Critical Compendium » The Soul Thief, by Charles Baxter
The Soul Thief, by Charles Baxter

“What’s the difference between a novel, a novella and a collection of stories? Is it a simple matter of pages, or do questions of mood, intent, resonance and reach complicate the distinction? “Heart of Darkness,” “The Time Machine” and “Death in Venice” are all novellas, but they feel larger, while collections of connected stories, like John Updike’s “Too Far to Go” or James Joyce’s “Dubliners,” can match or exceed the impact of a traditional novel. Linked narratives, as Michael Chabon once put it, can be like “a series of snapshots taken over time” in which “the interest lies in what has happened in the interstices.” But in Charles Baxter’s new book, “The Soul Thief,” it’s all about the snapshots, and the interstices can skip decades. As Ernest Hemingway wrote of his friendship with Gertrude Stein, “It was more complicated than that.” Read the review at the New York Times.

Filed under: Fiction | Posted 03.05.08 | Comments:


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An interview with Steve LeVine, author of The Oil and the Glory

"Big Oil is dying . . . The jury is out on whether the average consumer will be affected. The oil companies say with some justification that the state-owned companies don’t produce oil and natural gas as well as they – Big Oil – can. They say that means less and less supply – or at least not as much supply as might be expected – from these countries in the coming years. That’s important, especially since tight global supplies are one reason for $95-a-barrel oil right now." [ Read the rest of the interview ]



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