A Private State
Stories
University of Massachusetts Press
Here is a finely crafted collection of stories about women who have arrived at awkward edges in their lives. Some are adolescents, some at the brink of old age, and some find themselves suddenly ill or pregnant. Others come to the abrupt discovery that their marriages are not as whole as they had believed, while a few tumble onto startling secrets. But despite their range in age and situation, they all try to use their new knowledge to stitch together a fresh pattern by which to live.
While most of the action unfolds along the East Coast—in Maryland, Maine, Boston, Philadelphia, New York—several of the women travel to Arizona, California, and Jamaica. Often the light is too bright in these glittery places and they wonder why they have come. Many seem to be searching for a sense of home, which one girl describes as a place that is "complete and full of longing all at once."
Yet this desire for a personal territory, a point of constancy, is not necessarily rewarded: in this book, separations lead to divorce, sisters continue to misread each other, cancers kill. Still, the women refuse to turn their gaze away from what the world has thrown in their path. Often as not, they pick it up, wonder at it, test its relevance, and continue on, not happier perhaps, but certainly more knowing.
With humor and insight, Charlotte Bacon illuminates the unexpected ambiguities of women's lives. A Private State marks the arrival of an extremely talented writer
While most of the action unfolds along the East Coast—in Maryland, Maine, Boston, Philadelphia, New York—several of the women travel to Arizona, California, and Jamaica. Often the light is too bright in these glittery places and they wonder why they have come. Many seem to be searching for a sense of home, which one girl describes as a place that is "complete and full of longing all at once."
Yet this desire for a personal territory, a point of constancy, is not necessarily rewarded: in this book, separations lead to divorce, sisters continue to misread each other, cancers kill. Still, the women refuse to turn their gaze away from what the world has thrown in their path. Often as not, they pick it up, wonder at it, test its relevance, and continue on, not happier perhaps, but certainly more knowing.
With humor and insight, Charlotte Bacon illuminates the unexpected ambiguities of women's lives. A Private State marks the arrival of an extremely talented writer
Bacon writes with grace and wit, and an appreciation for the magic of language. She also possesses the accomplished writer's remarkable blend of control and daring, and isn't afraid to surprise her reader. . . . A Private State is impressive in every way, a splendid debut and a rare achievement.'—George Cuomo
'The devil is in the details, as the old saying goes, and certainly the women who populate Charlotte Bacon's collection of short stories, A Private State, would agree. The lives these women lead are not the stuff of epic tragedy--instead, the distance between spouses is measured in the disappearance of the family dog; the fate of a pregnancy is decided during a whale-watching expedition. There are no fiery emotional explosions, no grand epiphanies. Bacon limns subtle stories of women who move through the physical world in search of answers they can only find within themselves. Whether it is one character's attempt to anchor herself in a shared past with her sister following the death of their mother, or another's efforts to suspend her anxiety about the future by losing herself in the buoyancy of water as she swims laps, Bacon defines small moments that build eventually to a greater awareness, if not always a happy ending, for her quiet pilgrims.'—Amazon.com
'Bacon's collection of finely wrought stories examines the human condition with rare power...Accomplished and complex...'—Judges for the Ernest Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award
'Her stories are witty, swift, beautifully crafted, and grounded in emotional reality.'—Maureen Howard
'Reading this book is like being a child picking through a wonderful toy box.'—Independent
'The loops of meaning coil from story to story, creating a memorable whole that transcends the sum of its parts.'—Publishers Weekly
Charlotte Bacon teaches at Miss Porter's School. Her story "Live Free or Die," featured in this collection, won the Pirate's Alley/Faulkner Society Award for Best Short Story of 1996.
