Graywolf Annual Seven: Stories from the American Mosaic

The American ``mosaic'' here replaces the popular concept of the melting pot. But the struggle to strike a balance between assimilation and cultural heritage--what melts and what doesn't--is the common ground for this dazzlingly diverse collection of 15 short stories. In Nahid Rachlin's ``Journey of Love,'' Alexander leaves Greece to visit his son, a doctor, on Long Island, N.Y. Despite Gregory's accomplishments, Alexander mourns that he has lost his son to a new culture and that the son, perhaps, has lost the better part of himself. Louise Erdrich shows the darker side of the mosaic--poverty and oppression--in ``American Horse,'' a tale about a social worker who wants to ``salvage'' a Native American woman's son by removing the boy from her. Salvatore La Puma's ``Inside the Fire'' describes a new American culture, that of the homeless, for whom assimilation is impossible; yet the resourceful wedding party his characters stage demonstrates a desire to be part of the main. A welcome celebration of America's ethnic variety, the omnibus (stories appeared previously in the New Yorker , the Atlantic, Redbook et al.) excels throughout, featuring such skilled authors as Yoshiko Uchida, Bharati Mukherjee and K. C. Frederick. Walker is Graywolf's publisher. (Nov.)