Donald Barthelmes new book of stories, Great Days, is perhaps most notable for the presence of seven formally related dialogues, "The Crisis," "The Apology," "The New Music," "M," "Oeps of the servatory," "The Leap," and "Great Days," whitroduce a neect of his work. In these restless, possibility-haunted colloquies, stripped of everything save voices, ging pairs of women and pairs of men range aional terrain whose poles are hope and memory. Extravagant, profane, and ic, the dialogues are a siderable achievement, testing the possibilities of form aending agement with the world.
In other stories Barthelme explores the tragic, ambiguous relationship between Cortés and Montezuma, uncovers units of the Swedish army on maneuvers in Manhattan, offers a try-music version of Mozarts Abdu from the Seraglio, describes a heroic cutting test between a king of jazz and a young challenger, and provides an at of a group of zombies out on a wife-buying expedition.
As Philip Stevick wrote iion, Donald Barthelmes stories "stand as touchstones for narrative art of the last two decades." Great Days is an important addition to an already impressive body of work.