Breece D’J Pancake’s story collection was first published in 1983. His death by suicide happened in 1979 after he experienced a spate of grievous losses in his life.
Much has been written about Breece D’J Pancake—the middle initials in his unusual name, his feeling like an outsider in university, for example. Some readers don’t consider his life and work without also considering his death.
But in life, he experienced a little bit of success, living to see his stories published in such reputable publications as The Atlantic Monthly.
His stories were set in West Virginia and feature some focus on the natural world with hard-working characters in some sort of dire straits. Their lives are laid bare for readers bit by slow and thoughtful bit.
There’s a timelessness in Pancake’s stories. They are distilled, austere, compressed—and yet we find such a richness and complexity in them, in the interiority of the main characters, the conflicts they encounter, the losses they endure.
In this episode, Peter Orner and Yvette Benavides discuss “First Day of Winter” by Breece D’J Pancake. And stay tuned for a bonus episode as Orner and Benavides discuss another story by Breece D’J Pancake, “Time and Again.”
Breece D’J Pancake’s stories can be found in a number of collections, including The Stories of Breece D’J Pancake.
The essay “Winter in September” can be found in the memoir in essays Am I Alone Here: Notes on Living to Read and Reading to Live by Peter Orner.
We think you’ll find this article about Breece D’J Pancake by Jon Michaud interesting. Unearthing Breece D’J Pancake | The New Yorker
Read more about Peter Orner at Peter Orner
Read more about The Lonely Voice at tpr.org/thelonelyvoice
Send questions, comments or story recommendations for The Lonely Voice to yvette@tpr.org
