Criers & Kibitzers, Kibitzers & Criers

Stanley Elkin

Oct 2010 · Open Road Media

About this ebook

“This imagination of Elkin’s sneaks up, tickles, surprises, shocks, and kills. It makes stories that are deadly funny.” —The New York TimesEach of the nine short stories collected here feature two types of people—the troubled and the troublemakers. In “The Guest,” a homeless man gleefully takes credit for a robbery he did not commit. “In the Alley” tells the story of a terminally ill man who begrudgingly outlives his initial prognosis. And the satiric “I Look Out for Ed Wolfe” features a charismatic salesman auctioning off his life’s possessions in order to determine his value in the world. Laced with wit, Criers & Kibitzers, Kibitzers & Criers is a keenly observed collection that puts Elkin’s comic artistry on full display. This ebook features rare photos and never-before-seen documents from the author’s estate and from the Stanley Elkin archives at Washington University in St. Louis.

About the author

Stanley Elkin (1930–1995) was an award-winning author of novels, short stories, and essays. Born in the Bronx, Elkin received his BA and PhD from the University of Illinois and in 1960 became a professor of English at Washington University in St. Louis where he taught until his death. His critically acclaimed works include the National Book Critics Circle Award–winners George Mills (1982) and Mrs. Ted Bliss (1995), as well as the National Book Award finalists The Dick Gibson Show (1972), Searches and Seizures (1974), and The MacGuffin (1991). His book of novellas, Van Gogh’s Room at Arles, was a finalist for the PEN Faulkner Award.