We Seldom Talk About the Past: Selected Short Stories [Paperback]

We Seldom Talk About the Past is John MacKennas first selected collection of short stories, from a career spanning over three decades. The stories selected come from four collections of short fiction, and represent a culmination of MacKennas work in a form of writing he has made uniquely his own. Often compared to John McGahern, and Raymond Carver, and deeply influenced by masters of the form like Chekov, MacKennas stories focus on the quotidian truths of our lives, of the momentousness of small moments, of sexual desire and its intimate entanglement with the domestic, of deeply felt absences and social mores, and always at the heart of his work, the sense of place, often the rural, and the acute receptiveness of our lives to the places we inhabit.We Seldom Talk About the Past is John MacKennas first selected collection of short stories, from a career spanning over three decades. The stories selected represent a culmination of MacKennas work in a form of writing he has made uniquely his own. MacKennas stories examine the quotidian truths of our lives, of the momentousness of small momentsMacKenna has a way with the passive gut-punch.Every single story in this anthology is a love song to the Irish landscape. MacKenna's outstanding prose is as close to the great McGahern as you'll get. Placed together, these narratives tell a deeper story of what it means to be human...this is the art of the short story, and MacKenna is a master of his craft. IE