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The Rainbow Stories

First edition (UK)
Author	William T Vollmann
Language	English
Publisher	Andre Deutsch (UK) Atheneum Books (US)
Publication date	January 1989 (UK) July 1989 (US)
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (hardback & paperback)
Pages	544pp
ISBN	978-0-689-11961-3
Preceded by	You Bright and Risen Angels
Followed by	The Ice-Shirt

The Rainbow Stories is a collection of short stories about American culture written by William T. Vollmann and published in 1989. Written in the style of narrative journalism, it was his second published fictional work, preceded by You Bright and Risen Angels. The book consists of thirteen interlocking stories (based on the colours of the rainbow) that range in scope from ancient Babylon to modern San Francisco. Steven Moore wrote of the book that "Vollmann's verbal prowess, empathy, and astonishing range put him in a class apart from his contemporaries." Robert Rebein described the book as a "real breakthrough" for Vollman, stating: " a book that mixed reportorial and fictional techniques to powerfully evoke the lives of prostitutes and skinheads on the streets of San Francisco's Tenderloin district."

Contents

The 13 stories included in the book are:

• "The Visible Spectrum"
• "The White Knights"
• "Red Hands"
• "Ladies and Red Lights"
• "Scintillant Orange"
• "Yellow Rose"
• "The Yellow Sugar"
• "The Green Dress"
• "The Blue Wallet"
• "The Blue Yonder"
• "The Indigo Engineers"
• "Violet Hair"
• "X-Ray Visions"

References

1. Mason, Fran (2009). The A to Z of Postmodernist Literature and Theater. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 337. ISBN 0-8108-6855-5.
2. ^ Hemmingson, Michael (2009). William T. Vollmann: A Critical Study and Seven Interviews. McFarland & Company. pp. 22–30. ISBN 0-7864-4025-2.
3. LeClaira, Tom (1996). "The Prodigious Fiction of Richard Powers, William Vollmann, and David Foster Wallace". Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction. 38 (1): 12–37. doi:10.1080/00111619.1996.9936496.
4. James, Caryn (August 13, 1989). "'The Rainbow Stories'". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
5. Eder, Richard (July 16, 1989). "The Yawp of Reason". Los Angeles Times.
6. Moore, Steven (Summer 1989). "The Rainbow Stories: Review of Contemporary Fiction". Retrieved 1 May 2013.
7. ^ Rebein, Robert (2002). Hicks, Tribes, and Dirty Realists: American Fiction After Postmodernism. Scholarly Book Services Inc. p. 54. ISBN 0-8131-2176-0.

• 1989 short story collections
• Works by William T. Vollmann
• Atheneum Books books