Plain Air: Sketches from Winesburg, Indiana

In his new story collection, "In Plain Air: Sketches from Winesburg, Indiana," Michael Martone creates a fictional town and its inhabitants, exploring themes of sadness, tinkering, and wonder in the midst of ruin and rust. The stories capture lives of quiet desperation and create a kind of hobbled poetry in the spontaneous sketches of the ordinary made extraordinary. The town is a community of everyday odd-balls, rife with isolation and idiosyncrasy, and the characters offer perspectives that invite us to interpret our own commonplaces with humor, intelligence, and earnest longing.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 195 pages
Publication date: 20 October 2022
Publisher: Cameron & Company Inc

In his captivating new story collection, "In Plain Air: Sketches from Winesburg, Indiana," Michael Martone delves into the heart of the American Heartland, capturing the essence of a fictional town and its vibrant inhabitants. Through a series of over one-hundred and thirty short fictions, Martone paints a vivid portrait of Winesburg, showcasing its lyric philosophies, tales of the mundane, and the profound sensation of being "lost" in the heart of the country. Despite the backdrop of sadness and ruin, the citizens of Winesburg refuse to be defeated, continuing to tinker, create, marvel, and wonder amidst the rust and decay. These stories, while poignant, also unveil a unique form of hobbled poetry, as Martone skillfully weaves ordinary sketches into extraordinary narratives, highlighting the regular irregularities, familiar elements, and the unexpected impact of a glancing blow. From the overworked City Manager to Margaret Wiggs' obsessively collected library stamps to Blanches air-filled aluminum ice cube tray, Winesburg emerges as a community of everyday odd-balls, brimming with isolation and idiosyncrasy. These characters, driven by a quest for survival, explore themes of loss, passion, devotion, childhood wonder, and kinship in their observations and daily routines. With undeniable humor, intelligent quirk, and a sincere longing for a pastoral passage into the annals of deep Midwestern time, Martone crafts an unforgettable panoply of characters whose perspectives invite us to reinterpret our own familiar surroundings. "In Plain Air" is a testament to Martone's talent as a storyteller, offering a fresh and insightful perspective on the human experience in the Heartland.

Weight: 230g
Dimension: 127 x 204 x 15 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781936097425