The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction

by Charters

• ISBN13: 9780312442729
• ISBN10: 0312442726
• Edition: 7th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-05-08
• Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's
• More Book Details
• Purchase Benefits

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 The American Short Story and Its Writer, and Literature and Its Writers, co-edited with Samuel Charters.

Table of Contents

PREFACE	vii
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,"	1395
SHERMAN ALEXIE
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven	15	(6)
RELATED COMMENTARY: SHERMAN ALEXIE, Superman and Me,	1400
WOODY ALLEN
The Kugelmass Episode	21	(10)
ISABEL ALLENDE
An Act of Vengeance	31	(7)
RELATED COMMENTARY: ISABEL ALLENDE, Short Stories by Latin American Women,	1404
SHERWOOD ANDERSON
Hands	38	(5)
RELATED COMMENTARY: SHERWOOD ANDERSON, Form, Not Plot, in the Short Story,	1405
MARGARET ATWOOD
Happy Endings	43	(4)
RELATED COMMENTARY: MARGARET ATWOOD, Reading Blind,	1408
JAMES BALDWIN
Sonny's Blues	47	(24)
RELATED COMMENTARY: JAMES BALDWIN, Autobiographical Notes,	1411
TONI CADE BAMBARA
The Lesson	71	(7)
RUSSELL BANKS
Black Man and White Woman in Dark Green Rowboat	78	(7)
RELATED STORY: ERNEST HEMINGWAY, Hills Like White Elephants,	540	(876)
RELATED COMMENTARY: RUSSELL BANKS, Author's Note,	1416
JOHN BARTH
Lost in the Funhouse	85	(17)
DONALD BARTHELME
The Indian Uprising	102	(6)
ANN BEATTIE
Snow	108	(374)
GINA BERRIAULT
The Overcoat
RELATED STORY: NIKOLAI GOGOL, The Overcoat,	482
AMBROSE BIERCE
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge	116	(8)
JORGE LUIS BORGES
The Circular Ruins	124	(5)
RELATED COMMENTARY: JULIO CORTÁZAR, On the Short Story and Its Environs,	1437
TADEUSZ BOROWSKI
This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen	129	(13)
T. CORAGHESSAN BOYLE
Greasy Lake	142	(9)
RAY BRADBURY
August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains	151	(6)
ALBERT CAMUS
The Guest	157	(11)
RAYMOND CARVER
Cathedral	168	(10)
Errand	178	(9)
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love	187	(10)
RELATED CASEBOOK:
RAYMOND CARVER, On Writing,	1577	(5)
RAYMOND CARVER, Creative Writing 101,	1582	(3)
RAYMOND CARVER, The Ashtray,	1585	(1)
RAYMOND CARVER, On "Errand,"	1586	(2)
OLGA KNIPPER, Remembering Chekhov,	1588	(1)
HENRI TROYAT, Chekhov's Last Days,	1589	(3)
TOM JENKS, The Origin of "Cathedral,"	1592	(1)
ARTHUR M. SALTZMAN, A Reading of "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love,"	1593	(2)
A.O. SCOTT, Looking for Raymond Carver,	1595
WILLA CATHER
Paul's Case	197	(16)
RELATED COMMENTARY: WILLA CATHER, The Stories of Katherine Mansfield,	1417
JOHN CHEEVER
The Swimmer	213	(10)
RELATED COMMENTARY: JOHN CHEEVER, Why I Write Short Stories,	1425
ANTON CHEKHOV
The Darling	223	(9)
The Lady with the Little Dog	232	(14)
RELATED STORIES:
RAYMOND CARVER, Errand,	178	(780)
Joyce Carol Oates, The Lady with the Pet Dog,	958	(469)
RELATED COMMENTARIES:
ANTON CHEKHOV, Technique in Writing the Short Story,	1427	(20)
RICHARD FORD, Why We Like Chekhov,	1447	(65)
VLADIMIR NABOKOV, A Reading of Chekhov's "The Lady with the Little Dog,"	1512	(40)
LEO TOLSTOY, Chekhov's Intent in "The Darling,"	1552	(15)
EUDORA WELTY, Plot and Character in Chekhov's "The Darling,"	1567
KATE CHOPIN
Desiree's Baby	246	(4)
The Story of an Hour	250	(4)
RELATED COMMENTARY: KATE CHOPIN, How I Stumbled upon Maupassant,	1429
SANDRA CISNEROS
The House on Mango Street	254	(3)
SAMUEL CLEMENS (MARK TWAIN)
The Celebrated jumping Frog of Calaveras County	257	(6)
RELATED COMMENTARY: SAMUEL CLEMENS (MARK TWAIN), Private History of "The jumping Frog" Story,	1430
JOSEPH CONRAD
Heart of Darkness	263	(63)
RELATED COMMENTARIES:
CHINUA ACHEBE, An Image of Africa: Conrad's "Heart of Darkness,"	1395	(140)
EDWARD SAID, The Past and the Present: Joseph Conrad and the Fiction of Autobiography,	1535	(25)
LIONEL TRILLING, The Greatness of Conrad's "Heart of Darkness,"	1560
JULIO CORTÁZAR
A Continuity of Parks	326	(3)
RELATED COMMENTARY: JULIO CORTÁZAR, On the Short Story and Its Environs,	1437
STEPHEN CRANE
The Open Boat	329	(19)
RELATED COMMENTARY: STEPHEN CRANE, The Sinking of the Commodore,	1438
EDWIDGE DANTICAT
Night Women	348	(4)
JUNOT DIAZ
How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, or Halfie	352	(3)
CHITRA BANERJEE DIVAKARUNI
Mrs. Dutta Writes a Letter	355	(16)
RALPH ELLISON
Battle Royal	371	(11)
RELATED COMMENTARY: RALPH ELLISON, The Influence of Folklore on "Battle Royal,"	1441
LOUISE ERDRICH
The Red Convertible	382	(9)
WILLIAM FAULKNER
A Rose for Emily	391	(7)
That Evening Sun	398	(14)
RELATED COMMENTARY: WILLIAM FAULKNER, The Meaning of "A Rose for Emily,"	1445
F. SCOTT FITZGERALD
Babylon Revisited	412	(17)
GUSTAVE FLAUBERT
A Simple Heart	429	(25)
RELATED COMMENTARY: JOAN SILBER, Long Times in Short Stories, or Why Can't a Story Be More Like a Novel?,	1538
RICHARD FORD
Under the Radar	454	(8)
RELATED COMMENTARY: RICHARD FORD, Why We Like Chekhov,	1447
GABRIEL GARCIA MÁRQUEZ
A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings	462	(6)
RELATED COMMENTARY: GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ, The Challenge,	1453
CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN
The Yellow Wallpaper	468	(14)
RELATED COMMENTARIES:
SANDRA M. GILBERT AND SUSAN GUBAR, A Feminist Reading of Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper,"	1458	(2)
CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN, Undergoing the Cure for Nervous Prostration,	1460	(3)
CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN, Why I Wrote "The Yellow Wallpaper,"	1463
NIKOLAI GOGOL
The Overcoat	482	(23)
RELATED STORY: GINA BERRIAULT, The Overcoat,	111	(1398)
RELATED COMMENTARY: VLADIMIR NABOKOV, Gogol's Genius in "The Overcoat,"	1509
NADINE GORDIMER
Some Are Born to Sweet Delight	505	(12)
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
The Minister's Black Veil	517	(9)
Young Goodman Brown	526	(10)
RELATED COMMENTARIES:
HERMAN MELVILLE, Blackness in Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown,"	1499	(162)
EDGAR ALLAN POE, The Importance of the Single Effect in a Prose Tale,	1661
BESSIE HEAD
Woman from America	536	(4)
ERNEST HEMINGWAY
Hills Like White Elephants	540	(5)
RELATED STORY: RUSSELL BANKS, Black Man and White Woman in Dark Green Rowboat,	78	(467)
OSCAR HIJUELOS
Lunch at the Biltmore	545	(6)
ZORA NEALE HURSTON
The Gilded Six-Bits	551	(8)
Spunk	559	(4)
Sweat	563	(11)
RELATED CASEBOOK:
ZORA NEALE HURSTON, How It Feels to Be Colored Me,	1600	(4)
ZORA NEALE HURSTON, What White Publishers Won't Print,	1604	(4)
ZORA NEALE HURSTON, Harlem Slanguage,	1608	(1)
ROBERT BONE, A Folkloric Analysis of Hurston's "Spunk,"	1609	(1)
ROSALIE MURPHY BAUM, The Shape of Hurston's Fiction,	1610	(3)
ALICE WALKER, Zora Neale Hurston: A Cautionary Tale and a Partisan View,	1613
WASHINGTON IRVING
Rip Van Winkle	574	(13)
RELATED COMMENTARIES:
WASHINGTON IRVING, Letter to Henry Brevoort, December 11, 1824,	1466	(51)
J.C.C. NACHTIGAL, Peter Klaus the Goatherd,	1517
SHIRLEY JACKSON
The Lottery	587	(8)
RELATED COMMENTARY: SHIRLEY JACKSON, The Morning of June 28, 1948, and "The Lottery,"	1468
HENRY JAMES
The Real Thing	595	(19)
RELATED COMMENTARIES:
HENRY JAMES, The Genesis of "The Real Thing,"	1471	(3)
HENRY JAMES, Front Guy de Maupassant,	1474
GISH JEN
Who's Irish?	614	(9)
SARAH ORNE JEWETT
A White Heron	623	(9)
RELATED COMMENTARY: SARAH ORNE JEWETT, Looking Back on Girlhood,	1478
HA JIN
Saboteur	632	(8)
DENIS JOHNSON
Car Crash While Hitchhiking	640	(6)
JAMES JOYCE
Araby	646	(4)
The Dead	650	(31)
RELATED COMMENTARIES:
RICHARD ELLMANN, A Biographical Perspective on Joyce's "The Dead,"	1443	(80)
FRANK O'CONNOR, Style and Form in Joyce's "The Dead,"	1523
FRANZ KAFKA
A Hunger Artist	681	(6)
The Metamorphosis	687	(36)
RELATED COMMENTARIES:
ANN CHARTERS, Translating Kafka,	1421	(273)
R. CRUMB AND DAVID ZANE MAIROWITZ, "A Hunger Artist,"	1694
GUSTAV JANOUCH, Kafka's View of "The Metamorphosis,"	1476	(85)
JOHN UPDIKE, Kafka and "The Metamorphosis,"	1561
JAMAICA KINCAID
Girl	723	(3)
RELATED COMMENTARY: JAMAICA KINCAID, On "Girl,"	1483
JHUMPA LAHIRI
When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine	726	(13)
MARY LAVIN
The Widow's Son	739	(9)
D.H. LAWRENCE
Odour of Chrysanthemums	748	(14)
The Rocking-Horse Winner	762	(13)
RELATED STORY: JOHN STEINBECK, The Chrysanthemums,	1203	(281)
RELATED COMMENTARIES:
D.H. LAWRENCE, Draft Passage from "Odour of Chrysanthemums,"	1484	(179)
D.H. LAWRENCE, On "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "The Cask of Amontillado,"	1663
JANICE H. HARRIS, Levels of Meaning in Lawrence's "The Rocking-Horse Winner,"	1464	(64)
JAY PARINI, Lawrence's and Steinbeck's "Chrysanthemums,"	1528
DAVID LEAVITT
Gravity	775	(5)
URSULA K. LE GUIN
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas	780	(6)
RELATED COMMENTARY: URSULA K. LE GUIN, The Scapegoat in Ornelas,	1489
DORIS LESSING
A Sunrise on the Veld	786	(6)
CLARICE LISPECTOR
The Smallest Woman in the World	792	(6)
JACK LONDON
To Build a Fire	798	(13)
RELATED STORY: HARUKI MURAKAMI, Landscape with Flatiron,	946	(545)
RELATED COMMENTARY: JACK LONDON, Letter to the Editor On "To Build a Fire,"	1491
KATHERINE MANSFIELD
Bliss	811	(9)
The Fly	820	(6)
RELATED COMMENTARIES:
KATHERINE MANSFIELD, Review of Woolf's "Kew Gardens,"	1493
WILLA CATHER, The Stories of Katherine Mansfield,	1417
BOBBIE ANN MASON
Shiloh	826	(12)
RELATED COMMENTARY: BOBBIE ANN MASON, On Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried,"	1496
GUY DE MAUPASSANT
The Necklace	838	(8)
RELATED COMMENTARIES:
KATE CHOPIN, How I Stumbled upon Man passant,	1429	(45)
HENRY JAMES, From Guy de Maupassant,	1474	(23)
GUY DE MAUPASSANT, The Writer's Goal,	1497
HERMAN MELVILLE
Bartleby, the Scrivener	846	(28)
RELATED COMMENTARIES:
HERMAN MELVILLE, Blackness in Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown,"	1499	(4)
J. HILLIS MILLER, A Deconstructive Reading of Melville's "Bartleby, the Scrivener,"	1503
ARTHUR MILLER
The Performance	874	(15)
STEVEN MILLHAUSER
Cat 'n' Mouse	889	(10)
RELATED CASEBOOK: GRAPHIC STORYTELLING,	1687
NICHOLASA MOHR
Tell the Truth	899	(6)
RICK MOODY
Boys	905	(4)
LORRIE MOORE
How to Become a Writer	909	(7)
BHARATI MUKHERJEE
The Management of Grief	916	(13)
ALICE MUNRO
Miles City, Montana	929	(17)
RELATED COMMENTARY: ALICE MUNRO, Flow I Write Short Stories,	1508
HARUKI MURAKAMI
Landscape with Flatiron	946	(12)
RELATED STORY: JACK LONDON, To Build afire,	798	(693)
RELATED COMMENTARY: JACK LONDON, Letter to the Editor on "To Build a Fire,"	1491
JOYCE CAROL OATES
The Lady with the Pet Dog	958	(13)
Three Girls	971	(6)
Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?	977	(13)
RELATED STORY: ANTON CHEKHOV, The Lady with the Little Dog,	232	(1413)
RELATED CASEBOOK:
JOYCE CAROL OATES, From "Stories That Define Me: The Making of a Writer,"	1645	(1)
JOYCE CAROL OATES, Smooth Talk: Short Story into Film,	1646	(4)
DAN MOSER, The Pied Piper of Tucson,	1650	(5)
MATTHEW C. BRENNAN, Plotting against Chekhov: Joyce Carol Oates and the "Lady with the Dog,"	1655	(2)
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, Review of I Am No One You Know,	1657	(1)
JOHN SCHWARTZ, Oates' I Am No One You Know,	1658
TIM O'BRIEN
The Things They Carried	990	(15)
RELATED COMMENTARIES:
BOBBIE ANN MASON, On Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried,"	1496	(24)
TIM O'BRIEN, Alpha Company,	1520
FLANNERY O'CONNOR
Everything That Rises Must Converge	1005	(11)
Good Country People	1016	(14)
A Good Man Is Hard to Find	1030	(12)
RELATED CASEBOOK:
FLANNERY O'CONNOR, From Letters 1954-55,	1616	(3)
FLANNERY O'CONNOR, Writing Short Stories,	1619	(5)
FLANNERY O'CONNOR, A Reasonable Use of the Unreasonable,	1624	(3)
V.S. PRITCHETT, Flannery O'Connor: Satan Comes to Georgia,	1627	(2)
ROBERT H. BRINKMEYER JR., Flannery O'Connor and Her Readers,	1629	(5)
DOROTHY TUCK MCFARLAND, On "Good Country People,"	1634	(4)
WAYNE C. BOOTH, A Rhetorical Reading of O'Connor's "Everything That Rises Must Converge,"	1638	(3)
SALLY FITZGERALD, Southern Sources of "A Good Man Is Hard to Find,"	1641
FRANK O'CONNOR
Guests of the Nation	1042	(11)
RELATED COMMENTARIES:
FRANK O'CONNOR, The Nearest Thing to Lyric Poetry Is the Short Story,	1521	(2)
FRANK O'CONNOR, Style and Form in Joyce's "The Dead,"	1523
TILLIE OLSEN
I Stand Here Ironing	1053	(7)
RELATED COMMENTARY: ROBERT COLES, Tillie Olsen: The Iron and the Riddle,	1433
CYNTHIA OZICK
The Shawl	1060	(5)
ZZ PACKER
Drinking Coffee Elsewhere	1065	(16)
GRACE PALEY
A Conversation with My Father	1081	(5)
RELATED STORY: GRACE PALEY, Samuel [in Appendix 1]	1737
RELATED COMMENTARY: GRACE PALEY, A Conversation with Ann Charters,	1524
OCTAVIO PAZ
My Life with the Wave	1086	(6)
EDGAR ALLAN POE
The Cask of Amontillado	1092	(5)
The Fall of the House of Usher	1097	(13)
The Tell-Tale Heart	1110	(5)
RELATED CASEBOOK:
EDGAR ALLAN POE, The Importance of the Single Effect in a Prose Tale,	1661	(2)
D.H. LAWRENCE, On "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "The Cask of Amontillado,"	1663	(5)
CLEANTH BROOKS AND ROBERT PENN WARREN, A New Critical Reading of "The Fall of the House of Usher,"	1668	(3)
JAMES W. GARGANO, The Question of Poe's Narrators in "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Cask of Amontillado,"	1671	(3)
J. GERALD KENNEDY, On "The Fall of the House of Usher,"	1674	(4)
DAVID S. REYNOLDS, Poe's Art of Transformation in "The Cask of Amontillado,"	1678	(4)
JOAN DAYAN, Amorous Bondage: Poe, Ladies, and Slaves,	1682
KATHERINE ANNE PORTER
He	1115	(8)
WILLIAM SYDNEY PORTER (O. HENRY)
The Gift of the Magi	1123	(5)
ANNIE PROULX
The Blood Bay	1128	(4)
RELATED COMMENTARY: ANNIE PROULX, Inspiration? Head Down the Back Road, and Stop for the Yard Sales,	1530
ALIFA RIFAAT
Distant View of a Minaret	1132	(4)
PHILIP ROTH
The Conversion of the Jews	1136	(11)
GEORGE SAUNDERS
Brad Carrigan, American	1147	(21)
LESLIE MARMON SILKO
Yellow Woman	1168	(9)
RELATED COMMENTARIES:
PAULA GUNN ALLEN, Whirlwind Man Steals Yellow Woman,	1403	(139)
LESLIE MARMON SILKO, Language and Literature from a Pueblo Indian Perspective,	1542
HELEN SIMPSON
Cafe Society	1177	(6)
SUSAN SONTAG
The Way We Live Now	1183	(15)
RELATED COMMENTARY: SUSAN SONTAG, Writing as Reading,	1547
GERTRUDE STEIN
Miss Furr and Miss Skeene	1198	(5)
RELATED COMMENTARY: SHERWOOD ANDERSON, Form, Not Plot, in the Short Story,	1405
JOHN STEINBECK
The Chrysanthemums	1203	(9)
RELATED STORY: D.H. LAWRENCE, Odour of Chrysanthemums,	748	(780)
RELATED COMMENTARY: JAY PARINI, Lawrence's and Steinbeck's "Chrysanthemums,"	1528
SUSAN STRAIGHT
Mines	1212	(10)
AMY TAN
Two Kinds	1222	(10)
RELATED COMMENTARY: AMY TAN, In the Canon, for All the Wrong Reasons,	1549
LEO TOLSTOY
The Death of Ivan Ilych	1232	(42)
RELATED COMMENTARY:
LEO TOLSTOY, Chekhov's Intent in "The Darling,"	1552
PETER RUDY, Tolstoy's Revisions in "The Death of Ivan Ilych,"	1532
JEAN TOOMER
Blood-Burning Moon	1274	(8)
RELATED COMMENTARY: JAMES WELDON JOHNSON, Lynching in Tennessee,	1482
JOHN UPDIKE
A&P	1282	(6)
RELATED COMMENTARIES: JOHN UPDIKE, Kafka and "The Metamorphosis,"	1561
LUISA VALENZUELA
The Place of Its Quietude	1288	(7)
HELENA MARIA VIRAMONTES
The Moths	1295	(5)
RELATED COMMENTARY: CARLOS FUENTES, Mexico, the United States, and the Multicultural Future,	1451
KURT VONNEGUT JR.
Harrison Bergeron	1300	(6)
ALICE WALKER
Everyday Use	1306	(7)
RELATED COMMENTARIES:
ALICE WALKER, Zora Neale Hurston: A Cautionary Tale and a Partisan View,	1613
CHERYL B. TORSNEY, 'Everyday Use": My Sojourn at Parchman Farm,	1555
DAVID FOSTER WALLACE
Incarnations of Burned Children	1313	(4)
EUDORA WELTY
Why I Live at the P.O.	1317	(9)
A Worn Path	1326	(8)
RELATED COMMENTARIES:
EUDORA WELTY, Is Phoenix Jackson's Grandson Really Dead?,	1564	(3)
EUDORA WELTY, Plot and Character in Chekhov's "The Darling,"	1567
EDITH WHARTON
Roman Fever	1334	(11)
RELATED COMMENTARY: EDITH WHARTON, Every Subject Must Contain within Itself Its Own Dimensions,	1569
JOHN EDGAR WIDEMAN
newborn thrown in trash and dies	1345	(7)
WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS
The Use of Force	1352	(4)
TOBIAS WOLFF
Say Yes	1356	(5)
VIRGINIA WOOLF
Kew Gardens	1361	(6)
RELATED COMMENTARY: KATHERINE MANSFIELD, Review of Woolf's "Kew Gardens,"	1493
RICHARD WRIGHT
The Man Who Was Almost a Man	1367	(10)
RELATED COMMENTARIES:
LESLIE LEE, Scene from the Screenplay of Almos' a Man,	1486	(84)
RICHARD WRIGHT, Reading Fiction,	1570
GAO XINGJIAN
The Accident	1377	(8)
HISAYE YAMAMOTO
Wilshire Bus	1385	(10)
Part Two COMMENTARIES
CHINUA ACHEBE
An Image of Africa: Conrad's "Heart of Darkness"	1395	(5)
SHERMAN ALEXIE
Superman and Me	1400	(3)
PAULA GUNN ALLEN
Whirlwind Man Steals Yellow Woman	1403	(1)
ISABEL ALLENDE
Short Stories by Latin American Women	1404	(1)
SHERWOOD ANDERSON
Form, Not Plot, in the Short Story	1405	(3)
MARGARET ATWOOD
Reading Blind	1408	(3)
JAMES BALDWIN
Autobiographical Notes	1411	(5)
RUSSELL BANKS
Author's Note	1416	(1)
WILLA CATHER
The Stories of Katherine Mansfield	1417	(4)
ANN CHARTERS
Translating Kafka	1421	(4)
JOHN CHEEVER
Why I Write Short Stories	1425	(2)
ANTON CHEKHOV
Technique in Writing the Short Story	1427	(2)
KATE CHOPIN
How I Stumbled upon Maupassant	1429	(1)
SAMUEL CLEMENS (MARK TWAIN)
Private History of "The Jumping Frog" Story	1430	(3)
ROBERT COLES
Tillie Olsen: The Iron and the Riddle	1433	(4)
JULIO CORTÁZAR
On the Short Story and Its Environs	1437	(1)
STEPHEN CRANE
The Sinking of the Commodore	1438	(3)
RALPH ELLISON
The Influence of Folklore on "Battle Royal"	1441	(2)
RICHARD ELLMANN
A Biographical Perspective on Joyce's "The Dead"	1443	(2)
WILLIAM FAULKNER
The Meaning of "A Rose for Emily"	1445	(2)
RICHARD FORD
Why We Like Chekhov	1447	(4)
CARLOS FUENTES
Mexico, the United States, and the Multicultural Future	1451	(2)
GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ
The Challenge	1453	(5)
SANDRA M. GILBERT AND SUSAN GUBAR
A Feminist Reading of Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper"	1458	(2)
CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN
Undergoing the Cure for Nervous Prostration	1460	(3)
Why I Wrote "The Yellow Wallpaper"	1463	(1)
JANICE H. HARRIS
Levels of Meaning in Lawrence's "The Rocking-Horse Winner"	1464	(2)
WASHINGTON IRVING
Letter to Henry Brevoort, December 11, 1824	1466	(2)
SHIRLEY JACKSON
The Morning of June 28, 1948, and "The Lottery"	1468	(3)
HENRY JAMES
The Genesis of "The Real Thing"	1471	(3)
From Guy de Maupassant	1474	(2)
GUSTAV JANOUCH
Kafka's View of "The Metamorphosis"	1476	(2)
SARAH ORNE JEWETT
Looking Back on Girlhood	1478	(4)
JAMES WELDON JOHNSON
Lynching in Tennessee	1482	(1)
JAMAICA KINCAID
On "Girl"	1483	(1)
D.H. LAWRENCE
Draft Passage from "Odour of Chrysanthemums"	1484	(2)
LESLIE LEE
Scene from the Screenplay of Almos' a Man	1486	(3)
URSULA K. LE GUIN
The Scapegoat in Omelas	1489	(2)
JACK LONDON
Letter to the Editor on "To Build a Fire"	1491	(2)
KATHERINE MANSFIELD
Review of Woolf's "Kew Gardens"	1493	(3)
BOBBIE ANN MASON
On Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried"	1496	(1)
GUY DE MAUPASSANT
The Writer's Goal	1497	(2)
HERMAN MELVILLE
Blackness in Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown"	1499	(4)
J. HILLIS MILLER
A Deconstructive Reading of Melville's "Bartleby, the Scrivener"	1503	(5)
ALICE MUNRO
How I Write Short Stories	1508	(1)
VLADIMIR NABOKOV
Gogol's Genius in "The Overcoat"	1509	(3)
A Reading of Chekhov's "The Lady with the Little Dog"	1512	(5)
J.C.C. NACHTIGAL
Peter Klaus the Goatherd	1517	(3)
TIM O'BRIEN
Alpha Company	1520	(1)
FRANK O'CONNOR
The Nearest Thing to Lyric Poetry Is the Short Story	1521	(2)
Style and Form in Joyce's "The Dead"	1523	(1)
GRACE PALEY
A Conversation with Ann Charters	1524	(4)
JAY PARINI
Lawrence's and Steinbeck's "Chrysanthemums"	1528	(2)
ANNIE PROULX
Inspiration? Head Down the Back Road, and Stop for the Yard Sales	1530	(2)
PETER RUDY
Tolstoy's Revisions in "The Death of Ivan Ilych"	1532	(3)
EDWARD SAID
The Past and the Present: Joseph Conrad and the Fiction of Autobiography	1535	(3)
JOAN SILBER
Long Times in Short Stories, or Why Can't a Story Be More Like a Novel?	1538	(4)
LESLIE MARMON SILKO
Language and Literature from a Pueblo Indian Perspective	1542	(5)
SUSAN SONTAG
Writing as Reading	1547	(2)
AMY TAN
In the Canon, for All the Wrong Reasons	1549	(3)
LEO TOLSTOY
Chekhov's Intent in "The Darling"	1552	(3)
CHERYL B. TORSNEY
"Everyday Use": My Sojourn at Parchman Farm	1555	(5)
LIONEL TRILLING
The Greatness of Conrad's "Heart of Darkness"	1560	(1)
JOHN UPDIKE
Kafka and "The Metamorphosis"	1561	(3)
EUDORA WELTY
Is Phoenix Jackson's Grandson Really Dead?	1564	(3)
Plot and Character in Chekhov's "The Darling"	1567	(2)
EDITH WHARTON
Every Subject Must Contain within Itself Its Own Dimensions	1569	(1)
RICHARD WRIGHT
Reading Fiction	1570	(7)
Part Three CASEBOOKS
CASEBOOK ONE: RAYMOND CARVER
RAYMOND CARVER
On Writing	1577	(5)
Creative Writing 101	1582	(3)
The Ashtray	1585	(1)
On "Errand"	1586	(2)
OLGA KNIPPER
Remembering Chekhov	1588	(1)
HENRI TROYAT
Chekhov's Last Days	1589	(3)
TOM JENKS
The Origin of "Cathedral"	1592	(1)
ARTHUR M. SALTZMAN
A Reading of "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love"	1593	(2)
A.O. SCOTT
Looking for Raymond Carver	1595	(5)
CASEBOOK TWO: ZORA NEALE HURSTON
ZORA NEALE HURSTON
How It Feels to Be Colored Me	1600	(4)
What White Publishers Won't Print	1604	(4)
Harlem Slanguage	1608	(1)
ROBERT BONE
A Folkloric Analysis of Hurston's "Spunk"	1609	(1)
ROSALIE MURPHY BAUM
The Shape of Hurston's Fiction	1610	(3)
ALICE WALKER
Zora Neale Hurston: A Cautionary Tale and a Partisan View	1613	(3)
CASEBOOK THREE: FLANNERY O'CONNOR
FLANNERY O'CONNOR
From Letters 1954-55	1616	(3)
Writing Short Stories	1619	(5)
A Reasonable Use of the Unreasonable	1624	(3)
V.S. PRITCHETT
Flannery O'Connor: Satan Comes to Georgia	1627	(2)
ROBERT H. BRINKMEYER JR.
Flannery O'Connor and Her Readers	1629	(5)
DOROTHY TUCK MCFARLAND
On "Good Country People"	1634	(4)
WAYNE C. BOOTH
A Rhetorical Reading of O'Connor's "Everything That Rises Must Converge"	1638	(3)
SALLY FITZGERALD
Southern Sources of "A Good Man Is Hard to Find"	1641	(4)
CASEBOOK FOUR: JOYCE CAROL OATES
JOYCE CAROL OATES
From "Stories That Define Me: The Making of a Writer"	1645	(1)
Smooth Talk: Short Story into Film	1646	(4)
DON MOSER
The Pied Piper of Tucson: He Cruised in a Golden Car, Looking for the Action	1650	(5)
MATTHEW C. BRENNAN
Plotting against Chekhov: Joyce Carol Oates and "The Lady with the Dog"	1655	(2)
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Review of I Am No One You Know	1657	(1)
JOHN SCHWARTZ
Review of I Am No One You Know	1658	(3)
CASEBOOK FIVE: EDGAR ALLAN POE
EDGAR ALLAN POE
The Importance of the Single Effect in a Prose Tale	1661	(2)
D.H. LAWRENCE
On "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "The Cask of Amontillado"	1663	(5)
CLEANTH BROOKS AND ROBERT PENN WARREN
A New Critical Reading of "The Fall of the House of Usher"	1668	(3)
JAMES W. GARGANO
The Question of Poe's Narrators in "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Cask of Amontillado"	1671	(3)
J. GERALD KENNEDY
On "The Fall of the House of Usher"	1674	(4)
DAVID S. REYNOLDS
Poe's Art of Transformation in "The Cask of Amontillado"	1678	(4)
JOAN DAYAN
Amorous Bondage: Poe, Ladies, and Slaves	1682	(8)
CASEBOOK SIX: GRAPHIC STORYTELLING
SCOTT MCCLOUD
From Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art	1690	(1)
WILL EISNER
From Hamlet on a Rooftop	1691	(3)
R. CRUMB AND DAVID ZANE MAIROWITZ
A Hunger Artist	1694	(10)
ART SPIEGELMAN
From Maus	1704	(2)
MARJANE SATRAPI
From Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood	1706	(2)
GILBERT HERNANDEZ
The Mystery Wen	1708	(6)
JIRO TANIGUCHI
The Walking Man	1714	(8)
LYNDA BARRY
Two Questions	1722
Part Four APPENDICES
1. READING SHORT STORIES [INCLUDES GRACE PALEY, "SAMUEL"]	1737	(5)
2. THE ELEMENTS OF FICTION	1742	(16)
3. A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SHORT STORY	1758	(10)
4. WRITING ABOUT SHORT STORIES	1768	(30)
5. LITERARY THEORY AND CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES	1798	(8)
6. GLOSSARY OF LITERARY TERMS	1806	(11)
7. CHRONOLOGICAL LISTING OF AUTHORS AND STORIES	1817	(12)
INDEX OF AUTHORS AND TITLES	1829