But she had then been married for ten years, so that to my group of friends, all in the early teens, she seemed quite of another generation. The first time she was in her thirties, still young. It was three times-but at intervals of many years-that I heard my Aunt Minnie tell about an experience of her girlhood that had made a never-to-be-forgotten impression on her. But Dorothy Canfield Fisher proves Aunt Minnie wrong. “There just aren’t any words to say something that’s so both-ways-at-once,” Aunt Minnie says. I love the way Canfield Fisher uses unshowy, conversational language to reveal complex psychological depths. I love the way the story compresses forty years of an ordinary woman’s life into a few pages, so simply and skillfully, and so heart-breakingly.
It suggests the elasticity of memory, as well as the ways that we might lie to ourselves about our own motivations, and it has challenging and complex things to say about what Aunt Minnie calls “this man-and-woman business.” It’s a kind of Rashomon tale in reverse, the same person remembers, then re-remembers, then remembers again.
It has an unusual and compelling structure-the main character, Aunt Minnie, tells the same story three different times over a period of decades, and each time she tells the story it transforms in major ways, taking on radically different shadings and meanings, altering details. “Sex Education” is a beautiful and strange story about, among other things, the telling of stories. So it’s a pleasure to have a chance to introduce new readers to her wonderful short fiction. Now, she is primarily known for the annual children’s book award that bears her name. Henry anthologies, she was also a noted educational reformer and social activist who was once named among the ten most influential women in the United States by no less than Eleanor Roosevelt.
The author of 35 books, some of them bestsellers, many of her stories appearing in Best American Short Stories and O. Dorothy Canfield Fisher is, unfortunately, among those whose work is seldom read these days, though she was quite famous in her time. When a card from the Discard Pile is played then the new top card can also be played.I have long been interested in writers who have fallen into neglect. Only the top card of the Discard Pile may be played elsewhere. When no cards remain in the Stock, the cards from the Discard Pile can be flipped over and gone through an unlimited number of times. StockĬards from the Stock are flipped three at a time to a Discard Pile. The topmost card in any Column is available for play to either another Column or a Foundation.Įmpty Columns may be filled with any card or group of cards that may be validly moved. For example, a red Queen, black Jack, and red 10 can all be moved to a black King because the connecting cards (the K and Q) follow the rule that cards are built Down and in Alternating Color. For example, a red 6 may be placed on a black 7.Īll face up cards in any Column are available for movement to another Column as long as the above build rule is followed. ColumnsĬolumns are built DOWN in ALTERNATING COLOR. Each Foundation in this example would also start with a 3. For example, if a 3 of hearts was dealt to the first Foundation, then the 4 of hearts would be played onto the 3, then the 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A, and 2 of hearts. Foundationsįoundations are built UP and IN SUIT starting with the rank of the card dealt to the first Foundation and ending with the rank one less. Finally, 13 cards are dealt to the Reserve Pile. Next, each of the four Columns is dealt one card. Using one deck, a single card is dealt to the first Foundation. The starting Foundation rank changes from game to game. Move all cards to the four Foundation piles in the same suit.
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