Collected Short Stories (1994) by Grace Paley

 1,001 Novels: A Library of America

Collected Short Stories (1994)

by Grace Paley

Lower East Side, Manhattan

Manhattan: 22/33

New York: 71/105

 

   Grace Paley is a real discovery for me- I can't believe it took the 1,001 Novels: A Library of America to introduce me to her.  Certainly Paley, who only wrote short-stories in her literary career, was decades ahead of her time and published her first collection of stories in 1959 when neither the form nor her perspective, that of a working-class woman/activist from the lower east side wasn't highly valued by the audience for literary fiction.   Listening to these short stories in Audiobook format- narrated by the author herself, was nothing short of revelatory- truly Paley was a major talent and she continues to be underappreciated, as witnessed by my ignorance of her existence in 2024 before the 1,001 Novels: A Library of America project.

  I loved both the technique and the content of these stories, which give voice to women of my Grandmother's generation.  My own Grandmother was institutionalized and subjected to shock treatment as a young Jewish woman in the early 20th century, and she would never talk about it at all, ever, and I feel like women of her generation were actively told to shut the fuck up or else and that getting sent to the crazy house was the or else.  Seeing a writer like Paley freely express herself in these stories brought joy to my heart.  She didn't get sent to the crazy house and told to shut up, or at least, she didn't listen. 

  This collection is sure to be in my top 10 for this chapter and it has a shot at being the top book period.