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Ingalls, Rachel : Times Like These: Stories By Rachel Ingalls

Graywolf Press, Saint Paul, MN, 2005

ISBN 1555974317

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in No Dust Jacket, As Issued. 316 pages. Retrospective collection of short stories. One of Rachel Ingalls' finest achievements. The first appearance of the pieces in the United States. They originally appeared in the United Kingdom as "Black Diamond" (1992) and "Days Like Today" (2000). Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a softcover original only and through a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Rachel Ingalls' "Times Like These". Eight, middle- to late-period short stories by a Modern Master of the form. Their publication in the United States is long overdue and most welcome. Here are creepy, unforgettable, near-perfect stories that "pose the same questions: What do people really believe in, where can they put their trust, and why do they continue to hope?" (Publisher's blurb). Ingalls' masterpiece, "Mrs. Caliban", classified as a novel, is really a book-length short story, the novel as a work of distillation, written in impeccable prose, not a single word wasted, and vastly superior to other writers' thousand-page efforts. The same could be said of every piece in this collection, which includes "Last Act: The Madhouse", "The Archaeologist's Daughter", "Somewhere Else", "Correspondent", "Fertility", "Veterans", "The Icon", and "No Love Lost". The way she is able to evoke the senses, notably the sense of smell, through words is unsurpassed. War has a certain odor, and if we can smell trouble, Ingalls makes us smell war in "Veterans", the longest and most beautiful piece in the collection. Rachel Ingalls is THE bewildering, eternal recluse among great late-modern writers in English. She has never made a public appearance in her fifty-odd-year career as a published writer, and her publishing history is as bewildering as her tales. For devoted reader/collectors, the rules of thumb are fairly simple: a) All of her books first appeared in the United Kingdom, where she has lived since 1964; b) All of them have been issued subsequently in the United States, sometimes under altogether different titles such as the present volume; and c) the American Editions remain eminently collectible, particularly for completists, because she has been served well by her publishers here in terms of both content and production values. With "Times Like These", Rachel Ingalls' work also seems suddenly, unexpectedly, and sadly complete: She has not published a new book since "Days Like Today" in the United Kingdom, and there is a sense of an ending with this generous, 316-page volume, which appeared five years later, in 2005. No matter. She will still be remembered as one of the greatest storyteller-writers of our time. She is a latter-day Isak Dinesen whose theme is the sublime mystery of human existence. Once started, it is impossible to put down a Rachel Ingalls book. An absolute "must-have" title for Rachel Ingalls collectors. This title is a late-modern classic. This is one of few copies of the First American Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce copy thus. Rachel Ingalls' "Mrs. Caliban" is widely regarded as one of the greatest novels in the English language of the 20th century. One of the finest American writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER RACHEL INGALLS TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 1555974317.

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