, les voici mis en joue. Ils n''étaient pourtant venus que pour alerter les soldats qu''un incendie était en train de s''étendre. Le dépôt de munitions ne tardera pas à être menacé. En réponse, pourtant, s''exerce un acte absurde, le premier d''une série qui ébranlera à tout jamais le destin de ces hommes.

Narrador y filósofo a un mismo tiempo, Tobias Wolff escribe historias que se quedan grabadas en la memoria y plantean preguntas que lleva toda una vida responder. Niños que encuentran en las mentiras una forma de restituir un sentido al mundo que les rodea, hermanos que no se entienden, parejas que rompen durante un viaje por el desierto, una mujer que espía a sus vecinos, unos amigos que se embarcan en una jornada de caza que sólo puede salir mal o un soldado al que le anuncian que su madre ha muerto: todos los personajes de estos relatos se enfrentan a circunstancias cotidianas que sin embargo resultan extraordinarias. En lo más alto de su carrera literaria, Wolff demuestra el milagroso poder de un gran cuento para provocar, sorprender y transformar a los lectores. «Un volumen que debería estar en las estanterías de todo el mundo, junto con En nuestro tiempo de Hemingway, Nueve Cuentos de Salinger y las obras reunidas de Flannery O’Connor, Raymond Carver, Gabriel García Márquez, William Trevor y Alice Munro.» Los Angeles Times Book Review «Un volumen que debería estar en las estanterías de todo el mundo.» Los Angeles Times Book Review

Un hombre cae muerto de un disparo en la cola del banco, otro es despedido por publicar una falsa necrológica, una joven visita a su padre en la casa de salud en la que se recupera de una depresión...Ya sea en la infancia, en la guerra de Vietnam, en el recuerdo o en el presente eterno, los personajes son mostrados en esta colección de relatos en circunstancias extremas de su vida cotidiana y dependientes de las consecuencias de sus decisiones.

Un clásico de la literatura estadounidense. Del ganador del Premio Pen/Faulkner, y autor de Vieja escuela y Aquí empieza nuestra historia, uno de los libros más destacados de 2008 según The New York Times y entre los mejores libros del año según Babelia. En Vida de este chico, Tobias Wolff narra sus recuerdos de niño y adolescente, cuando, divorciados sus padres, recorría con su madre con la que formaba una auténtica «pareja telepática» las carreteras de Estados Unidos de un lado a otro del país. Toby o Jack, como le gusta llamarse a sí mismo en homenaje a su adorado Jack London absorberá entre mapas, whisky, peleas a puñetazos, amistades y traiciones, la esencia de esa América de los años cincuenta que marcará irremediablemente su juventud. Una juventud con toques minimalistas y dickensianos a un tiempo y que sirve aquí a su autor para trazar con humor y ternura el retrato de un tiempo pasado en el espejo de su propia imagen.

Tres jóvenes paracaidistas esperan ser enviados a Vietnam. Una tarde de calor sofocante se les ordena hacer guardia en un depósito de municiones amenazado por un incendio forestal. A partir de ahí cada uno descubrirá en los demás -y en sí mismo- una inesperada capacidad para la violencia y la audacia. Tobias Wolff confirma en esta novela corta por qué es uno de los grandes narradores de nuestro tiempo y autor predilecto de escritores como Raymond Carver o Joyce Carol Oates.

¿Hasta dónde será capaz de llegar un joven escritor para conseguir el reconocimiento de un autor consagrado? Decidido a encajar en su elitista colegio, el narrador ha aprendido a mimetizarse con sus compañeros y a competir con ellos por un lugar en el que hacer realidad su vocación literaria. Pero en el camino deberá aprender a contar la verdad sobre sí mismo. Wolff nos acerca la mirada de un joven escritor a la vez que nos pregunta: ¿Quiénes somos? ¿La persona que creemos ser, la que mostramos a los demás, o la que los otros imaginan que somos? Con la prosa magistral y la sutileza emocional que nos deslumbraron en Vida de este chico, Tobias Wolff se enfrenta a la borrosa frontera entre la realidad y la ficción. Una novela sobre la seductora naturaleza de la literatura.

"J''avais toujours su que je porterais un jour l''uniforme. C''était essentiel à ma conception de l''authenticité. Les hommes pour lesquels j''avais eu du respect quand j''étais jeune avaient tous servi leur pays, ainsi que la plupart des écrivains que j''admirais - Normari Mailer, Irwin Shaw.. et bien sûr Hemingway qui était mon phare en toutes matières." A vingt-deux ans, le jeune écrivain Tobias Wolff décide de faire table rase d''un passé incertain d''adolescent menteur pour devenir enfin "un homme d''honneur". Il intègre l''armée et, grâce à ses talents d''auteur de sketches et de chansons satiriques, part pour le Vietnam en ayant obtenu le grade d''officier. Avec une éblouissante maîtrise de la mémoire, le narrateur fait alterner les réalités quotidiennes et banales de la guerre : la peur, l''ennui, la routine et la débrouille, avec celles si nostalgiques de ses vingt ans : les voitures, les filles, les vieux succès de Sinatra, les facéties avec les copains, le premier amour avec Vera. L''innocence, la pureté et parfois la candeur prennent un relief particulier face aux images d''une armée souvent grossière et brutale. Et cette confession à l''écriture cristalline, émaillée d''humour et d''ironie, se métamorphose en une émouvante leçon d''humanité. Une fois de plus, Tobias Wolff mêle l''art du romancier à l''immédiateté de l''expérience personnelle.