The Fiction of Alice Munro

Brad Hooper

As a short-story writer, Alice Munro has achieved high critical and popular regard in both her native Canada and in the United States. Indeed, Munro has been adopted by the entire English-speaking world as one of its own, and her work has received many awards and honors. In the U.S., she is roundly regarded as one of the best-if not the best-contemporary writers of the short story, and one of the greatest living fiction writers. Here, Brad Hooper takes readers through her fiction, work by work, discussing the themes, forms, techniques, and styles she employs to make her work come alive.Munro has founded her own brand of the short story: longer than traditionally practiced in the short-story form and encompassing broader time frames. Her stories are primarily character studies that explore the impact of physical and mental isolation in adolescence, middle age, and into elder years. Hooper traces Munro's evolving definition of the short story form and surveys the fiction in an effort to elucidate the works for newcomers and enthusiasts alike.

A comprehensive, up-to-date analysis of Munro's fiction.

Introduction.Chapter One: She Begins Her Career.Chapter Two: Something Different, a Novel.Chapter Three: Her First Masterpieces.Chapter Four: Her First Signature Book.Chapter Five: Another Uneven Collection.Chapter Six: Another Solid Collection.Chapter Seven: Reaching Higher Peaks.Chapter Eight: A Plateau.Chapter Nine: A Step Upward.Chapter Ten: Her Best Book Yet.Chapter Eleven: A Slight Step Backward.Chapter Twelve: A Slip Backward.Conclusion.