Short Story Review: "The Indian Uprising" by Ann Beattie

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Maude is the only student who kept in touch with Franklin Chadwick, the old creative writing instructor from college. His health has deteriorated because of diabetes and other concerns. She talks to him on the phone in her boyfriend’s apartment. Her boyfriend asks if she plans to stay the night. She goes out to have dinner with Franklin. Franklin tells her an interesting story about the receptionist at the retirement home where he lives. He’s told her the same story before, but this time, some of the details have changed. Maude has published one book of poetry. Although that book garnered an important honor, she no longer writes poetry. Why? While there are some predictable things and some unlikely elements, this is at its heart a story about what makes writers write and what it means to write. The story itself is not bad, but appears written primarily for fiction writers in academia, a limited audience to say the least. I’m not sure of the relevance of the title, though possibly there’s some connection to Donald Barthelme’s 1968 short story of the same name. Author Ann Beattie she is the Edgar Allan Poe Chair of the Department of English and Creative Writing at the University of Virgina. She won the 2005 Rea Award for the Short Story. _____ Title: “The Indian Uprising” Published in: Best American Short Stories 2014 First Published: Granta no. 126 Author: Ann Beattie (b. 1947) Source: Wikipedia *An earlier version of this review appeared on another site. It has been removed from that site and it no longer visible there or anywhere else. It has altered and updated for inclusion in myLot.*