On Demand
Selected Shorts
Sunday, February 24, 2008
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Figuring it Out
“This was his last experimental journey for the firm. If it worked, he was going to be able to go on and on—towards the edge.”
—Ron Carlson, “Towel Season.”
A brilliant mind finds its way home, and two peasants rock a Communist regime.
Ron Carlson, the author of the first story on this program, “TOWEL SEASON,” teaches writing at the University of California, Irvine, and his most recent novel is FIVE SKIES. Carlson’s stories of ordinary lives struck by hope and happiness—or their opposites--are SELECTED SHORTS listener favorites, and he talked with us for this program about his work and allowing in the unexpected. “It’s like wading in the ocean, and you suddenly realize you can’t touch bottom. And that’s the moment you want.” Like the popular “THE H STREET SLEDDING RECORD,” “TOWEL SEASON” is marvelous in its close-up depiction of small details that make up a life and marriage. The always meticulous reader is Tony Award-winning actor and director James Naughton.
The second part of the program features a “short short” from the anthology NEW SUDDEN FICTION: SHORT-SHORT STORIES FROM AMERICA AND BEYOND, edited by Robert Shapard and James Thomas and published by W.W. Norton. The author, Ha Jin, served in the army of the People’s Republic of China for six years before coming to America in 1985, and it’s easy to see his story, “A BAD JOKE,” as a comment on that period of his life. The reader is the Broadway and television star B.D. Wong.
“Towel Season,” by Ron Carlson, read by James Naughton
“A Bad Joke,” by Ha Jin, read by B.D. Wong.
For additional works featured on SELECTED SHORTS, please visit Symphony Space
The second part of the program features a “short short” from the anthology NEW SUDDEN FICTION: SHORT-SHORT STORIES FROM AMERICA AND BEYOND, edited by Robert Shapard and James Thomas and published by W.W. Norton. The author, Ha Jin, served in the army of the People’s Republic of China for six years before coming to America in 1985, and it’s easy to see his story, “A BAD JOKE,” as a comment on that period of his life. The reader is the Broadway and television star B.D. Wong.
“Towel Season,” by Ron Carlson, read by James Naughton
“A Bad Joke,” by Ha Jin, read by B.D. Wong.
For additional works featured on SELECTED SHORTS, please visit Symphony Space
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