A healthy slice of 20th century literature could be signposted with the words, “See New Directions.” The press that James Laughlin established in 1936 not only amassed a significant number of Nobel, Pulitzer, Booker, Femina, Goncourt, Deutscher, Strega, and other major literary awards but remained laudably loyal to them, keeping a much greater portion of their backlist in print than most publishers. This doesn’t mean, however, that they’ve always stuck with all their initiatives.
Starting in the late 1990s, New Directions published a series of genuinely Wafer-Thin books under the label of “New Directions Bibelots.” Some of these are still in print and they’re worth looking for if you’re in the mood for a quick but substantial read.
- • Eight Stories by Dylan Thomas (96 pages)
- Eight particularly enjoyable Dylan Thomas stories, stories hailed by The New Statesman as “the unself-conscious classics, compassionate, fresh, and very funny…radiating enthusiasm and delight in the telling.”
- • Asphodel, That Greeny Flower & Other Love Poems by William Carlos Williams (60 pages)
- “‘Asphodel’ celebrates unforgettably Williams’ love for his wife Floss, (going) so far as to say, ‘Death is not the end of it’…’Asphodel’ strands impressively as the poet’s personal credo, a late, long poem central to his entire work.’ World Literature Today
- • Five by Endo, Shusako Endo (96 pages)
- “Five of Endo’s best short stories, exemplifying his style and his interests, presenting, as it were, Endo in a nutshell…. Like a mouthwatering appetizer, this small sampler will stimulate a hunger for more of Endo’s work.” Publisher’s Weekly
- • The Driver’s Seat by Muriel Spark (89 pages)
- The last day of Lise, a woman in her forties who takes off for an unnamed Mediterranean city and ends up in a spiral of insanity and violence. Filmed in 1974 with Elizabeth Taylor in the starring role. “Completely sick. In all the right ways.” Tilda Swinton, T Magazine
- • The Abbess of Crewe by Muriel Spark (106 pages)
- An elegant little fable about intrigue, corruption, and electronic surveillance, The Abbess of Crewe is set in an English Benedictine convent. When Spark wrote it, she was fascinated by the Watergate scandal, the fall of Richard Nixon, and the way Henry Kissinger walked away from it all unscratched.
- • Making Peace: Poetry by Denise Levertov (64 pages)
- Collects Levertov’s finest poems, spanning the last three decades of her life, their subjects range from Vietnam to the death-squads of El Salvador to the first Gulf War.
- • Fresno Stories by William Saroyan (90 pages)
- Eleven short stories, from early (“The Man With the Heart In the Highlands”) to mid-career (“Madness in the Family”), all centered on the Armenian community in Fresno, California, where Saroyan grew up.
- • In Search of Duende by Frederico Garcia Lorca (99 pages)
- Collects a Lorca lecture on the duende (deep song) form, along with several dozen of his poems inspired by <em>duende</em> music, presented in both Spanish and English. Some call this the best single introduction to Lorca’s work.
- • A Devil in Paradise by Henry Miller (124 pages)
- Miller paid to bring Conrad Moricand, one of his friends from his Paris days, to his little enclave at Big Sur. He soon regretted the decision. This little book is not just the story of what happened but Miller’s way of taking revenge on the “devil.”
- • A Simple Heart by Gustave Flaubert (68 pages)
- This story centers on Félicité, a French housemaid, a simple good soul who serves quietly and faithfully for a lifetime. Her death is virtually unnoticed, but her parrot ensures that she is not forgotten. This story was the inspiration for Julian Barnes’ novel Flaubert’s Parrot.
- • The Crazy Hunter by Kay Boyle (144 pages)
- Kay Boyle considered this novella the best thing she ever wrote. The tensions among a young woman, her mother, and her drunken father are played out in the fate of the girl’s powerful but blind horse. “The Crazy Hunter is the story closest to the perfection that I have ever read.” Katherine Anne Porter
- • Screeno: Stories & Poems by Delmore Schwartz (128 pages)
- Collects some of Schwartz’s best-known stories and poems, including “In Dreams Begin Responsibilities,” “America, America!” “The Heavy Bear who Goes with Me,” and “Screeno.” Also includes “The Heights of Joy,” a story not published until 2002. “The touchstone of his generation.” Karl Shapiro
- • Patriotism by Yukio Mishima (60 pages)
- Set in the 1930s, about a Japanese Army officer and his wife, who decide to commit suicide after his fellow officers stage a mutiny. Considered one of Mishima’s finest works.
