Something Rich and Strange (2014): Ron Rash’s short fiction poetics

Abstract

Abstract Regarding the 2014 publication of Something Rich and Strange, an extensive selection of short stories by American writer Ron Rash, as a turning point in his career, this article endeavours to present Rash’s art as a short-story writer and to highlight a few characteristic aspects of his short stories, his favourite genre. Looking into the genesis of the compilation, this article tries to situate Rash’s practice as a short-story writer within the literary traditions that now include him, at the junction of various influences. Drawing from several reviews, interviews and volunteering new textual interpretations, it comments on how genres keep circulating in Rash’s writing and cautiously tries to verbalize and analyse the recurrent components of Rash’s poetics as a short-story writer who is exceptionally concerned with the interactions of time and place and with the ambivalences of man’s motivations.