SOURCE: Henry, Brian. “Richard Ford.” In American Writers: A Collection of Literary Biographies, edited by Jay Parini, pp. 57-75. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2000.

In the following excerpt, Henry provides an overview of Ford's short fiction.

Ford's Montana: Rock Springs and Wildlife

Ford's short stories differ from his novels primarily in length. The protagonists and narrators in his stories, as in his novels, are male. They have problems with women and infidelity, with work and money, with alcohol and responsibility and violence. They tend to brood on their pasts, they have bad luck, and they lack a sense of purpose. They have seen opportunity diminish to the point of vanishment.

Yet they survive. The most striking aspect of Ford's short stories is how they illuminate the human capacity for survival. Despite the threads of desperation and alienation that run throughout Rock Springs, Ford's primary achievement in these stories...