The Story and Its Writer Compact: An Introduction to Short Fiction

by Charters

• ISBN13: 9780312442712
• ISBN10: 0312442718
• Edition: 7th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-05-23
• Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's

Summary

During her many years of teaching introduction to fiction courses, Ann Charters developed an acute sense of which stories work most effectively in the classroom. She also discovered that writers, not editors, have the most interesting and useful things to say about the making and the meaning of fiction. Accordingly, her choice of fiction in the first edition of herThe Story and Its Writerwas as notable for its student appeal as it was for its quality and range. And to complement these stories, she introduced a lasting innovation: an array of the writers' own commentaries on the craft and traditions of the short story. In subsequent editions her sense of what works was confirmed as the book evolved into the most comprehensive, diverse -- and bestselling -- introduction to fiction anthology. Instructors rely on Ann Charters' ability to assemble an authoritative and teachable anthology, and anticipate each edition's selection of new writers and stories.

Author Biography

ANN CHARTERS (Ph.D., Columbia University) is a professor of English at the University of Connecticut and has taught courses in the short story for over thirty years. A preeminent authority on the Beat writers, Charters has written a critically acclaimed biography of Jack Kerouac; compiled Beats & Company, a collection of her own photographs of Beat writers; and edited the best-selling Portable Beat Reader. Her recent books include The Kerouac Reader, Selected Letters of Jack Kerouac, 1957-1969, Beat Down to Your Soul, and The Portable Sixties Reader. Her other textbooks with Bedford/St. Martin's include Literature and Its Writers, co-edited with Samuel Charters, and The American Short Story and Its Writer.

Table of Contents

PREFACE	v
INTRODUCTION THE STORY AND ITS WRITER	1	(9)
Part One STORIES
CHINUA ACHEBE
Civil Peace	10	(5)
RELATED COMMENTARY: CHINUA ACHEBE, An Image of Africa: Conrad's "Heart of Darkness,"	827
SHERMAN ALEXIE
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven	15	(6)
RELATED COMMENTARY: SHERMAN ALEXIE, Superman and Me,	832
ISABEL ALLENDE
An Act of Vengeance	21	(7)
SHERWOOD ANDERSON
Hands	28	(5)
RELATED COMMENTARY: SHERWOOD ANDERSON, Form, Not Plot, in the Short Story,	835
MARGARET ATWOOD
Happy Endings	33	(4)
RELATED COMMENTARY: MARGARET ATWOOD, Reading Blind,	837
JAMES BALDWIN
Sonny's Blues	37	(24)
RELATED COMMENTARY: JAMES BALDWIN, Autobiographical Notes,	841
TONI CADE BAMBARA
The Lesson	61	(7)
RUSSELL BANKS
Black Man and White Woman in Dark Green Rowboat	68	(7)
RELATED STORY: ERNEST HEMINGWAY, Hills Like White Elephants,	350	(495)
RELATED COMMENTARY: RUSSELL BANKS, Author's Note,	845
AMBROSE BIERCE
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge	75	(8)
JORGE LUIS BORGES
The Circular Ruins	83	(5)
RELATED COMMENTARY: JULIO CORTÁZAR, On the Short Story and Its Environs,	859
RAYMOND CARVER
Cathedral	88	(10)
Errand	98	(9)
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love	107	(10)
RELATED CASEBOOKS:
RAYMOND CARVER, On Writing,	941	(5)
RAYMOND CARVER, Creative Writing	946	(3)
RAYMOND CARVER, The Ashtray,	949	(1)
RAYMOND CARVER, On "Errand,"	950	(2)
OLGA KNIPPER, Remembering Chekhov,	952	(1)
HENRI TROYAT, Chekhov's Last Days,	953	(3)
TOM JENKS, The Origin of "Cathedral,"	956	(3)
ARTHUR M. SALTZMAN, A Reading of "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love," 957
A.O. SCOTT, Looking for Raymond Carver,	959
WILLA CATHER
Paul's Case	117	(16)
RELATED COMMENTARY: WILLA CATHER, The Stories of Katherine Mansfield,	847
JOHN CHEEVER
The Swimmer	133	(10)
RELATED COMMENTARY: JOHN CHEEVER, Why I Write Short Stories,	855
ANTON CHEKHOV
The Darling	143	(11)
RELATED STORY: RAYMOND CARVER, Errand,	98	(759)
RELATED COMMENTARIES:
ANTON CHEKHOV, Technique in Writing the Short Story,	857	(62)
LEO TOLSTOY, Chekhov's Intent in "The Darling,"	919
KATE CHOPIN
Désirée's Baby	154	(4)
The Story of an Hour	158	(4)
RELATED COMMENTARY: KATE CHOPIN, How I Stumbled upon Maupassant,	858
SANDRA CISNEROS
The House on Mango Street	162	(3)
JOSEPH CONRAD
Heart of Darkness	165	(63)
RELATED COMMENTARY: CHINUA ACHEBE, An Image of Africa: Conrad's "Heart of Darkness,"	827
STEPHEN CRANE
The Open Boat	228	(19)
RELATED COMMENTARY: STEPHEN CRANE, The Sinking of the Commodore,	861
JUNOT DIAZ
How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, or Halfie	247	(3)
CHITRA BANERJEE DIVAKARUNI
Mrs. Dutta Writes a Letter	250	(16)
RALPH ELLISON
Battle Royal	266	(11)
RELATED COMMENTARY: RALPH ELLISON, The Influence of Folklore on "Battle Royal,"	864
LOUISE ERDRICH
The Red Convertible	277	(9)
WILLIAM FAULKNER
A Rose for Emily	286	(7)
That Evening Sun	293	(14)
RELATED COMMENTARY: WILLIAM FAULKNER, The Meaning of "A Rose for Emily,"	866
GABRIEL GARCIA MÁRQUEZ
A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings	307	(6)
CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN
The Yellow Wallpaper	313	(14)
RELATED COMMENTARIES:
SANDRA M. GILBERT AND SUSAN GUBAR, A Feminist Reading of Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper,"	867	(3)
CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN, Undergoing the Cure for Nervous Prostration,	870	(2)
CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN, Why I Wrote "The Yellow Wallpaper,"	872
NADINE GORDIMER
Some Are Born to Sweet Delight	327	(12)
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
Young Goodman Brown	339	(11)
RELATED COMMENTARIES:
HERMAN MELVILLE, Blackness in Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown,"	889	(18)
EDGAR ALLAN POE, The Importance of the Single Effect in a Prose Tale,	907
ERNEST HEMINGWAY
Hills Like White Elephants	350	(5)
RELATED STORY: RUSSELL BANKS, Black Man and White Woman in Dark Green Rowboat,	68	(287)
ZORA NEALE HURSTON
Sweat	355	(10)
RELATED COMMENTARIES:
ZORA NEALE HURSTON, How It Feels to Be Colored Me,	873	(57)
ALICE WALKER, Zora Neale Hurston: A Cautionary Tale and a Partisan View,	930
SHIRLEY JACKSON
The Lottery	365	(8)
RELATED COMMENTARY: SHIRLEY JACKSON, The Morning of June 28, 1948, and "The Lottery,"	877
GISH JEN
Who's Irish?	373	(9)
SARAH ORNE JEWETT
A White Heron	382	(9)
RELATED COMMENTARY: SARAH ORNE JEWETT, Looking Back On Girlhood,	880
HA JIN
Saboteur	391	(9)
JAMES JOYCE
Araby	400	(4)
The Dead	404	(31)
RELATED COMMENTARY: FRANK O'CONNOR, Style and Form in Joyce's "The Dead,"	901
FRANZ KAFKA
A Hunger Artist	435	(6)
The Metamorphosis	441	(36)
RELATED COMMENTARIES:
ANN CHARTERS, Translating Kafka,	851	(145)
R. CRUMB AND DAVID ZANE MAIROWITZ, "A Hunger Artist,"	996
JOHN UPDIKE, Kafka and "The Metamorphosis,"	927
JAMAICA KINCAID
Girl	477	(3)
RELATED COMMENTARY: JAMAICA KINCAID, On "Girl,"	884
JHUMPA LAHIRI
When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine	480	(13)
D.H. LAWRENCE
The Rocking-Horse Winner	493	(13)
KATHERINE MANSFIELD
The Fly	506	(5)
RELATED COMMENTARY: WILLA CATHER, The Stories of Katherine Mansfield,	847
BOBBIE ANN MASON
Shiloh	511	(12)
RELATED COMMENTARY: BOBBIE ANN MASON, On Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried,"	885
GUY DE MAUPASSANT
The Necklace	523	(8)
RELATED COMMENTARIES:
KATE CHOPIN, How I Stumbled upon Maupassant,	858	(29)
GUY DE MAUPASSANT, The Writer's Goal,	887
HERMAN MELVILLE
Bartleby, the Scrivener	531	(28)
RELATED COMMENTARY: HERMAN MELVILLE, Blackness in Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown,"	889
NICHOLASA MOHR
Tell the Truth	559	(6)
BHARATI MUKHERJEE
The Management of Grief	565	(13)
ALICE MUNRO
Miles City, Montana	578	(17)
RELATED COMMENTARY: ALICE MUNRO, How I Write Short Stories,	893
JOYCE CAROL OATES
Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?	595	(300)
RELATED COMMENTARIES:
JOYCE CAROL OATES, From "Stories That Define Me: The Making of a Writer,"	895	(1)
JOYCE CAROL OATES, Smooth Talk: Short Story into Film,	896
TIM O'BRIEN
The Things They Carried	608	(15)
RELATED COMMENTARY: BOBBIE ANN MASON, On Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried,"	885
FLANNERY O'CONNOR
Everything That Rises Must Converge	623	(11)
Good Country People	634	(14)
A Good Man Is Hard to Find	648	(12)
RELATED CASEBOOKS:
FLANNERY O'CONNOR, From Letters 1954-55,	964	(3)
FLANNERY O'CONNOR, Writing Short Stories,	967	(5)
FLANNERY O'CONNOR, A Reasonable Use of the Unreasonable,	972	(3)
ROBERT H. BRINKMEYER JR., Flannery O'Connor and Her Readers,	975	(5)
DOROTHY TUCK MCFARLAND, On "Good Country People,"	980	(4)
WAYNE C. BOOTH, A Rhetorical Reading of O'Connor's "Everything That Rises Must Converge,"	984	(3)
SALLY FITZGERALD, Southern Sources of "A Good Man Is Hard to Find,"	987
FRANK O'CONNOR
Guests of the Nation	660	(11)
RELATED COMMENTARIES:
FRANK O'CONNOR, The Nearest Thing to Lyric Poetry Ts the Short Story,	900	(1)
FRANK O'CONNOR, Style and Form in Joyce's "The Dead,"	901
TILLIE OLSEN
I Stand Here Ironing	671	(7)
ZZ PACKER
Drinking Coffee Elsewhere	678	(16)
GRACE PALEY
A Conversation with My Father	694	(5)
RELATED STORY: GRACE PALEY, Samuel [in Appendix 1],	1039
RELATED COMMENTARY: GRACE PALEY, A Conversation with Ann Charters,	903
EDGAR ALLAN POE
The Cask of Amontillado	699	(6)
The Tell-Tale Heart	705	(5)
RELATED COMMENTARY: EDGAR ALLAN POE, The Importance of the Single Effect in a Prose Tale,	907
KATHERINE ANNE PORTER
He	710	(8)
ALIFA RIFAAT
Distant View of a Minaret	718	(4)
LESLIE MARMON SILKO
Yellow Woman	722	(9)
RELATED COMMENTARY: LESLIE MARMON SILKO, Language and Literature from a Pueblo Indian Perspective,	910
AMY TAN
Two Kinds	731	(10)
RELATED COMMENTARY: AMY TAN, In the Canon, for All the Wrong Reasons,	916
LEO TOLSTOY
The Death of Ivan Ilych	741	(42)
RELATED COMMENTARY: LEO TOLSTOY, Chekhov's Intent in "The Darling,"	919
JOHN UPDIKE
A&P	783	(6)
RELATED COMMENTARY: JOHN UPDIKE, Kafka and "The Metamorphosis,"	927
ALICE WALKER
Everyday Use	789	(7)
RELATED COMMENTARIES:
CHERYL B. TORSNEY, 'Everyday Use": My Sojourn at Parchman Farm,	922	(8)
ALICE WALKER, Zora Neale Hurston: A Cautionary Tale and a Partisan View,	930
DAVID FOSTER WALLACE
Incarnations of Burned Children	796	(4)
EUDORA WELTY
A Worn Path	800	(8)
RELATED COMMENTARY: EUDORA WELTY, Is Phoenix Jackson's Grandson Really Dead?,	932
TOBIAS WOLFF
Say Yes	808	(5)
RICHARD WRIGHT
The Man Who Was Almost a Man	813	(14)
RELATED COMMENTARY: RICHARD WRIGHT, Reading Fiction,	934
Part Two COMMENTARIES
CHINUA ACHEBE
An Image of Africa: Conrad's "Heart of Darkness"	827	(5)
SHERMAN ALEXIE
Superman and Me	832	(3)
SHERWOOD ANDERSON
Form, Not Plot, in the Short Story	835	(2)
MARGARET ATWOOD
Reading Blind	837	(4)
JAMES BALDWIN
Autobiographical Notes	841	(4)
RUSSELL BANKS
Author's Note	845	(2)
WILLA CATHER
The Stories of Katherine Mansfield	847	(4)
ANN CHARTERS
Translating Kafka	851	(4)
JOHN CHEEVER
Why I Write Short Stories	855	(2)
ANTON CHEKHOV
Technique in Writing the Short Story	857	(1)
KATE CHOPIN
How I Stumbled upon Maupassant	858	(1)
JULIO CORTÁZAR
On the Short Story and Its Environs	859	(2)
STEPHEN CRANE
The Sinking of the Commodore	861	(3)
RALPH ELLISON
The Influence of Folklore on "Battle Royal"	864	(2)
WILLIAM FAULKNER
The Meaning of "A Rose for Emily"	866	(1)
SANDRA M. GILBERT AND SUSAN GUBAR
A Feminist Reading of Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper"	867	(3)
CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN
Undergoing the Cure for Nervous Prostration	870	(2)
Why I Wrote "The Yellow Wallpaper"	872	(1)
ZORA NEALE HURSTON
How It Feels to Be Colored Me	873	(4)
SHIRLEY JACKSON
The Morning of June 28, 1948, and "The Lottery"	877	(3)
SARAH ORNE JEWETT
Looking Back on Girlhood	880	(4)
JAMAICA KINCAID
On "Girl"	884	(1)
BOBBIE ANN MASON
On Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried"	885	(2)
GUY DE MAUPASSANT
The Writer's Goal	887	(2)
HERMAN MELVILLE
Blackness in Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown"	889	(4)
ALICE MUNRO
How I Write Short Stories	893	(2)
JOYCE CAROL OATES
From "Stories That Define Me: The Making of a Writer"	895	(1)
Smooth Talk: Short Story into Film	896	(4)
FRANK O'CONNOR
The Nearest Thing to Lyric Poetry Is the Short Story	900	(1)
Style and Form in Joyce's "The Dead"	901	(2)
GRACE PALEY
A Conversation with Ann Charters	903	(4)
EDGAR ALLAN POE
The Importance of the Single Effect in a Prose Tale	907	(3)
LESLIE MARMON SILKO
Language and Literature from a Pueblo Indian Perspective	910	(6)
AMY TAN
In the Canon, for All the Wrong Reasons	916	(3)
LEO TOLSTOY
Chekhov's Intent in "The Darling"	919	(3)
CHERYL B. TORSNEY
"Everyday Use": My Sojourn at Parchman Farm	922	(5)
JOHN UPDIKE
Kafka and "The Metamorphosis"	927	(3)
ALICE WALKER
Zora Neale Hurston: A Cautionary Tale and a Partisan View	930	(2)
EUDORA WELTY
Is Phoenix Jackson's Grandson Really Dead?	932	(2)
RICHARD WRIGHT
Reading Fiction	934	(7)
Part Three CASEBOOKS
CASEBOOK ONE: RAYMOND CARVER
RAYMOND CARVER
On Writing	941	(5)
Creative Writing 101	946	(3)
The Ashtray	949	(1)
On "Errand"	950	(2)
OLGA KNIPPER
Remembering Chekhov	952	(1)
HENRI TROYAT
Chekhov's Last Days	953	(3)
TOM JENKS
The Origin of "Cathedral"	956	(1)
ARTHUR M. SALTZMAN
A Reading of "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love"	957	(2)
A.O. SCOTT
Looking for Raymond Carver	959	(5)
CASEBOOK TWO: FLANNERY O'CONNOR
FLANNERY O'CONNOR
From "Letters 1954-55"	964	(3)
Writing Short Stories	967	(5)
A Reasonable Use of the Unreasonable	972	(3)
ROBERT H. BRINKMEYER JR.
Flannery O'Connor and Her Readers	975	(5)
DOROTHY TUCK MCFARLAND
On "Good Country People"	980	(4)
WAYNE C. BOOTH
A Rhetorical Reading of O'Connor's "Everything That Rises Must Converge"	984	(3)
SALLY FITZGERALD
Southern Sources of "A Good Man Is Hard to Find"	987	(5)
CASEBOOK THREE: GRAPHIC STORYTELLING
SCOTT MCCLOUD
From Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art	992	(1)
WILL EISNER
From Hamlet on a Rooftop	993	(3)
R. CRUMB AND DAVID ZANE MAIROWITZ
A Hunger Artist	996	(10)
ART SPIEGELMAN
From Maus	1006	(2)
MARJANE SATRAPI
From Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood	1008	(2)
GILBERT HERNANDEZ
The Mystery Wen	1010	(6)
JIRO TANIGUCHI
The Walking Man	1016	(8)
LYNDA BARRY
Two Questions	1024
Part Four APPENDICES
1. READING SHORT STORIES [INCLUDES GRACE PALEY, "SAMUEL']	1039	(5)
2. THE ELEMENTS OF FICTION	1044	(16)
3. A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SHORT STORY	1060	(10)
4. WRITING ABOUT SHORT STORIES	1070	(27)
5. LITERARY THEORY AND CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES	1097	(7)
6. GLOSSARY OF LITERARY TERMS	1104	(11)
7 CHRONOLOGICAL LISTING OF AUTHORS NE STORIES	1115	(8)
INDEX OF AUTHORS AND TITLES	1123