Few other fiction writers in late twentieth-century American letters have had so great an influence as Grace Paley on the basis of so few books in a lifetime of work. Even fewer fiction writers--one thinks mainly of Raymond Carver--have attained such a reputation on the strength of their work in the short story alone.

There are other ways, as well, in which Carver's and Paley's stories might be compared. Both in their different ways experiment with forms of apparent simplicity, each creating a new type of story distinctively his or her own. Both love the sound of the human voice; both are concerned with people in poverty and distress; and both use humor in their fiction. Paley's work differs from Carver's, however, on issues of politics and gender. Her stories are far more overtly political than Carver's, expressing her feminism as well as her leftist and pacifist political...