The Little Disturbances of Man is a collection of short stories by Grace Paley first published in 1959 by Doubleday.Isaacs, 1990 p. 185: Bibliography, Primary Works.

The volume created a minor sensation among a number of literary critics and is now widely considered to comprise some of Paley's finest work.Lehmann-Haupt, 1974: "[A]n extraordinary book of fiction...The Little Disturbances of Man: Stories of Men and Women at Love.English, 2007: "Her first collection of stories, The Little Disturbances of Man (1959), remains her best."Isaacs, 1990 p. 153: The publishing of Little Disturbances made Paley "an overnight cult figure" among a select literati. And: Paley viewed by some as "a writer's writer incarnate...breezed into a climate of ready-made critical acclamation."Schwartz, 2017: "The book made her reputation..."

Stories Publishing history for selected stories is provided in Grace Paley: A Study of the Short Fiction. Twanye Publishing, Boston. G. K. Hall & Co., Gordon Weaver, General Editor. Isaacs, 1990 p. 185-186: Bibliography, Primary Works.

"Goodbye and Good Luck" "A Woman Young and Old" "The Pale Pink Roast" "The Loudest Voice" "The Contest" "An Interest in Life" "An Irrevocable Diameter" "Two Short Sad Stories from a Long and Happy Life" 1. "The Used-Boy Raisers" 2. "A Subject of Childhood" "In Time Which Made a Monkey of Us All" "The Floating Truth"

Publishing background Biographer Alexandra Schwartz reports that the publication of the ten stories was serendipitous:

Prior to their appearance in Little Disturbances, two of the stories were published in the journal accent: Paley's first published story, completed when she was age 33, is "Goodbye and Good Luck" (accent 16, 1956) and another, "The Contest" (accent 18, 1958).Schwartz, 2017: "'Goodbye and Good Luck'...a triumph."

The Little Disturbances of Man has been translated into several languages, including German, Spanish, French and Swedish.Isaacs, 1990 p. 185: Bibliography, Primary Works.

Reception The release of Little Disturbances was well-received by a number of critics, quickly earning Paley a reputation as a "writer's writer."Lehmann-Haupt, 1974: "...writer's writer..."Schwartz, 2017: "The book made her reputation; she began placing stories in The Atlantic, Esquire, and—that small pond of big fish—New American Review."Harris, 1985: "Ask writers of varying dispositions and sensibilities, and Grace Paley's name is almost certain to be mentioned in any list of admired colleagues...Miss Paley has achieved a reputation as a writers' writer..."Isaacs, 1990 p. 153: "...writer's writer incarnate..."

New York Times reviewer Patricia Macmanus called the publication of Little Disturbances "a welcome event" and praised Paley's "well-defined and artfully guileless form of narrative progression."Macmanus, 1959

Theme

According to biographer Neil D. Isaacs, the title of the collection may be ironic: the "little disturbances" concerns "the major stressors in contemporary life," primarily a societal failure to establish gender equality.Isaacs, 1990 p. 3, Introduction.

Reviewer Patricia Macmanus locates the collection's essence in an "all-too-infrequent literary virtue—the comic vision."Macmanus, 1959

Semi-autobiographical character "Faith Darwin" A key fictional figure in Paley's writing, Faith Darwin first appeared in the diptych piece "Two Sad Stories from a Long and Happy Life," originally published in The Little Disturbances of Man. Faith appears as a central or peripheral character in about half of Paley's short fiction, serving alternately as "storyteller, story hearer, or bit player."Isaacs, 1990 Introduction p. 4: Isaacs refers to Faith as "Faith Asbury" rather than "Faith Darwin."Schwartz, 2017: "In The Little Disturbances of Man, Paley introduced Faith Darwin, an alter ego who returns, like a friend, in each subsequent collection."Lehmann-Haupt, 1974: "Faith, the first-person singular heroine..." As a literary invention, Faith represents autobiographical elements from Paley's life.English, 2007: "A semi-autobiographical character with the ambiguous name of Faith Darwin appears in some of the stories in The Little Disturbances of Man."Kakutani, 1985: "Faith, the author's feisty yet simpatico alter ego..."

Biographer Neil D. Isaacs cautions readers that conflating Faith Darwin directly with Paley is to risk distorting her literary purpose as intended by the author.Isaacs, 1990, Introduction, p. 4-5: "Paley is keenly aware of the dangers...of her identity with the author..." Composite quote for clarity.Harris, 1985: "She is quick to say that Faith, a character in many of her stories, is not autobiographical."

Retrospective appraisal Critic Renee Winegarten, writing in Mainstream (December 1974) attested to the favorable treatment the collection received on its release, and ranked Paley's "intelligent, individual, independent voice" with that of Mark Twain's novel Huckleberry Finn (1884).Winegarten, 1974: "...greeted with remarkable critical acclaim—particularly remarkable in that the object of the acclaim was not a novel..."

New York Times literary critic Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, writing in 1974, considered Paley at the apex of her creative powers with The Little Disturbances of Man, noting "fifteen years after publication, not a work of the book seems dated."Lehmann-Haupt, 1974: "And reading The Little Disturbances of Man today, one can see why."

Critic Sandy English declares in his obituary for Paley: "Her first collection of stories, The Little Disturbances of Man, remains her best."English, 2007.

Footnotes

Sources English, Sandy. 2007. "Obituary: Grace Paley and political culture." World Socialist Web Site, October 10, 2007. https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2007/10/pale-o19.html Accessed 31 March, 2026. Harris, Robert R. 1985. "Pacifist With Their Dukes Up." New York Times, April 14, 1985.https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/04/19/specials/paley-later.html Accessed 15 April, 2026. Isaacs, Neil D. 1990. Grace Paley: A Study of the Short Fiction. Twanyes Publishing, Boston. G. K. Hall & Co., Gordon Weaver, General Editor. Kakutani, Michiko. 1985. BOOKS OF THE TIMES. New York Times, April 10, 1985. https://www.nytimes.com/1985/04/10/books/books-of-the-times-154281.html Accessed 15 April, 2026. Lehmann-Haupt, Christopher. 1974. "Changes Not for the Better. New York Times, February 28, 1974. https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/04/19/specials/paley-changes.html Accessed 16 April, 2026. Macmanus, Patricia. 1959. "Laughter From Tears; THE LITTLE DISTURBANCES OF MAN." New York Times, April 19, 1959.https://www.nytimes.com/1959/04/19/archives/laughter-from-tears-the-little-disturbances-of-man-by-grace-paley.html Access 20 April, 2026. Paley, Grace. 1959. The Little Disturbances of Man. Doubleday, New York. . Paley, Grace. 2017. A Grace Paley Reader: Stories, Essays, and Poetry. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York. Saunders, George. 2017. Introduction to The Grace Paley Reader. pp. xv-xxiv. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York. Schwartz, Alexandra. 2017. "The Art and Activism of Grace Paley." The New Yorker, May 1, 2017. Review of A Grace Paley Reader (2017), edited by Kevin Bowen and Nora Paley. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/05/08/the-art-and-activism-of-grace-paley Accessed 31 May, 2026 Winegarten, Renee. 1974. "Paley's Comet." Mainstream 20, December 1974. pp. 65-67. in Grace Paley: A Study of the Short Fiction. 1990. p. 155. Twanye Publishers, Boston. G. K. Hall & Co., Gordon Weaver, General Editor.