Annie Proulx has emerged as a writer of classic stature, and profile writers are fond of remarking quite incorrectly) that she didn't begin writing until she was in her fiffies. They are confusing “writing with publishing” which is an elementary and condescending error. Everything in her work attests to long practice of keen observation, a hoarding of images and facts, and the painstaking perfection of a craft which allows her to address the most pungent and raw subject matter in a style remarkable not just for vigor but for delicacy and finesse. If you were to ask of the stories in Close Range, "How long did these take?" the answer would surely be ‘A lifetime.’”
— Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self