SOURCE: "Uncommon Characters," in The New Republic, Vol. 190, No. 21, May 28, 1984, pp. 33-4.

Tyler is an American novelist and short story writer who is known for her fictional portraits of family life in works such as Searching for Caleb (1976) and Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant (1982). Often considered a Southern regionalist, Tyler has been most influenced by Eudora Welty, an author to whom she is frequently compared. In the following review, she provides a negative assessment of the short fiction in What I Know So Far.

Mention Gordon Lish and most readers will think of short stories, logically enough. Gordon Lish was fiction editor at Esquire for a number of years, and has edited three short story anthologies. This is what makes it so odd that of the two books he has written—a novel [Dear Mr. Capote] and a collection of stories [What I Know So Far]—it's the...