Tobias Wolff

"And I learned that it's a bad idea to curse when you're in trouble, but a good idea to sing, if you can."

(Wolff, Tobias. This Boy's Life: A Memoir. New York: Grove Press, 1989. 177.)

I don't find myself in trouble very often but Wolff certainly did throughout his formative years. And singing remained a coping mechanism and a means for connecting to people. I liked the sentiment of this quotation, but the story around it certainly brings the context into a fuller light. So you might want to read his memoir.

There's this face I make when something I read, see or hear gets me. It's a fake sideways smile and a lightening up of my eyes accompanied with a kind of forced sigh, often a hmmmpffff. Sometimes I shake my head. Wow, that's good, I think and look up to see if anyone's around to hear me say, now that's great writing. When I consider how I'd articulate what exactly made me smirk I struggle to be precise. Instead I might say, 'you've got to read this.'*

I've had that happen at least a dozen times while reading Tobias Wolff's memoir. It's brilliant. I loved it and I was sad when it ended.

This past semester in Short Fiction class I started with Wolff's story "The Liar." The students definitely enjoyed it; some cited it as their favorite story. We also read three other stories: "The Rich Brother," "Bullet in the Brain," and "Hunters in the Snow." I pretty much screamed I love Wolff's writing throughout the course. We read this article on Wolff called "The Liberation of Lying: What Tobias Wolff Gets and Others Don't" and excerpts from an interview. I wasn't surprised when I learned that Wolff admires Anton Chekhov and even edited a Chekhov collection where he read several translations and chose the ones he liked best. Chekhov is the story master in my book. Both craft characters with such clarity that their art enables the readers to know that person and judge him or her for themselves. Whether it's Gurov's infatuation with the younger Anna that he met in the vacation town of Yalta ("The Lady with the Dog") or Donald's inability to adapt to communal living ("The Rich Brother"), I buy into every story like it's real and these people do exist. My empathy may switch from one character to another like from Tub to Kenny in "Hunters in the Snow," and I don't question why my loyalties have shifted. Chekhov and Wolff have mastered the objective presentation of people.

After reading This Boy's Life I understand who Wolff is much better. In fact "The Liar" is definitely inspired by his personal experience. I still can't believe he crafted his own recommendation letters to get into private school. Each chapter in his book could also stand alone as a short story. The fight and then friendship with Arthur stands out to me. It's what's not said that makes the writing incredible. I recommend this book to anyone but I think boys would like it even more simply because it captures a man's challenges well. (I can't say accurately because I'm not a man!)

*I put an asterisk by that statement because there's actually a short story anthology that's called You've Got To Read This; it's a collection of stories chosen by writers who include an introduction.

In that book I read "Cathedral" by Raymond Carver which is introduced by Wolff. After I read the story and digested it I thought about what made it a fantastic story and one that Wolff would introduce. Then I read his introduction. Wolff pinpointed one of my observations which had to do with not naming the narrator and having Robert, "this blind guy," refer to him as Bud. And Wolff talked about how he called Ray up to tell him how amazing his story was-

I'd like to call up Tobias Wolff and tell him that I think he's a phenomenal writer. What else would I say to him? I don't know. I might make that face and he wouldn't even see it. But I plan to read more stories by him and perhaps all his works at some point in my life.

"Knowing that everything comes to an end is a gift of experience, a consolation gift for knowing that we ourselves are coming to an end. Before we get it we live in a continuous present, and imagine the future as more of that present. Happiness is endless happiness, innocent of its own sure passing. Pain is endless pain." (Wolff 230)

Music: "Life on Mars" David Bowie-Hunky Dory