Breece D'J Pancake (1952–1979)

I need to get my own copy of this. The author was in the writing program at UVa when I attended. His stories are set in West Virginia. I think Jayne Ann Phillips quote from the cover describes the book well: "Breece Pancake's stories comprise no less than an American "Dubliners". We find here a landscape preserved in rich sadness because it is forgotten, a people whose lives are informed by loss, wrenching cruelty, and the luminous dignity which marks the endurance of all that is most human."

Racconti che parlano di natura e uomini da vicino, con semplicità e maestosità. Non griderei al capolavoro, ma il respiro da classico americano di questa scrittura è innegabile.

I am very impressed with this regional American voice. The stories are in the vein of Carver, Hemingway, and Anderson[1], and several of them lacerated me in such a way that I will never forget them. The selection of letters perfectly illuminates this singular writer.

Full review forthcoming in Rain Taxi, likely in 2021.

[1] IN one of the letters, Pancake states that without Sherwood Anderson, he would not have written a thing.