Table of Contents: “…To the secretary of the American Academy of Arts and Letters --…”

Table of Contents: “…Acceptance of the Gold Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Letters 1948 --…”

Table of Contents: “…Yeats; The blue finch of Arabia; The sound of waves; The woman who never drew breath except to complain; The masks; The man who lost his father; The old woman whose house was beside a running stream; The pessimistic fortune-teller; The printing office; The lamplighter; The kingdom where straightforward, logical thinking was admired over every other kind; The old man at the railroad crossing; A mean and spiteful toad; All the days and nights -- Other improvisations: The old man who was afraid of falling; The epistolarian; The shepherd's wife; The marble watch; The half-crazy woman; The woman who didn't want anything more; The girl with a willing heart and a cold mind; The woodcutter; The man who had never been sick a day in his life; The problem child; The woman who had no eye for small details; The man who loved to eat; The woman with a talent for talking; Perfection; What you can't hang on to; Mushrooms; The dancing; The education of Her Majesty the Queen; Newton's Law -- Nearing ninety -- Appendix: Preface to The château; Preface to So long, see you tomorrow; Preface to All the days and nights: the collected stories of William Maxwell; Remarks upon accepting the Gold Medal in Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.…”