A Note on Trevor

Tom and I were talking about William Trevor’s short stories the other week. We both agreed he is a great writer, but also dark and depressing. If I read too many of his short stories at one time, I fall into a funk.

I suspect it is because Trevor always draws the limits and boundaries of our happiness. He never flinches when his stories arrive at conclusions that are never entirely satisfactory for his characters. He is a good tonic for fuzzy thinking about the human condition in that sense. Truth consists in recognizing the gap between expectations and reality.

I would illustrate the point from his writing, but you would be better served to read a couple of his short stories to see what I mean if you are not familiar with him.