In the Garden of the North American Martyrs
Published in 1981, In the Garden of the North American Martyrs is Tobias Wolff's first collection of short stories and one of the books that helped define American minimalist fiction. The twelve stories move through the lives of soldiers, teachers, hunters, drifters, and lonely teenagers, often in the Pacific Northwest or rural America. Wolff places characters in situations where a small choice exposes a larger truth about who they are, whether a hunting trip gone wrong, a job interview, a chance encounter on a bus, or a family reunion. The prose is plain and exact, the irony dry, and the moral attention serious without being heavy. The title story, in which a passed over academic is invited to a campus interview as a token candidate, has become a frequently anthologized example of contemporary American short fiction.
Also by Tobias Wolff
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What you might want to know about In the Garden of the North American Martyrs
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Twelve short stories about Americans whose ordinary lives turn on small acts of cowardice, courage, or self-deception.
Either this collection or his memoir This Boy's Life works well as a first encounter.
No, each stands alone, though they share themes of moral pressure and self knowledge.
In the Garden of the North American Martyrs was written by Tobias Wolff, published in 1994 by HarperCollins Publishers.
In the Garden of the North American Martyrs is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.