Sunday, March 16, 2025

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Jonathan Baumbach

Jonathan Baumbach is the author of 17 books of fiction including Dreams of Molly, You or The Invention of Memory, Chez Charlotte and Emily, Reruns, Separate Hours and A Man to Conjure With. His short stories have been anthologized in Best American Stories, O.Henry Prize Stories, The Best of TriQuarterly, The Best of Boulevard, and All Our Secrets are the Same. His latest collection, The Pavilion of Former Wives will be out later this year. Film critic for Partisan Review, he will see a collection of his film criticism published this December under the title, Shots in the Dark.

written articles

Short Story: What’s Going On, What’s Coming Off

My wife insists that I am never at a loss for something to write. It is how I sustain my idleness. Her belief in my productivity is almost as good as my actually being productive.

SHORT STORY: Office Hours  

So here was this woman I’d never met — I did have the sense that I’d seen her before somewhere or other but still -- storming into my office to argue about what day it was. “If it was Wednesday,” I said, “Haggert would have been here instead of me.”

SHORT STORY: Shapeshifting 

The thing to remember, Josh, the single most important thing, Josh, is that there are no crazy people in madhouses.

SHORT STORY: The Reading

This is sixth story from Jonathan Baumbach’s forthcoming collection, “The Pavilion of Former Wives,” to be published by Danzig.

SHORT STORY: Travels with Wizard

So, feeling anything but grateful, carrying an overnight case in each hand, Leo lets himself into the motel room while Sara takes the puppy on the stretch leash, the two wandering into the distance like snow ghosts.

SHORT STORY: ‘The Story’

... so this sentence, which is the story, which embodies the story, cannot be allowed to, has to be held in abeyance as it acknowledges an implicit mortality wholly alien to the nature of perfection ...

SHORT STORY: ‘Seattle’

"My mother always spoke highly of you,” she said. “That was until she stopped remembering who you were."

SHORT STORY: Acting Out

She had a hundred grievances against Jay, she had a litany of grievances — they often came to mind unbidden like the hypnogenic lyric of some ancient detergent commercial.

FICTION: The Pavilion of Former Wives

The tone of her voice plus the substance of her remarks were provoking, but B did what he could to keep his poise. He felt no sympathy for her, though he stirred the ashes of former affection hoping to find an ember.

FICTION: ‘The Pavilion of Former Wives’

After he unlocked the door with the key offered him, he warily stepped into a room very much like the bedroom of the house he lived in with his most recent former wife.
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The Edge Is Free To Read.

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