In recent weeks—somewhat to our suprise—we have run three front-page reviews of fiction by young American writers. Mary Gordon's "Final Payments" is her first novel; John Irving's "The World According to Garp" is his fourth; Barry Hannah's "Airships" is his first collection of stories, though he has already published two novels…. These young writers deserve praise: they are strong and original and clearly in touch with life, not just with literary games and fashions. Their books are very different in scale and subject and style, and each of them has a different literary strength: Mary Gordon has a sharp eye for character and social detail; John Irving has a large gift for narrative and structure; Barry Hannah has a distinctive comic voice. (p. 3)

Barry Hannah's stories in "Airships" are reverse chic: he has a casual redneck charm, a garrulous late-60's anarchy, with lots of sexist...