SOURCE: Sokolov, Raymond. “Getting to Know Him.” Wall Street Journal (16 February 1988): E34.

In the following favorable review of Emperor of the Air, Sokolov notes that Canin's stories center on the dynamics within families.

Houghton Mifflin, the distinguished Boston publisher, has been pleased to announce the award of a Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship to the distinguished young writer Ethan Canin. No doubt, Houghton Mifflin has also been pleased by the generally amorous reaction to the book of stories it has just published by Mr. Canin, Emperor of the Air. Mr. Canin himself is on record that he is pleased with what he and a recent interviewer were pleased to call his “success.”

I for one wish all of these happy people much prosperity and good health to enjoy it in. If, however, his friends at Houghton Mifflin or the lit-hype press should fall ill, Mr. Canin will soon be...