The Angel on the Roof
The Angel on the Roof: The Stories of Russell Banks (2000) is a collection of short stories by Russell Banks. It consists of a total of thirty-one previously published stories, including twenty-two stories that appeared in earlier short story collections, along with nine that were previously uncollected.
Contents
Twenty-two of the thirty-one stories that Banks selected for this volume were published in four earlier collections, although Banks writes that many of the stories "have been revised for this edition".[1] The previously collected stories were originally published in the following volumes by Banks: Searching for Survivors (New York: Fiction Collective/ Braziller, 1975); Trailerpark (New York: HarperCollins, 1981); Success Stories (New York: HarperCollins, 1986).
In his "Note" appended at the end of this volume, Russell Banks writes the following:
As this book is published, I am turning sixty, and these stories represent the best work I have done in the form over the thirty-seven years since I began trying to write in prose — at least that’s my hope.[1]
Previously collected stories
The following is a list of the previously collected stories republished in The Angel on the Roof, under the titles of the collections in which they originally appeared:
- From Searching for Survivors (1975)
- “Searching for Survivors”
- “With Ché in New Hampshire”
- “Theory of Flight” (originally “With Ché at Kitty Hawk”)
- “The Neighbor”
- “The Lie”
- “Defenseman”
- From The New World (1978)
- “The Rise of the Middle Class”
- “Indisposed”
- “The Caul”
- From Trailerpark (1981)
- “The Guinea Pig Lady”
- “Black Man and White Woman in Dark Green Rowboat”
- “Dis Bwoy, Him Gwan”
- “Comfort”
- “The Burden”
- “Child Screams and Looks Back at You”
- “The Fisherman”
- From Success Stories (1986)
- “Queen for a Day”
- “The Fish”
- “Success Story”
- “Mistake”
- “Sarah Cole: A Type of Love Story”
- “Firewood”
Uncollected stories
The previously uncollected stories in The Angel on the Roof are as follows (with the original publication/periodical in parenthesis):
- “Plains of Abraham” (Esquire)
- “Djinn” (Esquire)
- “Lobster Night” (Esquire)
- “The Visit” (The Village Voice Literary Supplement)
- “Xmas” (The Boston Globe Magazine)
- “The Moor” (Conjunctions)
- “Cow-Cow” (GQ)
- “Quality Time” (Ploughshares)
- “Assisted Living” (?)
See also
Notes
References
- Russell Banks, The Angel on the Roof: The Stories of Russell Banks, 2000. ISBN 0-06-093125-6 (paperback); ISBN 9780062123206 (e-pub edition, July 2011)