Suicidal
Tendencies, by T. Alan Broughton
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About the Book:
In these elegant stories, T. Alan Broughton shows himself to be at ease with
both domestic and foreign geographies and to be well acquainted  with
emotional landscapes as well. Though a number of the stories involve revolutionary
activities in Italy and America, Broughton seems to embrace Tip O’Neil’s
famous remark that in the end all politics are local, as well as personal.
Whether it is the struggle of a brother to understand and accept his sister’s
radical activities, a woman needing to distance herself from her children,
or a young boy finding a way to deal with his seductive teacher, Broughton’s
characters never flinch from difficulty, but instead explore and experience
it thoroughly. Beautifully written and meticulously observed, Suicidal Tendencies
demonstrates on every page the art and craft of an accomplished writer at
the top of his game.
“The stories in T. Alan
Broughton’s Suicidal Tendencies are
remarkable and beautiful. The characters
are as varied as their circumstances, and
one reads about them hardly recollecting
that it is the storyteller’s eloquence
and art—a great thing in a writer to
be so unobtrusive—that endow them with
such authentic life.”
—Paula Fox, author of
Borrowed Finery, Desperate Characters, and
The Widow’s Children
“In this great age of
the American short story, T. Alan Broughton,
as Suicidal Tendencies amply demonstrates,
is a master of the form, one of our best
and brightest. He offers us full, rich narratives,
precisely enhanced by authentic details.
His three-dimensional characters cast real
shadows and are worthy of our complete attention.
His sense of times and places—foreign
and domestic—is impeccable. In a deeply
imagined context of family life and love,
these stories become a simply memorable experience.”
—George Garrett, author
of Going to See the Elephant: Pieces of a
Writing Life, The King of Babylon Shall Not
Come Against You, and Days of Our Lives Lie
in Fragments: New and Old Poems, 1957-1997
“From the Green Mountains
of Vermont, to Mainline Philadelphia, to
sunny Italy, T. Alan Broughton’s wonderful
new collection of fiction covers an astonishing
range of locales, families, and ever-so-human
dilemmas. With the clarity, drama, and beauty
of Hemingway’s best stories, Suicidal
Tendencies explores both the constant tensions
and profound affection between fathers and
sons, fathers and daughters, grandparents
and grandchildren, friends, and lovers. In
the spare, elegant prose for which this award-winning
poet and fiction writer is noted, Broughton
shows us in these stories how only love can
redeem his battered characters from themselves
and one another. Suicidal Tendencies is the
best short-story collection I’ve read
since Isaac Bashevis Singer’s The Image.”
—Howard Frank Mosher,
author of The True Account: A Novel of the
Lewis and Clark Expedition
About the Author:
T. Alan Broughton taught for thirty-five years at the University of Vermont,
where he was the Corse Professor of English Language and Literature. Author
of several novels and poetry collections, Broughton has had his work included
in the PEN Syndicated Fiction Project, Prize Stories 1991: The O. Henry Awards,
and a number of anthologies. He and his wife live in Burlington, Vermont. |
