The Doctor Stories


The Doctor Stories is an eclectic collection of 13 works of short fiction by William Carlos Williams, compiled by Robert Coles and published by New Directions Publishing in 1984.
The stories are representative of Williams' autobiographical physician-patient narratives that characterize much of his short fiction.

Stories

The works are listed under the collection in which they first appeared.
Those stories originally published in Blast are indicated with date of issue.
from The Knife of the Times and Other Stories :
  • "Mind and Body"
  • "Old Doc Rivers"
from Life Along the Passaic River :
from Make Light of It: Collected Stories of William Carlos Williams :
  • "The Paid Nurse"
  • "Ancient Gentility"
  • "Verbal Transcriptions: 6 A.M"
  • "The Insane"
  • "Comedy Entombed: 1930"
Poems
  • "The Birth"
  • "Le Médecin malgré lui"
  • "Dead Baby"
  • "A Cold Front"
  • "The Poor"
  • "Too Close"
"The Practice"
Afterword: "My Father, The Doctor"

Critical analysis

Writing in The New York Times, poet and literary critic Harvey Shapiro comments on how the theme of the stories emerges directly from their composition: