Love Is the Only Story : Tales of Romance

by Edited by Ben Schrank

• ISBN13: 9781585747481
• ISBN10: 1585747483
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2003-01-01
• Publisher: Lyons Press

Summary

It is often said that love is, in fact, the only story. Nothing better justifies this claim than the unforgettable fiction in this anthology, by a diverse group of writers who give us stories that are, at their best, a universal experience of the human soul. These are tales of young lovers, husbands and wives, dramas that include the rich and the poor, chance meetings that blossom into affairs of the heart, cheating spouses, and sexual discovery. Set against the battlefield of war, underneath the rumpled sheets of the marriage bed, in the heat of a city summer, these pieces dance around love; they nod at the reader and say love is here. Romantic, bold, and erotic, this collection articulates what we know instinctively. It will find a permanent place on every reader's bookshelf. With contributions from writers like: Graham Greene, Alice Adams, William Trevor, John Edgar Wideman, Michelle Cliff, John O'Hara, Jhumpa Lahiri, Philip Roth, Peter Cameron, Alicia Erian, James Alan McPherson, Charles Bukowski, Ann Beattie, Isaac Babel, Haruki Murakami, Anton Chekhov, Bernard Malamud, and many more.

Table of Contents

Introduction	ix
Ben Schrank
My Husband and I	1	(2)
Lydia Davis
The Lady with the Dog	3	(28)
Anton Chekhov
Of Mystery There Is No End	31	(26)
Leonard Michaels
The Kiss	57	(10)
Isaac Babel
Maria de Covina	67	(16)
Dagoberto Gilb
Behind the Heart	83	(10)
Djuna Barnes
The Memoris of Casanova	93	(14)
Italo Calvino
Art History	107	(16)
Michelle Cliff
Mr. Tennyson	123	(18)
William Trevor
The Student from Algiers	141	(18)
Rikki Ducornet
The Most Beautiful Woman in Town	159	(10)
Charles Bukowski
Doc's Story	169	(14)
John Edgar Wideman
Hunger	183	(22)
Anzia Yezierska
The Barber's Unhappiness	205	(40)
George Saunders
Frightening Love	245	(2)
Yasunari Kawabata
Acknowledgments	247