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Selected Shorts / May 17, 2009

Selected Shorts

Sunday, May 17, 2009
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  • monkeys love

    Proof of Love

    “They walked on across the asphalt; the wind gusted, driving the rain so hard that Morse had to jump back a step. Julianne took it full in the face and never so much as turned her head. Nor did the boy…He was getting something from her, ready or not. Walking into the rain, as if it weren’t raining at all.” – Tobias Wolff, “Awaiting Orders”
    A morsel of Chekhov, a quirky tale from Edna O’Brien, and a touching Tobias Wolff story all look at the wayward nature of love.

The remarkable novelist and short story writer Edna O’Brien hosted a SELECTED SHORTS evening at Symphony Space that included readings of literary favorites of hers; her own story, “Brother;” and an on-stage chat with her old friend, Fionnula Flanagan. The first story on this program is one of O’Brien’s selections, Anton Chekhov’s “An Enigmatic Nature,” in an English translation by Constance Garnett. O’Brien says that the world would be a better place if everyone had Chekhov by her bedside, and this acid drop of a story about love and hypocrisy makes us understand why. Flanagan reads.

Next is O’Brien’s own story, “Brother,” which she says derived from a tantalizing glimpse she had of a lone woman in the Irish countryside. Her woman is tormented by forbidden love, which doesn’t prevent her from being as tender and salty as many of the novelist’s unforgettable characters. Flanagan reads again, and then settles down to talk to O’Brien about her own stories and novels, which she calls “some of the bravest to come from an Irish writer since James Joyce.”

The final story on this program is taken from an evening devoted to the Houghton Mifflin publication THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES 2006, selected by that year’s editor, Ann Patchett. “Awaiting Orders,” by the eminent fiction and memoir writer Tobias Wolff, depicts the private torments of an officer on a stateside military base, and is both rich and spare in its glimpse of emotions that cannot be expressed. The reader is Michael Cerveris, who starred on Broadway most recently in a critically acclaimed revival of “Hedda Gabler,” as well as in Stephen Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd” and “Assassins;” The Who’s “TOMMY;” and “Titanic.”

“An Enigmatic Nature,” by Chekhov, read by Fionnula Flanagan
“Brother,” by Edna O'Brien, read by Fionnula Flanagan
“Awaiting Orders,” by Tobias Wolff, read by Michael Cerveris
Introductions by Edna O’Brien
Interview: Fionnula Flanagan talks with Edna O’Brien.

For additional works featured on SELECTED SHORTS, please visit Symphony Space

We’re interested in your response to these programs. Please comment on this site or visit www.selectedshorts.org

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  • [1] Judy Glasel from Saugerties, NY May 20, 2009 - 03:43PM

    I always love listening to Selected Shorts. Last week's "Brother" was one of the best ever. The writing AND the reading!!! How can I hear this again?

    Thank you so much Mss O'Brien, Flanagan, and Selected Shorts.

    Dear Judy:

    Thank you so much for your kind comments. Selected Shorts broadcasts are available for a limited time as podcasts on iTunes, audible.com; and at npr.org.

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