Grace Paley. The Little Disturbances of Man (1959)

     Grace Paley. The Little Disturbances of Man (1959) Paley’s first collection of short stories. She’s a master of impersonation. Her first person narratives are completely believable. They are single mothers, grifters, nice middle class girls and women and occasionally men, children trying to make sense of the adults around them, lonely men and women looking for love and unable to let down the defences that imprison them.
    The tales have the ring of truth: the Wikipedia entry says they are semi-autobiographical. I infer that Paley was a superbly accurate observer, the kind on whom nothing is lost, and had a phenomenal memory for detail. She also was able to imagine herself into someone else’s life, a rare gift. Most of us most of the time have trouble enough imagining ourselves in different circumstances.
     One consequence of Paley’s art is a willingness to suspend judgement. Someone once said that to know all is to forgive all. Paley’s stories go a long way to proving the truth of that saying. ****