The Office of Historical Corrections

The Office of Historical Corrections is a short-story collection by American writer Danielle Evans. Published by Riverhead Books on November 10, 2020, the collection consists of six short stories and a novella (after which the collection is named) that deal with topics of race, loss, legacy, and loneliness in America. It was nominated for The Story Prize and the Chautauqua Prize, and received the 2021 Joyce Carol Oates Literary Prize.^[1]

First edition

Stories

• "Happily Ever After" – a woman struggles with the legacy of cancer in her family.
• "Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain", a photojournalist attends the wedding of a man she encountered accidentally, and is met with deep suspicion by the bride, who believes she might have had an affair with the groom.
• "Boys Go to Jupiter" – a white teenager becomes embroiled in a scandal at her university when a picture of her in a confederate flag bikini goes viral.
• "Alcatraz" – a woman tries to cheer up her mother after she loses a court battle to clear her grandfather's name by reconnecting with the white family members from whom she was separated as a child.
• "Why Won't Women Just Say What They Want" – a misogynistic artist issues a series of public apologies to the women he has wronged.
• "Anything Could Disappear" – a young woman relocating to New York City to start a new life in the midst of the Great Recession hits a speed bump when a complete stranger abandons her placid baby with her.
• "The Office of Historical Corrections" (novella) – a D.C. woman works for the Institute of Public History, jokingly nicknamed The Office of Historical Corrections, trying to combat the epidemic of misinformation in American society. When she is sent to Wisconsin on a mission to amend her ex-co-worker's correction, she ends up uncovering the dark truth of one family's past.

Themes

The book's stories center apologies, corrections, and "making things right", per the author Danielle Evans.^[2]

Publication

2020. The Office of Historical Corrections, Danielle Evans, Riverhead Books, hardcover, ISBN 978-1-59448-733-0.

Reception

The collection was widely praised for Evans's deft handling of the themes of the work.^[3] The New York Times praised the collection as weaving together "Melvillian mundanity with melodramatic suspense".^[4] In a starred review, Kirkus Reviews praised the collection as a whole, calling the stories "[n]ecessary narratives, brilliantly crafted".^[5] Ian MacAllen of the Chicago Review of Books applauded the writing as "tightly structured, compact and efficient, driven by wry wit and Evans’s keen observations."^[6] Chaya Bhuvaneswar, reviewing The Office of Historical Collections in The Washington Post, said that "this book will make readers face the news with renewed emotion, emotion all the more potent for the devastation that history has wrought on Evans’s characters, and on all of us."^[7]

Two stories were previously included in The Best American Short Stories anthologies.

Accolades

• 2020: O Magazine 20 Best Books of 2020^[8]
• 2020: The Story Prize, Finalist^[9]
• 2021: Aspen Words Literary Prize, Finalist^[10]
• 2021: The Chautauqua Prize, Finalist^[11]
• 2021: Joyce Carol Oates Literary Prize, Winner^[12]

References

1. Saka, Rasheeda. "Here are the 2020 finalists for The Story Prize". Literary Hub. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
2. Khatib, Joumana (November 7, 2020). "Short Stories Need a Defender. She's Ready". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
3. "Book Marks reviews of The Office of Historical Corrections: A Novella and Stories by Danielle Evans". Book Marks. Retrieved October 19, 2022.
4. Hu, Jane (November 10, 2020). "New Story Collections Reconsider History and Upend Tradition". The New York Times. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
5. "Kirkus Reviews". Kirkus Reviews. September 2, 2020. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
6. MacAllen, Ian (November 16, 2020). ""The Office Of Historical Corrections" is a Necessary Critique of the Current Moment". Chicago Review of Books. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
7. Bhuvaneswar, Chaya (January 15, 2021). "In Danielle Evans's 'The Office of Historical Corrections,' the sorrows are personal but also deeply historical". Washington Post. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
8. Haber, Leigh; Hart, Michelle; Cain, Hamilton (November 19, 2020). "These Are the Best Books of 2020, According to O, The Oprah Magazine". Oprah Daily. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
9. "The Story Prize". The Story Prize. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
10. Mayer, Petra (February 17, 2021). "Aspen Words Announces 5 Finalists For 2021's Literary Prize". NPR.org. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
11. The Office of Historical Corrections: A Novella and Stories (Hardcover).
12. Caplan, Walker (April 28, 2021). "Danielle Evans has won the 2021 Joyce Carol Oates Prize". Literary Hub. Retrieved June 13, 2021.

External links

• The Office of Historical Collections on Penguin Random House