Turning the self into fiction: Reynolds Price’s early stories

The American writer Reynolds Price’s fiction stems from his own experience: not only does he describe people he knows or used to know (family relatives, friends) but he provides his readers with his first-hand response to specific situations. Through a close analysis of three of his short stories (‘Different’, ‘TheWarrior Princess Ozimba’ and ‘Uncle Grant’), this article shows how Price turns life into fiction. The stories are thus read in relation to the hypotexts that Price’s preliminary notes provide and to his memoirs (Clear Pictures in 1989 and Ardent Spirits in 2009). Through the use of various texts that make up Price’s oeuvre, this article demonstrates that Price’s presence is often palpable even though he manages to distance himself from the events he narrates in the stories. He fully participates in the elaboration of the actual personalities of the people he conjures up in his memoirs and thus blends reality and imagination.