Criers & Kibitzers, Kibitzers & Criers

Book excerpt: “This imagination of Elkin’s sneaks up, tickles, surprises, shocks, and kills. It makes stories that are deadly funny.” —The New York Times Each of the nine short stories collected here feature two types of people—the troubled and the troublemakers. In “The Guest,” a homeless man gleefully takes credit for a robbery he did not commit. “In the Alley” tells the story of a terminally ill man who begrudgingly outlives his initial prognosis. And the satiric “I Look Out for Ed Wolfe” features a charismatic salesman auctioning off his life’s possessions in order to determine his value in the world. Laced with wit, Criers & Kibitzers, Kibitzers & Criers is a keenly observed collection that puts Elkin’s comic artistry on full display. This ebook features rare photos and never-before-seen documents from the author’s estate and from the Stanley Elkin archives at Washington University in St. Louis.