Short stories by Jack Matthews
Jack Matthews (22 July 1925 – 28 November 2013) was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright and former professor. He published 7 novels, 7 collections of short stories, a novella, and 8 volumes of essays. He was an avid book collector, and many of his book finds served as a basis for his essays and the historical topics he explored in his fiction. His 1972 novel The Charisma Campaigns was nominated by Walker Percy for the National Book Award.[1] He has often made 19th century America and the Civil War period the setting for his fiction, starting with his 1981 novel Sassafras and most recently with the 2011 novel Gambler's Nephew (which tells the story of how an abolitionist accidentally kills an escaped slave) and a 2015 story collection Soldier Boys: Tales of the Civil War. His plays have been performed at multiple theaters around the country.
Listing 4 stories.
One night in the late 1960s, an American couple vacationing at a lake in Germany gets split up, filling both with dread and fear as they are pushed to their limits trying to reunite.
Two parents send their child a questionnaire full of mysterious questions that reveal insights into their relationship with their child.
An 83-year-old man's wife dies in her sleep. The next morning, the man carries her body across a bridge from their isolated creek-side home to the undertaker at the nearest town.
A man refuses to bury a cholera infected corpse on his land, then a year later dies from cholera himself. His legend is told and misted by several following generations.