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Mad Prairie 2021
Mad Prairie is a short story collection written by Kate McIntyre and published in 2021 by the University of Georgia Press. The volume includes seven short stories and one novella, all centered on the author’s home state of Kansas. The narratives are connected through their shared geographic setting and through character relationships that are sometimes revealed late in the stories as unexpected twists.
Kansas is depicted in the collection as a restrictive and confining environment. Anuradha Prasad notes that McIntyre portrays Kansas as “a dead end to dreams—stunted and stifling, its landscape uninspiring.” According to Patrick Carey writing for the Colorado Review, the depiction emphasizes “ultra-traditional gender and sex relations” as central to how Kansas is shown in the work. He describes it as “a black hole that binds together people” who recognize they should leave their current circumstances but do not. In an interview, McIntyre made clear that she did not intend for the work to be read purely as a critique of Kansas, expressing fondness for both Kansans and the landscape itself.
Violence plays a significant role in many of the stories, particularly within the novella. McIntyre described “the unpredictability of male anger” as a core theme and explained her intent to portray how it could coexist with love and humor. The violent elements appear alongside everyday occurrences, which Carey calls “the endless dopiness of people going through everyday life.” Prasad characterizes the figures in the book as “a parade of passive, hapless, and sinister characters” who follow “wildly absurd and terrifying paths.” Carey draws comparisons between McIntyre and Shirley Jackson for her Gothic horror style and to George Saunders for her humorous portrayal of “dopey couples.”
The collection received the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction in 2020. This recognition led to its publication by the University of Georgia Press in 2021. It was also named a 2022 Kansas Notable Book by the Kansas Center for the Book at the State Library of Kansas. Additionally, it was longlisted for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for a debut short-story collection. The book contains 176 pages.
Details
- Publisher
- University of Georgia Press
- ISBN
- 9780820360744
- Pages
- 176
