The Oxford Book of American Short Stories

by Carol Oates, Joyce

• ISBN13: 9780199744398
• ISBN10: 0199744394
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-08-28
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

InThe Oxford Book of American Short Stories, Joyce Carol Oates offers a sweeping survey of American short fiction, in a collection of nearly sixty tales that combines classic works with many "different, unexpected" gems, and that invites readers to explore a wealth of important pieces by women and minority writers. Some selections simply can't be improved on, Oates admits, and she happily includes such time-honored works as Irving's "Rip Van Winkle" and Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart." But alongside these often-anthologized tales, Oates introduces such little-known stories as Mark Twain's "Cannibalism in the Cars," a work that reveals a darker side to his humor. From Melville come the juxtaposed tales "The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids," of which Oates says, "only Melville could have fashioned out of 'real' events...such harrowing and dreamlike allegorical fiction." The reader will also delight in the range of authors found here, from Charles W. Chesnutt, Jean Toomer, and Sarah Orne Jewett, to William Carlos Williams, Kate Chopin, and Langston Hughes, to Ray Bradbury, H.P. Lovecraft, and Stephen King. For the second edition, Oates has introduced a wide range of new stories from writers who represent the state of American literature today. These new works include Lorrie Moore's "How to Become a Writer," Richard Ford's "Under the Radar," Junot Diaz's "Edison, New Jersey," David Foster Wallace's "Good People," Philip Roth's "Novotny's Pain," and Amy Hempel's "Today Will Be a Quiet Day." As in the original volume, Oates provides fascinating introductions to each writer, blending biographical information with her own trenchant observations about their work. In addition, she has written a new introductory essay for this edition, in which she offers the fruit of years of reflection on a genre in which she herself is a master.

Author Biography

Joyce Carol Oates is the National Book Award-winning author of over fifty novels, including bestsellers We Were the Mulvaneys, Blonde, and The Gravedigger's Daughter. She is the Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Princeton University.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

WASHINGTON IRVING (1783-1859)
Rip Van Winkle
WILLIAM AUSTIN (1778-1841)
Peter Rugg, the Missing Man
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE (1804-1864)
The Wives of the Dead
EDGAR ALLAN POE (1809-1849)
The Tell-Tale Heart
HARRIET BEECHER STOWE (1811-1896)
The Ghost in the Mill
HERMAN MELVILLE (1819-1891)
The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids
SAMUEL CLEMENS (1835-1910)
Cannibalism in the Cars
HENRY JAMES (1843-1916)
The Middle Years
SARA H ORNE JEWETT (1849-1909)
A White Heron
KA TE CHOPIN (1851-1904)
The Storm
MARY E. WILKINS FREEMAN (1852-1930)
Old Woman Magoun
CHARLES CHESNUTT (1858-1932)
The Sheriff's Children
CHARLOTT E PERKINS GILMAN (1860-1935)
The Yellow Wallpaper
EDITH WHARTON (1862-1937)
A Journey
STEPHEN CRA NE (1871-1900)
The Little Regiment
WILLA CATHER (1873-1947)
A Death in the Desert
SHERWOOD ANDERSON (1876-1941)
The Strength of God
JACK LONDON (1876-1916)
In a Far Country
WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS (1883-1963)
The Girl with a Pimply Face
H. P. LOVECRA FT (1890-1937)
The Rats in the Walls
JEAN TOOMER (1894-1967)
Blood-Burning Moon
F. SCOTT FITZGERA LD (1896-1940)
An Alcoholic Case
WILLIAM FAULKNER (1897-1962)
That Evening Sun
ERNEST HEMINGWAY (1899-1961)
Hills Like White Elephants
LANGSTON HUGHES (1902-1967)
Red-Headed Baby
RICHARD WRIGHT (1908-1960)
The Man Who Was Almost a Man
NELSON ALGREN (1909-1981)
A Bottle of Milk for Mother
EUDORA WELTY (1909-2001)
Where Is the Voice Coming From?
PAUL BOWLES (1910-1999)
A Distant Episode
JOHN CHEEVER (1912-1982)
The Country Husband
RA LPH ELLISON (1914-1994)
Battle Royal
BERNARD MALAMUD (1914-1986)
My Son the Murderer
SHIRLEY JACKSON (1916-1965)
The Lottery
RA Y BRA DBURY (b. 1920)
There Will Come Soft Rains
JAMES BALDWIN (1924-1987)
Sonny's Blues
FLANNERY O'CONNOR (1925-1964)
A Late Encounter with the Enemy
CYNTHIA OZICK (b. 1928)
The Shawl
DONALD BARTHELME (1931-1989)
The School
JOHN UPDIKE (1932-2009)
The Persistence of Desire
PHILIP ROTH (b. 1933)
Defender of the Faith
ANNIE PROULX (b. 1935)
The Mud Below
RA YMOND CARVER (1938-1988)
Are These Actual Miles?
JOYCE CAROL OATES (b. 1938)
Heat
RUSSELL BANKS (b. 1940)
The Child Screams and Looks Back at You
EDMUND WHITE (b. 1940)
Give It Up for Billy
RICHARD FORD (b. 1944)
Under the Radar
TOBIAS WOLFF (b. 1945)
Hunters in the Snow
TIM O'BRIEN (b. 1946)
The Things They Carried
STEPHEN KING (b. 1947)
The Reach
T. C. BOYLE (b. 1948)
Filthy with Things
AMY HEMPEL (b. 1951)
Today Will Be a Quiet Day
LOUISE ERDRICH (b. 1954)
Fleur
JEFFREY FORD (b. 1955)
The Drowned Life
HA JIN (b. 1956)
Children as Enemies
LORRIE MOORE (b. 1957)
How to Become a Writer
DAVID FOSTER WALLACE (1962-2008)
Good People
PINCKNEY BENEDICT (b. 1964)
Mercy
JHUMPA LAHIRI (b. 1967)
Hell-Heaven
JUNOT DÍAZ (b. 1968)
Edison, New Jersey

Author Index