Mavis Gallant (1922–2014)

Author of Paris Stories

58+ Works 2,570 Members 56 Reviews 14 Favorited

About the Author

Mavis Gallant was born in Montreal, Canada on August 11, 1922. Her parents sent her to live at a French convent when she was 4. When she was 10, her father died from kidney disease. Her mother quickly remarried and moved to New York - leaving her daughter behind. During World War II, Gallant worked show more in the cutting room at the National Film Board of Canada and as a reporter for the Montreal Standard. She eventually became a columnist and feature writer. Two of her short stories appeared in the December, 1944, issue of Preview. She published more than 100 stories in The New Yorker beginning in 1951. During her lifetime, she wrote two novels and several short story collections. Her works include Green Water, Green Sky; A Fairly Good Time; Overhead in a Balloon; Across the Bridge; The Pegnitz Junction; Paris Stories; and The Cost of Living. She received several awards including the Governor-General's Award for Home Truths: Selected Canadian Stories, the Pen Nabokov Award for career achievement, the Matt Cohen Prize in 2000, and the Rea Award for the Short Story in 2002. In 1981, she was made Officer of the Order of Canada for her contribution to literature that year. She died on February 18, 2014 at the age 91. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Includes the name: Mavis Gallant

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Works by Mavis Gallant

Popular Recent

Paris Stories (2002) 545 copies

Montreal Stories (2003) 259 copies

Across the Bridge (1993) 209 copies

The Cost of Living: Early and Uncollected Stories (2009) 190 copies

The Collected Stories of Mavis Gallant (1996) 185 copies

From the Fifteenth District (1979) 178 copies

The Selected Stories of Mavis Gallant (1996) 140 copies

Home Truths (1981) 128 copies

In Transit (1988) 104 copies

Paris Notebooks: Essays and Reviews (1986) 98 copies

Overhead in a Balloon (1985) 89 copies

A Fairly Good Time AND Green Water, Green Sky (2016) 56 copies

The Pegnitz Junction (1973) 53 copies

My Heart Is Broken (1964) 48 copies

A Fairly Good Time (1970) 44 copies

The Other Paris (1955) 41 copies

Going Ashore (2009) 36 copies

The Moslem Wife and other stories (1891) 33 copies

Green Water, Green Sky (1959) 25 copies

End of the World and Other Stories (1964) 24 copies

Overhead In a Balloon and Other Stories (1989) 14 copies

The Affair of Gabrielle Russier (1971) 10 copies

What is to be done? : a play by (1983) 7 copies

Los cuentos (2009) 7 copies

Chroniques de mai 68 (1988) 4 copies

Brick 80: Winter 2007 (2007) 3 copies

Un fiore sconosciuto (in Un fiore sconosciuto) 2 copies

Sometimes Magic, A Collection of Outstanding Stories for the Teenage Girl (1966) 2 copies

Una Bona estona (2022) 2 copies

Across the Bridge [short story] (2011) 2 copies

The New Yorker, Oct. 30, 1978 "From the Fifteenth District" 2 copies

Ciel vert, ciel d'eau (1993) 2 copies

The Accident 2 copies

The New Yorker, Oct. 15, 1960 "When We Were Nearly Young" 2 copies

Un fiore sconosciuto e altri racconti 1 copy

Una vida aceptable (Spanish Edition) (2022) 1 copy

Piccoli naufragi 1 copy

UNA BONA ESTONA 1 copy

When we were nearly young 1 copy

“Mlle. Dias de Corta” 1 copy

The Ice Wagon Going Down the Street 1 copy

Gallant, Mavis Archive 1 copy

Voyageurs en souffrance (1996) 1 copy

Dede (in The Best American Short Stories 1988 - RAVENEL) 1 copy

The Concert Party (in The Best American Short Stories 1989 - RAVENEL) 1 copy

L'estate di uno scapolo (in Al di là del ponte) 1 copy

La remissione (in Al di là del ponte) 1 copy

La moglie mussulmana (in Al di là del ponte) 1 copy

Il bambino dei Fenton (in Varietà di esilio) 1 copy

Il marito prescelto (in Varietà di esilio) 1 copy

Meglio lasciar correre (in Varietà di esilio) 1 copy

Il rimpatriato (in Un fiore sconosciuto) 1 copy

Nel tunnel (in Un fiore sconosciuto) 1 copy

Di passaggio (in Un fiore sconosciuto) 1 copy

Il carretto del ghiaccio lungo la strada (in Un fiore sconosciuto) 1 copy

L'altra Parigi (in Un fiore sconosciuto) 1 copy

Gallant Mavis 1 copy

Rue De Lille (1988) 1 copy

Work Explorer

Associated Works

The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction (1983) — Contributor — 1,136 copies

The World of the Short Story: A 20th Century Collection (1986) — Contributor — 464 copies

The Best American Short Stories 1992 (1992) — Contributor — 225 copies

The Best American Short Stories 1989 (1989) — Contributor — 189 copies

Nothing But You: Love Stories From The New Yorker (1997) — Contributor — 186 copies

The Best American Short Stories of the 80s (1990) — Contributor — 164 copies

The Best American Short Stories 1988 (1988) — Contributor — 160 copies

From Ink Lake: Canadian Stories (1990) — Contributor — 130 copies

The Best American Short Stories 1987 (1987) — Contributor — 129 copies

Mistresses of the Dark [Anthology] (1998) — Contributor — 122 copies

The Oxford Book of Canadian Short Stories in English (1986) — Contributor — 112 copies

The Best American Short Stories 1984 (1984) — Contributor — 104 copies

Stories from The New Yorker, 1950 to 1960 (1958) — Contributor — 80 copies

The Literary Ghost: Great Contemporary Ghost Stories (1991) — Contributor — 75 copies

The Ecco Book of Christmas Stories (2005) — Contributor — 75 copies

Women and Fiction: Volume 2 (1978) — Contributor — 73 copies

The New Oxford Book of Canadian Short Stories (1986) — Contributor — 73 copies

The Red Thread: Twenty Years of NYRB Classics: A Selection (2019) — Contributor — 58 copies

Great Canadian Short Stories (1971) — Contributor — 53 copies

An Omnibus of 20th Century Ghost Stories (1989) — Contributor — 45 copies

Canadian Short Stories (1960) — Contributor — 45 copies

Antaeus No. 61, Autumn 1988 - Journals, Notebooks & Diaries (1988) — Contributor — 35 copies

The Secret Self: A Century of Short Stories by Women (1995) — Contributor — 34 copies

The Best American Short Stories 1981 (1981) — Contributor — 34 copies

The Best American Short Stories 1980 (1980) — Contributor — 34 copies

The Oxford Book of Stories by Canadian Women in English (1999) — Contributor — 28 copies

The Oxford Book of Canadian Ghost Stories (1990) — Contributor — 19 copies

The Paris Review 167 2003 Fall (2003) — Contributor — 14 copies

The Penguin Book of Modern Canadian Short Stories (1982) — Contributor — 13 copies

Best Short Stories 1992 (1992) — Contributor, some editions — 13 copies

The Best American Short Stories 1960 (1960) — Contributor — 11 copies

Tagged

20th century (74) American (21) American literature (33) anthology (403) Best American Series (21) Best American Short Stories (18) Canada (85) Canadian (122) Canadian fiction (51) Canadian literature (140) Canadian Studies (19) collection (41) ebook (34) essays (27) fiction (825) Fiction Anthology (27) France (58) horror (36) lit (19) literary fiction (20) literature (155) Mavis Gallant (20) New Yorker (27) non-fiction (28) NYRB (92) NYRB Classics (44) own (30) Paris (73) read (29) reference (19) short fiction (47) short stories (1,071) short story (48) short story collections (19) stories (95) textbook (30) to-read (227) unread (40) women (26) writing (60)

Common Knowledge

Other names: Young, Mavis Leslie de Trafford (birth name)
Birthdate: 1922-08-11
Date of death: 2014-02-18
Gender: female
Nationality: Canada
Birthplace: Montréal, Québec, Canada
Place of death: Paris, France
Places of residence: New York, New York, USA
Paris, France
Occupations: journalist
short-story writer
Awards and honors: Order of Canada (Companion)
Prix Athanase-David (Quebec prize for literature)
Matt Cohen Prize (2000)
Rea Award for the Short Story
PEN/Nabokov Award (2004)
Lannan Literary Fellowship (2004) (show all 8)
Molson Prize (1996)
American Academy of Arts and Letters (Foreign Honorary ∙ Literature ∙ 1989)

Members

Reviews

Paris Stories (New York Review Books Classics) by Mavis Gallant

A GR friend whose taste and views I respect gave this book his highest rating. So I feel really bad and kind of stupid in saying that I didn't like it at all. Not one bit. And in fact, this is the second time I've tried to read it. True, I did get through more of it this time. I started at the beginning and read 8 of the 15 stories. I didn't like any of them. Gallant writes well, but I don't like what she writes about. All the stories depressed me except for Speck's Idea where I was so bored I eventually started flipping ahead to see how many pages were left. This was a short story with many pages.

I don't read to study literature, although I do look for fine literature and good writers, and I avoid what I see as hacks. When I read fiction it is to vicariously meet people I want to spend time with, or travel to places I want to be, and I didn't find either of those here.… (more)

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dvoratreis | 9 other reviews | May 22, 2024 |

Paris Notebooks: Essays & Reviews (Nonpareil Books) by Mavis Gallant

damn she's good

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Overgaard | 1 other review | Oct 19, 2023 |

Paris Stories (New York Review Books Classics) by Mavis Gallant

Gallant is an extraordinary writer. She is the kind of writer who, when you read one of her stories for the first time, makes you say "why haven't I been reading her all my life." If you have not done so already, do so now.

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archangelsbooks | 9 other reviews | Aug 8, 2023 |

Home truths: Selected Canadian stories by Mavis Gallant

Not many writers could go deeper than this. Felt like Canada's Faulkner for a second, even with the difference in theme. I can't believe it. When the say writing is magic. I can believe it.

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biblioclair | 4 other reviews | Jun 20, 2023 |

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