Story by Tobias Wolff about an arsonist son

November 28, 2021 8:05 AM

I remember reading a story, possibly by Tobias Wolff, about a man and his wife who have constructed a sort of ideal, back to the land sort of existence. The narrator works at a local farm with horses. One day the narrator's son lights the employer's barn on fire, killing these beautiful horses, and the father returns to working in the city at a job he hates, his family dissolved. It's just one of those painful Tobias Wolff stories designed to make you feel miserable, and yet I can't locate it or the title!
posted by mecran01 to Media & Arts (3 answers total)

This sounds kind of like Faulkner's story Barn Burning, but the details don't match exactly. If I recall correctly, Wolff brings up this story in his book Old School. So maybe that's what you're remembering?
posted by twelve cent archie at 9:29 AM on November 28, 2021

This is the exact plot of Good Will, a perfect novella by Jane Smiley. Kirkus review here.
posted by plant or animal at 11:09 AM on November 28, 2021 [4 favorites]

Response by poster: Wow, I must have been reading a lot of Tobias Wolff at the same time as Jane Smiley, but in my murky, fading memory the story in question was a short story. Perhaps it was made part of a novella later, although skimming over it other parts seem familiar as well. Now I'll get to reread it, thank you. It reminds me of so many of my college friends and their dismantled hippy dreams.
posted by mecran01 at 6:56 PM on November 28, 2021