SOURCE: McGraw, Erin. “Telling Lives.” Georgia Review 51, no. 2 (summer 1997): 380-82.

In the following excerpt, McGraw explores the moral resonance of the stories collected in The Night in Question.

Tobias Wolff frequently uses narrative passages to give dignity to his characters, although dignity in his world is rarely so overwhelming as it is in “The Magic Barrel.” Wolff isn't interested in exalting his characters; he's interested in judging them, and his stories typically have a sharp moral edge. Which is the greater wrong, to tell a small lie that will save your own pride, or a much larger lie that will keep others from being hurt? Is it worse to neglect an old friend or to pay attention to him by taking advantage of him? Again and again, Wolff poses troubling questions. His stories often resemble parables, and like parables they have no clear answers other than to suggest...