Collected Short Stories

Rating:
Summary: Collected Memories
Review: I had the particular fortune of reading this collection of Robert Graves' short stories after finishing his acclaimed autobiography, "Goodbye to All That;" together they form a compelling portrait of one of the most influential writers of the past century. In every biographical sketch of Graves his autobiography is given equal mention as his poetry and his best-known works like "I, Claudius" and I now understand the reason: his life's story is just as entertaining and informative as any of his fiction. Thus, to read this volume of stories as autobiography is to explore the life of Robert Graves. Thematically, the stories are divided into three sections - English Stories, Roman Stories, Majorcan Stories - each serves a different function. The "English Stories" comprise memories from Graves' youth spent at boarding school, witty scenes from social engagements such as one might come across in the works of Evelyn Waugh, and even a supernatual dream-tale told by an inmate at an insane asylum. The stories are also poignant, for they remind us of what Graves witnessed in the Great War, a memorial of his son who was killed in the Second, and ultimately they are scenes from a world and a life which Robert Graves left behind when he said "goodbye" to England in 1929. The "Roman Stories" are a treat to those who have read his two "Claudius" novels or his other historical fiction; they are ancient cultures for modern sensibilities. And the "Majorcan Stories" are leisurely tales to be spun after dinner on a warm Mediterranean evening - they are the stories of Graves' new life, stories of bicycle thieves, doomed Majorcan nobles, an errant Broadway producer and, improbably, the story of how Ava Gardner saved a furniture factory. The reader cannot help but get the sense that Robert Graves if speaking directly to us, telling us his own story without judgment or reservation. And perhaps most importantly, we are being entertained.

Rating:
Summary: Collected Memories
Review: I had the particular fortune of reading this collection of Robert Graves' short stories after finishing his acclaimed autobiography, "Goodbye to All That;" together they form a compelling portrait of one of the most influential writers of the past century. In every biographical sketch of Graves his autobiography is given equal mention as his poetry and his best-known works like "I, Claudius" and I now understand the reason: his life's story is just as entertaining and informative as any of his fiction. Thus, to read this volume of stories as autobiography is to explore the life of Robert Graves. Thematically, the stories are divided into three sections - English Stories, Roman Stories, Majorcan Stories - each serves a different function. The "English Stories" comprise memories from Graves' youth spent at boarding school, witty scenes from social engagements such as one might come across in the works of Evelyn Waugh, and even a supernatual dream-tale told by an inmate at an insane asylum. The stories are also poignant, for they remind us of what Graves witnessed in the Great War, a memorial of his son who was killed in the Second, and ultimately they are scenes from a world and a life which Robert Graves left behind when he said "goodbye" to England in 1929. The "Roman Stories" are a treat to those who have read his two "Claudius" novels or his other historical fiction; they are ancient cultures for modern sensibilities. And the "Majorcan Stories" are leisurely tales to be spun after dinner on a warm Mediterranean evening - they are the stories of Graves' new life, stories of bicycle thieves, doomed Majorcan nobles, an errant Broadway producer and, improbably, the story of how Ava Gardner saved a furniture factory. The reader cannot help but get the sense that Robert Graves if speaking directly to us, telling us his own story without judgment or reservation. And perhaps most importantly, we are being entertained.