The title story of Francis King's latest short story collection, Indirect Method (1980), suggests covertly the way this talented and prolific writer proceeds in his own fiction: the direct method is not for him, despite its success in language instruction. King is a novelist of great tact, who is capable of surprising candor; he writes as a disciplined observer within the great tradition of realistic fiction. Possessed of an eye for detail that brings into sharp focus the most subtle feelings and poignant circumstances of life, he nevertheless counts on his readers to go beneath his well-finished surface and to read between the clear lines with which he portrays character and situation in his fiction. King's critics sometimes make much of his detachment, but in doing so they may not do justice to the imagination and intuition he works to evoke on the part of the reader. The "waves...