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Greasy Lake is a collection of short stories by T. Coraghessan Boyle published in 1985 by Viking Press.

2 'Oh Daddy,' Stokesie said beside me. 'I feel so faint.' 'Darling,' I said. 'Hold me tight.' Stokesie's married, with two babies chalked up on his fuselage already, but as far as I can tell that's the only difference. View Test Prep - Greasy-Lake.pdf from LANGUAGE 1020 at Academy of Health Sciences At Prince Georges Community College. 168 CHAPTER 3 - Characters: The People in Fiction 1. CORAGHESSAN BOYLE (b. Greasy Lake says Happy Birthday to Bruce with a (one-sided) conversation with Bruce about getting. In response to the requests for the text of Bruce’s.

Author Background[edit]

The collection reflects the fears, anxieties and issues of America in the 1960s, especially in regard to the fear of a nuclear holocaust. 'One of the astonishing things about looking back at old stories are their references to then-current political and social events', he said in the forums on his personal website.^[1] 'We write in a given period, and that period seems to vanish rather quickly, so that all stories become historical the moment they're finished.'^[1] In another interview he stated that he never starts writing with a particular theme in mind—that an author’s obsessions at the time emerge naturally to form unity within a short story or a collection of stories.^[2] When he spoke with the San Francisco Chronicle, he revealed the reason behind his focus on the anxieties of American society at large. 'I worry about everything in the world,' Boyle says, 'and it's just too much for anybody to think about, so I have my art as my consolation.'^[3] In the same interview he stated that it’s the stable things in his life—his wife, children, same teaching post for thirty years, the same agent—that enable him to focus on his art.The title story of this collection was inspired by Bruce Springsteen’s song 'Spirit in the Night'.^[4] Boyle himself is a musician and once aspired to play rock music.^[5] For a short while he played saxophone in a band called The Ventilators, although they never recorded.^[5]Greasy Lake is also reminiscent of Boyle’s years as a 'rebellious punk'.^[5]The often flamboyant outcomes of his stories are a result of his personal theory about writing—that like music, it is ultimately a form of entertainment.^[6] He believes that reading has declined in America because stories have become a high art that is incomprehensible to the average person.^[3] To him, a story has failed when it requires a critic to mediate between the reader and author.^[1] Rather, a story should be approached as something done for leisure or pleasure—not as a school chore.^[3] In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Boyle states, 'My ambition is to make great art that is appealing to anyone who knows how to read.'^[3]

Greasy Lake[edit]

The 'Greasy Lake' characters, Digby, whose parents paid his tuition to Cornell; Jeff, who had a dangerous personality; and the 'wanna-be bad' narrator relish their 'Bad Boy' image. T. C. Boyle describes their 'Bad Boy' behavior: “we wore torn-up leather jackets, slouched around with toothpicks in our mouths, sniffed glue and ether [...].'^[7] The lake, much like the character's foolish desires, has turned into a lagoon of refuse with broken bottles lining its banks. T.C. Boyle’s reference to war is as vivid as the lake, “so stripped of vegetation it looked as if the Air Force had strafed it.”^[8] The mention of General Westmoreland's tactical errors in Khe Sahn equates to the main character's disastrous misguided offense of losing his car keys. A moral dilemma occurs but is not directly exposed, since the characters desire a 'Bad Boy' image, T.C. Boyle writes: 'There was a time when courtesy and winning ways went out of style, when it was good to be bad [...].'^[9] However, an epiphany is reached when the 'Bad Boys' realize that what they desire is not always a good thing.

Stories in volume[edit]

• 'Greasy Lake'
• 'Caviar'
• 'Ike and Nina'
• 'Rupert Beersley and the Beggar of the Sivan's-Hoota'
• 'On for the Long Haul'
• 'The Hector Quesadilla Story'
• 'Whales Weep'
• 'The New Moon Party'
• 'Not a Leg to Stand On'
• Stones in my Passway, Hellhound on my Trail'
• 'All Shook Up'
• 'A Bird in the Hand'
• 'Two Ships'
• 'Bara Avis'
• 'The Overcoat II'

Caviar[edit]

'Caviar' is a peculiar short story, of a married couple involved in a 'little experiment.'^[10] The short story is narrated by the husband, Mr. Trimpdie, a fisherman by trade, who has never been to college but reads science books and magazines. The wife, Marie, after many years of marriage decides she wants some 'offspring.'^[10] The pair repeatedly try to have a child, but Marie cannot get pregnant. The couple decide to go to a doctor and ask about a test-tube baby. Dr. Ziss, a very young man, tells them that Marie’s ovaries are shot, and that test-tube reproduction is impossible. Dr. Ziss questions the couple, he asks, 'have they considered a surrogate mother?' ^[11] As he has already contacted a woman on their behalf, should they be interested. For ten thousand dollars plus hospital costs, they agree to have Wendy, a medical school student, as their surrogate mother. Wendy is artificially impregnated by the doctor and becomes very close to the couple. One day, while Marie is working, Wendy and Mr. Trimpie engage in a sexual relationship. Marie never finds out about the incident. Mr. Trimpie, while visiting Wendy after the baby is born, finds Dr. Ziss at her house and realizes he has been deceived. Wendy says she won’t stay with him because they move in different circles. Enraged, Mr. Trimpie assaults Dr. Ziss, and is arrested by the police. Back to his house, Marie won’t let him in, and he ends up at the dock gutting a fish full of 'eggs in her.'^[12]

Ike and Nina[edit]

The short story of 'Ike and Nina' is a reference to the thirty-fourth President of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower (Ike) who has a sentimentally romantic, yet (hypothetical) love affair with Russia's Madame Nina Khrushcheva. The narrator of the fictional short story was promoted to 'special aid' during the time of a 'visit by the Soviet Premier and his uh wife,' and makes this a plausible tale, as he supposedly confesses the true account of the love story.^[13] T. C. Boyle's allusions to the Cold War era are numerous. 'Top Secret' and 'Strictly Confidential' personal incidents, like those of a hide-n-seek limousine ride, and a stately dinner party, result in legions of Secret Service agents, the CIA and the FBI, kept virtually off balance and unaware of Ike and Nina's situation.^[14]

On for the Long Haul[edit]

'On for the Long Haul' substantiates the hysteria of the 'duck and cover' generation. The characters are put into a bizarre situation that borders on historical realism. The characters, Bayard Wemp, a successful business man who was used to luxury living, his highstrung neurotic wife, Fran, and their two adolescent children Melissa and Marcia, together are determined to survive an overpowering feeling of apocalyptic fever. Mr. Wemp enters into a nefarious real estate deal to purchase thirty-five acres of land in the secluded area of Bounceback, Montana. T.C. Boyle's references to 'bomb shelters under patios,''world wide economic callapse,'^[15] Kaddafi with 'The Bomb' and the 'temporarily out of food' signs suggesting possible rationing further imitate Bayards imaginary need to be prepared.^[16] T. C. Boyle writes, 'Civilization itself--was on the brink of a catastrophe that would make the Dark Ages look like a Sunday-afternoon softball game.'^[17] The situation the main character hopes will eventually work itself out ironically ends with his demise.

The Hector Quesadilla Story[edit]

In 'The Hector Quesadilla Story' the main character was 'no Joltin' Joe, no Sultan of Swat, no Iron Man.'^[18] Hector Hernan Jesus y Maria Quesadilla, a.k.a. 'Little Cheese' is an aging baseball player stuck in a time warp. While confident about his participation in the dream of the 'Big Game,' Hector refuses to acknowledge his age. In this short story, Hector's family suggests that it is time to 'Hang up his Spikes,' after all his 'son will be twenty-nine next month and his daughter has four children of her own with one on the way,'^[19] but for Hector, a missed moment is continuously replayed as 'the stick flashes in your hands like an Archangel's sword, and the game goes on forever.' ^[20]

The Overcoat II[edit]

This is the final story of the collection. T.C. Boyle rewrites the classic Nikolai Gogol story, but transports his characters into the Cold War era. The main character, Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin, a 'hard-nosed revolutionary communist worker,' hopes to purchase a new 'Good Quality Soviet Made Winter Coat.'^[21] Akaky purchases a winter coat from his tailor Petrovich at a cost of Five-hundred and fifty Rubles, however, unbeknownst to Akaky the coat was a 'Black Market' purchase. The fine cloth coat with 'a fur collar, like those in Paris,' elevates Akaky in his workplace as everyone notices, the 'party tool and office drudge' is now strutting like a 'coryphee with the Bolshi.' Like Gogol's story, Akaky is given a taste of respect and happiness symbolized by the coat only to have it ripped away to tragic effect.^[22] In keeping with surreal situations, Akaky finds himself embroiled in police matters while the recipient of smuggled goods.

Critical reception[edit]

Greasy Lake and Other Stories was first published in 1985.

The main characters in the stories are, according to Larry McCaffery, 'typically lusty, exuberant dreamers whose wildly inflated ambitions lead them into a series of hilarious, often disastrous adventures.'^[23] Though most stories are set in twentieth century America, some are set in other parts of the world. 'Beggar of Sivani-Hoota' is set in India in 'the remote Decan state of Sivani-Hoota,' and 'The Overcoat II', a reworking of Gogol’s classic short story, is set in the Soviet Union before the fall of communism.

In stories set in America, life is depicted as 'a roller coaster ride, filled with peaks of exhilaration and excitement but also fraught with hidden dangers and potential embarrassments.'^[23] The story 'Greasy Lake', whose title and epigraph are borrowed from Bruce Springsteen, tells the story of a group of wannabe “bad” kids who come to the lake hoping to 'smoke pot, howl at the stars, and savor the incongruous full-throated roar of rock and roll' but find themselves facing a vicious thug who drives the main character into the murky lake where he has a 'grizzly encounter with the corpse of dead biker and is forced to endure the whomp-whomp sounds of his family’s station wagon being demolished.'^[23] In 'The New Moon Party', a presidential candidate promises to replace the old moon with a glittering new moon. He is successful in capturing the imagination of the country, restoring the average working man’s faith and progress, giving America a cause to stand up and shout about but only to see his new moon “blamed for everything from causing rain in the Atacama to fomenting a new baby boom, corrupting morals, bestializing mankind, and finally to see the moon obliterated by a nuclear thunderbolt a month after the new president takes office.” ^[23]

In 'The New Moon Party' the narrator describes his dull aides as “a bunch of young Turks and electoral strong-arm men who wielded briefcase like swords and had political ambitions akin to Genghis Khan’s.” ^[23] 'The Overcoat II' uses a capitalist lens to describe life in the Soviet Union. The image of the nawab’s household in 'Beggar Master' of Sivani-Hoota has undertones of Orientalism.

According to The New York Times reviewer Michiko Kakutani, T.C. Boyle has 'a limitless capacity for invention and a gift for nimble, hyperventilated prose to delineate his heightened vision of the world.'^[24] Kakutani continues, “Though the tales share the author’s distinctly manic voice, a voice pitched just this side of hysteria, they remain remarkably eclectic in form, disparate in subject matter – a testament to both Mr. Boyle’s range as a storyteller and to the reach of his ambition.” ^[24]

Media adaptations[edit]

• 'Greasy Lake', the first story in the collection, was made into a short film in 1988. Directed by Damian Harris, the drama stars James Spader as Digby and Eric Stoltz as T.C.

Further reading[edit]

• Adams, Elizabeth. 'An Interview with T. Coraghessan Boyle.' Chicago Review 37.2-3 (1991): 51-63.
• Ermelino, Louisa. 'Keeping Up with Boyle.' Publishers Weekly 253.25 (2006): 24-25.
• Hicks, Heather J. 'On Whiteness in T. Coraghessan Boyle's The Tortilla Curtain.' Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction 45.1 (2003): 43-64.
• Raabe, David M. 'Boyle's 'Descent of Man'.' Explicator 58.4 (2000): 223-226.
• Walker, Michael. 'Boyle's 'Greasy Lake' and the Moral Failure of Postmodernism.' Studies in Short Fiction 31.2 (1994): 247-255.
• Palmerino, Gregory. 'This was Nature': Growing Death and the Necrophilous Character in T. C. Boyle's 'Greasy Lake.' Explicator 75.4 (2017): 239-241.

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abctcboyle.com
2. ^Frequently Asked Questions
3. ^ ^abcdT.C. Boyle has it all - money, family, hot writing career. But is he happy? Only when he's not worrying over everything and nothing
4. ^[1]
5. ^ ^abctcboyle.com
6. ^All About T. Coraghessan Boyle Resource Center - Welcome
7. ^Boyle, T. Coraghessan. 'Greasy Lake.' Greasy Lake and Other Stories. New York: Viking Penguin Inc., 1985. P. 1.
8. ^Boyle, T. Coraghessan. 'Greasy Lake'. Greasy Lake and Other Stories.New York: Viking Penguin Inc., 1985. P. 2.
9. ^Boyle, T. Coraghessan. 'Greasy Lake'. Greasy Lake and Other Stories.New York: Viking Penguin Inc., 1985. P. 1.
10. ^ ^abBoyle, T. Coraghessan. 'Caviar.' Greasy Lake and Other Stories. New York: Viking Penguin Inc., 1985. P. 13.
11. ^Boyle, T. Coraghessan. 'Caviar.' Greasy Lake and Other Stories. New York: Viking Penguin Inc., 1985. P. 17.
12. ^Boyle, T. Coraghessan. 'Caviar.' Greasy Lake and Other Stories. New York: Viking Penguin Inc., 1985. P. 29.
13. ^Boyle, T. Coraghessan. 'Ike and Nina.' Greasy Lake and Other Stories. New York: Viking Penguin Inc., 1985. P. 32.
14. ^Boyle, T. Coraghessan. 'Ike and Nina.' Greasy Lake and Other Stories. New York: Viking Penguin Inc., 1985. P. 33.
15. ^Boyle, T. Coraghessan. 'On for the Long Haul.' Greasy Lake and Other Stories. New York: Viking Penguin Inc., 1985. P. 65.
16. ^Boyle, T. Coraghessan. 'On for the Long Haul.' Greasy Lake and Other Stories. New York: Viking Penguin Inc., 1985. P. 63, 64.
17. ^Boyle, T. Coraghessan. 'On for the Long Haul.' Greasy Lake and Other Stories. New York: Viking Penguin Inc., 1985. P. 63.
18. ^Boyle, T. Coraghessan. 'The Hector Quesadilla Story.' Greasy Lake and Other Stories. New York: Viking Penguin Inc., 1985. P. 83.
19. ^Boyle, T. Coraghessan. 'The Hector Quesadilla Story.' Greasy Lake and Other Stories. New York: Viking Penguin Inc., 1985. P. 85.
20. ^Boyle, T. Coraghessan. 'The Hector Quesadilla Story.' Greasy Lake and Other Stories. New York: Viking Penguin Inc., 1985. P. 95.
21. ^Boyle, T. Coraghessan. 'The Overcoat II.' Greasy Lake and Other Stories. New York: Viking Penguin Inc., 1985. P. 205.
22. ^Boyle, T. Coraghessan. 'The Overcoat II.' Greasy Lake and Other Stories. New York: Viking Penguin Inc., 1985. P. 208, 215.
23. ^ ^abcdeMcCaffery, Larry. “Lusty Dreamers in the Suburban Jungle.” New York Times. 31 March 2008.
24. ^ ^abKakutani, Michiko. “Books of the Times.” New York Times. 31 March 2008.

External links[edit]

Greasy Lake. T. Coraghessan Boyle. There was a time when courtesy and winning ways went out of style, when it was good to be bad, when you cultivated . Greasy Lake. T. Coraghessan Boyle At night, we went up to Greasy Lake. Whatever it was we were looking for, we weren’t about to find it at Greasy Lake. Greasy Lake has 24 ratings and 2 reviews. Marc Gerstein said: Wow, this is one heck of a short the basic premise of “Ferris Bueller’s Day Of.

Greasy Lake

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. Do verbs end in “ed” or is it a flashback and told in present tense.

Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. We went up to the lake because everyone went there, because we wanted to snuff the rich scent of possibility on the breeze, watch a girl take off her clothes and plunge into the festering murk, drink beer, smoke pot, howl at the stars, savor the incongruous full-throated roar of rock and roll against the byle susurrus of frogs and crickets.

bj There are drugs and violence and sex, and the 1CMF 1D word. Robin marked it as to-read Nov 11, Very intriguing and definitely worth rereading, as most of the stories in this collection.

Paris Review – Greasy Lake

We were all dangerous characters then. In vreasy case, there was no reasoning with this bad greasy character—clearly he was a man of action. Short story about faithful communist who acquires coat from tailor; is mocked by treacherous comrades [s] 4 30 May 14, And there is nothing funny about it.

The parents should take a breath, read T. Aug 18, A.

Summary and Analysis of T.C. Boyle’s “Greasy Lake”

Published May 6th by Penguin Books first published January 1st Not to mention, this story was written inbut uses references that are much earlier – something that I doubt our narrator would genuinely know about e.

As strange as things get, it can get weirder. Judging from their expressions, Digby and Jeff were privately groping toward the same inevitable and unsettling conclusion that I was. They were slick and quick and they wore their mirror shades at breakfast and dinner, in the shower, in closets and caves.

Possibly these stories packed slightly less of a punch than the ‘Descent of Man’ collection I also read this year mo Another great collection of Boyle’s stories. Want to Read saving….

Digby was on the ground, cursing. They want the image without all of the corgahessan. Boyle 19s genius comes out, there are no chuckles to be found. Comments are not for promoting your articles or other sites. The imagery is well done; chock full of detail and description so you envision the scene. I love the line: Tango, Thunderbird and Bali Hai.

Possibly these stories packed slightly less of a punch than the ‘Descent of Man’ collection I also read this year more favorites in that one than in thisbut that is some tough competition.

The story of “Greasy Lake” sets itself up as a typical “rebel without a cause” short story. An old man finds out that the friendly caretakers he lives with are actually burglars, who have just put a botle owner into financial ruin, but he selfishly decides not to rat them out bj the final moment.

Greasy Lake Full Text Pdf

This service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. Some are more reserved and heartfelt.

Each sentence is so perfectly crafted to reveal just enough information to create a short story. Feb 08, Robert Walrod rated it liked it. Sep 08, Liz rated it it was amazing. It just so happens that this school district was right down the road from where T. Reality A close reading of “Greasy Lake” reveals a struggling group of friends who are unsure about their identify or how they fit in to the changing society. One of these phrases is “Glandular discharges”: This action-packed fast-paced short story is a slap in the face, for both the reader and the main characters.

Greasy Lake Text Pdf Book

Feb 18, Anthony rated it really liked it Shelves: A good run of very evocative, poignant, and compelling tales of flawed humans following their little human hearts towards failure, hurt and disappointment, but interrupted by some lulzy pieces, and followed coraghessah a regrettably weak finish.

It’s a truism, at least to me, that all coraguessan story collections greays by th I coragheszan read the title story in college, and always meant to read more of Boyle’s work.

I was there one night, late, in the company of two dangerous characters. Boyle rewrites the classic Nikolai Gogol storybut transports his characters into the Cold War era.

Greasy Lake Full Text Pdf

Greasy Lake & Other Stories by T. Coraghessan Boyle

Is the story being told as it happens or is it being told about something that happened in the past to the characters? That’s 7 out of 15 stories, just to give you an idea of the width of Boyle’s writing. Coraghessqn Lake by T. Maricela Marin rated it it was amazing Jul 31, Things get violent in a hurry for these middle-classed white kids. The taillights of a single car winked at us as we swung into coraghesaan dirt lot with its tufts of weed and washboard corrugations: Open Preview See a Problem?

Greasy Lake Full Text

A moral dilemma occurs but is not directly exposed, since the characters desire a ‘Bad Boy’ image, T.

Looking Cool The story of “Greasy Lake” breaks down the perception of what is cool and bad and shows the reality of the situation.