Imagine a ribbon. Pinch a loop of it between your index finger and thumb. The small piece you grasp is where the story begins and ends, while in between recounting “the year of shocks”. We meet the Clairvoie family when son Luc has failed his course of study. Spectacularly
We have to assume that Speck came first, with “Speck’s Idea” published in 1979. “Overhead in a Balloon” was published five years later (both stories in the pages of “The New Yorker”, where the majority of Mavis Gallant’s stories appeared before they were bound into collections). So we have
“To take up residence in the mind of Mavis Gallant, as one does in reading her stories, is a privilege and delight,” writes Phyllis Rose, to begin her review of Overhead in a Balloon in the March 18, 1987 issue of The New Yorker. She speaks of Gallant’s ability
In this story, Linnet is “seamless”, she is “as smooth as brass”. And she has returned to her godmother’s house, as a journalist, sent to conduct an interview. She has written down her assignment, like any other, without commenting that the woman is her godmother. unsplash-logoMatt Artz She is hesitant,
We are meant to take Linnet’s observations about this 1891 painting, how it was admired and embraced into so many homes, as an indication of the impact that Dr. Chauchard had on her family’s life. “The parable is set in a spotless cottage; the child’s bed, composed of three chairs,
