Tell Me a Riddle
This collection of short fiction centers on a working-class family, and the title story distills aging, memory, estrangement, and forgiveness into quiet conversation. Its restrained style brings out the pain and intimacy of everyday life at the same time.
Work Information
What is left unsaid resounds most strongly within the family.
"Tell Me a Riddle" is a collection in which long-suppressed feelings slowly surface through family conversations and silences. The title story is especially attentive to the history of marriage and family, and it traces the pain and possibility of reconciliation that cannot be fully put into words.
Book Information
- Publisher
- Delta
- Published
- 1971-08-15
- Pages
- 128 pages
- Language
- 英語
- Size
- 13.28 x 0.76 x 20.27 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9780385290104
- ISBN-10
- 0385290101
- Category
- 洋書/Literature & Fiction/Short Stories/Single Author
This collection of four stories, "I Stand Here Ironing," "Hey Sailor, what Ship?," "O Yes," and "Tell me a Riddle," had become an American classic. Since the title novella won the O. Henry Award in 1961, the stories have been anthologized over a hundred times, made into three films, translated into thirteen languages, and - most important - once read, they abide in the hearts of their readers.
Reviews
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I Stand Here Ironing is one of four short stories in Tillie's Olsen's brilliantly written collection, Tell Me a Riddle. This short story is the haunting account of a mother who was impotence to shepherd her now nineteen year old daughter through the vicissitudes of life during the early1950s. Ms. Olsen's writing is sinewy, unapologetic and ultimately seething with resignation. I cry every time I read this tale. I cry at the sadness it evokes within me , I cry at the beauty of the language and I cry in empathy for a mother's pain. Tillie Olsen is a brilliant American writer. I Stand Here Ironing has stayed with me for many years and most likely will continue for many more. Jo Chandler
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This is incredible writing, the story moved me to tears more than once in its truth and rawness. It will stay with me a long time. A tale of a life that speaks to the experiences of working class women, immigrant women, older women, motherhood, marriage and families. Everyone should read this.
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I had to do a book report on Tillie Olsen there were two stories in the book that my teacher had not read. Aced the report and got to read 4 amazing stories written by a wonderful author. The book itself was a little worn but I expected that from a book no longer in print.
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An American masterpiece, every sentence from the emotional heart of each story. There's really nothing like "Tell Me A Riddle" in American literature. You do not read so much as listen to each narrator's voice. How, you ask yourself, has Olsen done this, captured the nuance of different voices telling a human story? What's thrilling is not that Olsen knows so much but that she found the language of the heart of each situation.
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Don't be fooled! This is not Tillie Olsen's collection of four short stories of which "Tell me a Riddle" is only one. This book has only the one story and the rest is commentary, historical timelines, etc. Several people in my book club made the same error. The commentary was fine, but if you are looking for the collection of stories under "Tell me a Riddle," this is not the book. "I Stand Here Ironing," O, Yes," and "Hey Sailor, What Ship?," are NOT included in this volume. Olsen is a major short story writer of the 20th century and I urge everyone to read her work.
Related Literary Awards
- O. Henry Award Edition 41 (1961) ・Winner