Damages
Selected Stories 1982-2012
Published on 6. January 2022
Book
Paperback/Softback
560 pages
978-1-77196-293-3 (ISBN)
Description
"If you really want to journey into the heart of darkness, you'd be advised to travel with Vancouver writer Keath Fraser, a man of extraordinary talents." -Bronwyn Drainie
An icon of Canadian short fiction, Keath Fraser has exerted a wide and trenchant influence since the publication of his first collection Taking Cover in 1982. Damages: Selected Stories 1982-2012 gathers the finest of his work across decades. Combining the craftsmanship of the form's greatest masters with the idiosyncratic voices and music of our contemporary moment, the stories selected here travel from the richly peopled worlds of Fraser's Vancouver to the Gulf of Thailand, a Phnom Penh bone-house embassy, and the Rajasthan desert, and demonstrate remarkable diversity of character and effortless storytelling across a range of modes. Featuring an introduction by John Metcalf, and including the novella "Foreign Affairs," called by the Oxford Companion of Canadian Literature "one of the masterpieces of Canadian short fiction," Damages showcases Keath Fraser as one of the best and most enduring story writers of the last fifty years.
An icon of Canadian short fiction, Keath Fraser has exerted a wide and trenchant influence since the publication of his first collection Taking Cover in 1982. Damages: Selected Stories 1982-2012 gathers the finest of his work across decades. Combining the craftsmanship of the form's greatest masters with the idiosyncratic voices and music of our contemporary moment, the stories selected here travel from the richly peopled worlds of Fraser's Vancouver to the Gulf of Thailand, a Phnom Penh bone-house embassy, and the Rajasthan desert, and demonstrate remarkable diversity of character and effortless storytelling across a range of modes. Featuring an introduction by John Metcalf, and including the novella "Foreign Affairs," called by the Oxford Companion of Canadian Literature "one of the masterpieces of Canadian short fiction," Damages showcases Keath Fraser as one of the best and most enduring story writers of the last fifty years.
Reviews / Votes
Praise for Charity"A powerful work of philosophical and moral inquiry, rooted in skilfully wrought characters and sly storytelling."
-Toronto Star
"Charity-for all its brevity-[is] a dense, deliberately paced work ... a sincere examination of family in all its moral ambiguity, including its barbed and occasionally corrosive aspects ... Fraser is adept at pulling the rug out from under a reader's moral surety."
-Steven W. Beattie
Praise for Keath Fraser
"The sheer exuberance of language, the sureness with which Fraser captures the movements of the working mind, makes this book a joy to read."
-Ottawa Citizen
"Fraser's controlled and confident writing gives us a rich sense of the longing of his fully drawn characters...a remarkable, bittersweet celebration."
-Quill & Quire (starred review)
"Great fun."
-Chicago Tribune
"The range of Fraser's characters is astonishing...not an author who can be ignored."
-January Magazine
"If you really want to journey into the heart of darkness, you'd be advised to travel with Vancouver writer Keath Fraser, a man of extraordinary talents."
-Bronwyn Drainie
"Keath Fraser is one of the most intelligent writers working in Canada."
-The Malahat Review
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Emeryville
Canada
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 208 mm
Width: 132 mm
Thickness: 34 mm
Weight
635 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-77196-293-3 (9781771962933)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Keath Fraser won the Chapters / Books in Canada First Novel Award for his 1995 novel Popular Anatomy. His stories and novellas have been published in many anthologies in Canada and abroad. Collections of his short fiction include Taking Cover and Telling My Love Lies. The volume Foreign Affairs was short-listed for a Governor General's Award and won the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize. His novella Charity recently launched a new genre series from Biblioasis. He is the author of As For Me and My Body, a memoir of his friend Sinclair Ross; and of The Voice Gallery, a narrative of his far-flung travels among broken voices. The royalties from his international best-selling anthologies Bad Trips and Worst Journeys: The Picador Book of Travel were given to Canada India Village Aid (CIVA), the late NGO founded by George Woodcock. Keath Fraser lives in Vancouver and his papers are held in the Thomas Fisher Library at the University of Toronto.