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Points of View: An Anthology of Short Stories
Since its original publication in 1966, this volume has attained classic status. Now its contents have been updated and its cultural framework enlarged by the orginal editors. Many of the 44 stories come from a new writing generation with a contemporary consciousness, and this brilliant blending of masters of the past and the brightest talents of the present achieves the goal of making a great collection even greater.
608 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1956
About the author
James Moffett
48 books5 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 72 reviews
May 27, 2012
1. Who the f!#& wrote this book?
Points of View is an anthology, so, um, lots of people wrote it. It features some of the greatest, sharpest gems of short fiction from the first six decades of the 20th century, and some older stuff as well. As far as I know, these are the people who made short fiction what it is. I mean these folks are the serious heavyweights. The dudes and ladies who invented the kinds of endings that leave you gasping. The people who figured out how to make ten pages pack a punch.
As with many collections published back in the day, it doesn't feature much in the way of writers who weren't white. The revised edition goes some way to correcting that - adding Langston Hughes, for example, who totally shoulda been in the original edition. Same with James Baldwin. That being said, while the revised edition contains more diverse contemporary writers, it doesn't add much beyond the two noted above to the list of non-white authors writing important short fiction in the same time periods as the authors in the original edition were writing. That seems to me to be a shortfall. Whine whine, I know, but really? Not even Zora Neale Hurston? Geez. One of the tougher things for me about doing the happy-skip-jump about this anthology is that it's not an American anthology (it's got Chekhov, as I said, and Maupassant, and Henry James and Dostoevsky and whatnot) and therefore really doesn't have much of an excuse not to have more globally diverse writing in either edition. So that's kind of a bummer. Just think of it as a sampling, I guess, and bear in mind that Western white folks did not, in fact, have a monopoly on the short story form - just a monopoly on publishing in the West. The writers who are included, though, do amazing things with short stories, and you should read them. Although, fair warning? You will want to throw the New Yorker across the room when you're done for giving us such sad and whiny excuses for good short fiction. (Talk about white dudes...)
2. What the f!#& is it about?
Well, the cool thing about the collection (other than having dozens of amazing stories in it, geez) is the format. As the title implies makes glaringly obvious, it's all about points of view - so the stories are separated into groups based on the perspective that's being used to tell the story. Interior monologue, anonymous narration, epistolary communication - it's got a whole bunch of them lined up for you, and what's really neat is the way the stories in each grouping really fit together despite the total differences among them. Some are funny, some are serious, some are romantic, some are tragic, some are shocking - the collection includes Shirley Jackson's fanf!#&ingtabulous story "The Lottery," and if you don't know what that is for the love of god don't google it just read it please - and the grouping by narrative style provides a really intuitive and fluid connection between the pieces. It also keeps things fresh - as a reader, one short story after another can be a little exhausting, what with the constant switches in tone, style, content, and character. The manner of grouping gives you a kind of aha! moment each time you come to the next group, so that you have a new way to look at the stories you're reading every few dozen pages. It keeps them from running together - and, well, it's an excellent teaching tool, if you like that kind of thing.
As for what each individual story is about, well, lots of different things, genius. (I know, I know, I asked the question, not you.) What holds them together is the shining awesomeness of the writing. These stories are masterworks. You might not like all of them, and that's fine and probably even good. But each one glows. They are tight, sharp, gleaming examples of what can be done with a few words and a fine mind. Reading them is like eating from a tray of tiny little cakes, all of them different and every one of them intrinsically, heartbreakingly delicious.
3. Where the f!#& should I read this book?
This book is delightfully fat and full of stories - the original edition has 41, the revised 44 - and the variety makes it perfect for reading almost anywhere. Take it on a plane or a long journey to somewhere, or your morning commute. Read it on your lunch break, or on the porch swing with a lemonade and the sun going down, or a park bench somewhere. Read the best ones aloud to friends and family.
4. When the f!#& is it set?
The stories take place all over. Something for everyone, really. (Although the newer edition has fewer stories that take place prior to the turn of the century, presumably because that's not hip or something?)
5. Why the f!#& should I read it?
This is like a a small paper box full of the awesomeness of storytelling. That's why you should read it. The end.
Oh, well, and also the majority of the featured writers wrote lots of other stuff, including epically good novels and essays and whatnot, so reading it can be a wonderful way to find some new classic writers to check out without having to figure out in the bookstore whether you'll hate them or not. (Because you still go to the bookstore, right? Your awesome local bookstore? You'd just better, mister.)
And because it will remind you of the total spellbinding beauty of words and the thousands of different ways there are to deploy them in such a way as to move the human heart. The stories in Points of View are, of course, exactly that - assorted, elegant, forthright, funny, touching, quiet, brash perspectives on how to tell a story and what a story can be. Drawing together these beautifully-crafted stories is a reminder that there's not one way to do it right, not one voice to have, not one topic that's important. I'd say that a pretty f!#&ing good thing to remember.
Points of View is an anthology, so, um, lots of people wrote it. It features some of the greatest, sharpest gems of short fiction from the first six decades of the 20th century, and some older stuff as well. As far as I know, these are the people who made short fiction what it is. I mean these folks are the serious heavyweights. The dudes and ladies who invented the kinds of endings that leave you gasping. The people who figured out how to make ten pages pack a punch.
As with many collections published back in the day, it doesn't feature much in the way of writers who weren't white. The revised edition goes some way to correcting that - adding Langston Hughes, for example, who totally shoulda been in the original edition. Same with James Baldwin. That being said, while the revised edition contains more diverse contemporary writers, it doesn't add much beyond the two noted above to the list of non-white authors writing important short fiction in the same time periods as the authors in the original edition were writing. That seems to me to be a shortfall. Whine whine, I know, but really? Not even Zora Neale Hurston? Geez. One of the tougher things for me about doing the happy-skip-jump about this anthology is that it's not an American anthology (it's got Chekhov, as I said, and Maupassant, and Henry James and Dostoevsky and whatnot) and therefore really doesn't have much of an excuse not to have more globally diverse writing in either edition. So that's kind of a bummer. Just think of it as a sampling, I guess, and bear in mind that Western white folks did not, in fact, have a monopoly on the short story form - just a monopoly on publishing in the West. The writers who are included, though, do amazing things with short stories, and you should read them. Although, fair warning? You will want to throw the New Yorker across the room when you're done for giving us such sad and whiny excuses for good short fiction. (Talk about white dudes...)
2. What the f!#& is it about?
Well, the cool thing about the collection (other than having dozens of amazing stories in it, geez) is the format. As the title implies makes glaringly obvious, it's all about points of view - so the stories are separated into groups based on the perspective that's being used to tell the story. Interior monologue, anonymous narration, epistolary communication - it's got a whole bunch of them lined up for you, and what's really neat is the way the stories in each grouping really fit together despite the total differences among them. Some are funny, some are serious, some are romantic, some are tragic, some are shocking - the collection includes Shirley Jackson's fanf!#&ingtabulous story "The Lottery," and if you don't know what that is for the love of god don't google it just read it please - and the grouping by narrative style provides a really intuitive and fluid connection between the pieces. It also keeps things fresh - as a reader, one short story after another can be a little exhausting, what with the constant switches in tone, style, content, and character. The manner of grouping gives you a kind of aha! moment each time you come to the next group, so that you have a new way to look at the stories you're reading every few dozen pages. It keeps them from running together - and, well, it's an excellent teaching tool, if you like that kind of thing.
As for what each individual story is about, well, lots of different things, genius. (I know, I know, I asked the question, not you.) What holds them together is the shining awesomeness of the writing. These stories are masterworks. You might not like all of them, and that's fine and probably even good. But each one glows. They are tight, sharp, gleaming examples of what can be done with a few words and a fine mind. Reading them is like eating from a tray of tiny little cakes, all of them different and every one of them intrinsically, heartbreakingly delicious.
3. Where the f!#& should I read this book?
This book is delightfully fat and full of stories - the original edition has 41, the revised 44 - and the variety makes it perfect for reading almost anywhere. Take it on a plane or a long journey to somewhere, or your morning commute. Read it on your lunch break, or on the porch swing with a lemonade and the sun going down, or a park bench somewhere. Read the best ones aloud to friends and family.
4. When the f!#& is it set?
The stories take place all over. Something for everyone, really. (Although the newer edition has fewer stories that take place prior to the turn of the century, presumably because that's not hip or something?)
5. Why the f!#& should I read it?
This is like a a small paper box full of the awesomeness of storytelling. That's why you should read it. The end.
Oh, well, and also the majority of the featured writers wrote lots of other stuff, including epically good novels and essays and whatnot, so reading it can be a wonderful way to find some new classic writers to check out without having to figure out in the bookstore whether you'll hate them or not. (Because you still go to the bookstore, right? Your awesome local bookstore? You'd just better, mister.)
And because it will remind you of the total spellbinding beauty of words and the thousands of different ways there are to deploy them in such a way as to move the human heart. The stories in Points of View are, of course, exactly that - assorted, elegant, forthright, funny, touching, quiet, brash perspectives on how to tell a story and what a story can be. Drawing together these beautifully-crafted stories is a reminder that there's not one way to do it right, not one voice to have, not one topic that's important. I'd say that a pretty f!#&ing good thing to remember.
September 2, 2013
my mate found this in his attic, left by previous residents, and gave it me, knowing I love (and write) stories. His (now mine!) copy is an earlier 1966 paperback edition with small print. It's small but chunky, 500 pages. It feels great in your hand. I've read a lot of the pieces (eg Flowers for Algernon) and know most of the classic authors (from Chekhov to Updike) but many stories are new to me. It's organised in sections from - as the title implies - different points of view. Ideal for the forthcoming plane trip to NY and back - should last at least 16 hours...
I hate to get all religious on you but for the short story reader this is the book of books. It is wonderful, perfect, lovely, superb. There's some bollocks about point of view at the beginning, and the stories are grouped in categories, ranging from interior monologue to anonymous narration single character and multiple character to no character (the weird and beautiful Eudora Welty's 'Powerhouse'). (Actually it is quite interesting, and I left the book with my daughter who's studying English and American Literature in Maryland Uni). The main thing is though the quality of the stories, and every one I read was a zinger. It starts with Dorothy Parker's amusing dinner party anecdote 'But the One on the Right' and ends with Shirley Jackson's 'The Lottery' - which I'd heard so much about but not actually read until this point. The highlights in between are too numerous to mention but Berriault's (new name to me) 'Stone Boy' about a 9 year old boy who accidentally kills his older brother is stunning. Also great were Malamud's 'The Prison', Steinbeck's 'Johhny Bear', Chekov's 'Enemies' (of course), Irwin Shaw's 'Act of Faith' about persecution of Jews in the USA during WW2 (almost blaming them for dragging the country to war), and to praise British writers for a moment Dylan Thomas's and Alan Sillitoe's childhood ones, oh God the whole lot (I think though I did miss a few out, eg the editor's own contribution, as I had to leave the book).
I hate to get all religious on you but for the short story reader this is the book of books. It is wonderful, perfect, lovely, superb. There's some bollocks about point of view at the beginning, and the stories are grouped in categories, ranging from interior monologue to anonymous narration single character and multiple character to no character (the weird and beautiful Eudora Welty's 'Powerhouse'). (Actually it is quite interesting, and I left the book with my daughter who's studying English and American Literature in Maryland Uni). The main thing is though the quality of the stories, and every one I read was a zinger. It starts with Dorothy Parker's amusing dinner party anecdote 'But the One on the Right' and ends with Shirley Jackson's 'The Lottery' - which I'd heard so much about but not actually read until this point. The highlights in between are too numerous to mention but Berriault's (new name to me) 'Stone Boy' about a 9 year old boy who accidentally kills his older brother is stunning. Also great were Malamud's 'The Prison', Steinbeck's 'Johhny Bear', Chekov's 'Enemies' (of course), Irwin Shaw's 'Act of Faith' about persecution of Jews in the USA during WW2 (almost blaming them for dragging the country to war), and to praise British writers for a moment Dylan Thomas's and Alan Sillitoe's childhood ones, oh God the whole lot (I think though I did miss a few out, eg the editor's own contribution, as I had to leave the book).
Read
September 6, 2014Wish I still had my copy of this. Apparently it has been new versionize'd :: Points of View: An Anthology of Short Stories (1995) ;; a different clutch of authors. What you get are story instances of --:: Interior Monologue, Dramatic Monologue, Letter Narration, Diary Narration, Subjective Narration, Detached Autobiography, Memoir (or Observer Narration), Anonymous Narration (Single Character Point of View), Anonymous Narration (Dual Character PoV), Anonymous Narration (Multi-Character PoV), Anonymous Narration (No Character PoV). Which by no means sounds exhaustive. That's from the ToC of the 1995, and I'm not saying it's the same or different taxonomy in the 1966 edition. If you're a (serious) writer, you'll probably want your own copy of each edition.
December 30, 2020
Excellent book to convey the spectrum of point-of-view. The best part is the author's short overviews of the different types (i.e. interior monologue, dramatic monologue, letter narration, diary narration, subjective narration, detached autobiography, memoir or observer narration, anonymous narration -- single character point of view, anonymous narration -- dual character point of view, anonymous narration -- multiple character point of view, anonymous narration -- no character point of view) and thow they impact a reader.
August 12, 2011
As the title implies, this is a collection of short stories, organized by their different points of view. As any English major worth his salt will tell you, point of view (POV) has to do with what relationship the story's narrator has to the events being related. Is the narrator recounting events that happened to him personally? Then he tells the story in first-person POV. Is the narrator recounting events that happened to the reader? Second-person POV is the route he takes. And so on. The anthology's editors go into much deeper division of the various points of view, including interior monologue, diary narration, and anonymous narration, but it all basically has to do with whether the narrator was directly involved in the events. The editors provide several examples of each type, and that's where my interest returns. (This was something that always got me in trouble in high school/college literature courses - I didn't care about things like POV and theme and so on; I just wanted to read the damn stories!)
The nice thing about this anthology is that it collects stories from a wide variety of time periods and cultures. While it leans pretty heavily on pre- and post-WWII America, we also have Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Minister's Black Veil", as well as stories by Poe, Chekhov, Maupassant, James Joyce and Joseph Conrad (including some lesser-known stories by these masters). One of my favorite pieces was Dorothy Parker's "But the One on the Right", which is a dinner party guest's inner monologue about her fellow guests. The collection even includes a story by long-time MU faculty member Tom McAfee, "This Is My Living Room".
The nice thing about this anthology is that it collects stories from a wide variety of time periods and cultures. While it leans pretty heavily on pre- and post-WWII America, we also have Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Minister's Black Veil", as well as stories by Poe, Chekhov, Maupassant, James Joyce and Joseph Conrad (including some lesser-known stories by these masters). One of my favorite pieces was Dorothy Parker's "But the One on the Right", which is a dinner party guest's inner monologue about her fellow guests. The collection even includes a story by long-time MU faculty member Tom McAfee, "This Is My Living Room".
May 9, 2018
I was so excited when I learned that one of my classes' required textbook was only TEN BUCKS?????? WHAT? So, yeah, I actually paid attention to this one since they weren't trying to scalp my education.
Fantastic anthology. I loved the layout, first of all- let's start with that. The book is divided into sections of different narration styles which was SUPER helpful to my Short Fiction course and also a great way to group the stories together.
I've read work by some of the authors that are in here (Langston Hughes, Margaret Atwood, Frank O'Connor, Joyce Carol Oates, etc) and have heard of some others (James Baldwin, Alice Walker, Shirley Jackson, Truman Capote, etc) but prior to reading, I've only read one of these short stories before. It was a really great mishmash of some fantastic authors.
I wouldn't mark it five stars because there were a handful of stories I found slightly boring. They were great to study, but just not to my personal taste.
Fantastic anthology. I loved the layout, first of all- let's start with that. The book is divided into sections of different narration styles which was SUPER helpful to my Short Fiction course and also a great way to group the stories together.
I've read work by some of the authors that are in here (Langston Hughes, Margaret Atwood, Frank O'Connor, Joyce Carol Oates, etc) and have heard of some others (James Baldwin, Alice Walker, Shirley Jackson, Truman Capote, etc) but prior to reading, I've only read one of these short stories before. It was a really great mishmash of some fantastic authors.
I wouldn't mark it five stars because there were a handful of stories I found slightly boring. They were great to study, but just not to my personal taste.
January 11, 2018
This is an extremely helpful book for writers wanting to understand point of view. It explains the different options in a way I haven't seen in other places, and then provides several sample stories using that particular point of view, so you can really understand how it works.
July 8, 2010
This is a great anthology of stories geared toward both readers and writers interested in the craft of storytelling.
This collection is unique because the 44 classic stories in it are organized not by date, author, or subject, but the way that they're told, or, as the title suggests, their point of view. Sections are divided up into categories like "Interior Monologue," "Diary Narration," and "Anonymous Narration–Dual Character Point of View" (a much more interesting system than the standard first-, second-, and third-person classifications) with a selection of stories written in that POV in each.
"Points of View" originally came out in 1966 and was the result of work with students at the Phillips Exeter Academy, which at the time was a private boys school. Some of the stories in the original version were taken out and replaced in 1995 with stories of a more modern, ethnically and sexually diverse bent to better serve the contemporary reader. And as you can see from the cover there is a wide selection of writers, which I think makes this a strong collection.
One of my favorite stories in here is "A&P" by John Updike, a story told with the "Subjective" narrative technique. It's the story of one fateful day in the life of Sammy, a clerk at an A&P grocery store. Three girls clad only in bathing suits come into the store and at the end Sammy makes a moral decision that he ends up regretting, a common predicament for Updike characters. This is a great short story that a creative writing teacher I had in college used as a marker for what would be expected in our own stories.
"Points of View" is an excellent and diverse collection of stories no matter what your interests are. Who knows, you could find a style in its pages that inspires you to try your hand at it, as great stories tend to do.
This collection is unique because the 44 classic stories in it are organized not by date, author, or subject, but the way that they're told, or, as the title suggests, their point of view. Sections are divided up into categories like "Interior Monologue," "Diary Narration," and "Anonymous Narration–Dual Character Point of View" (a much more interesting system than the standard first-, second-, and third-person classifications) with a selection of stories written in that POV in each.
"Points of View" originally came out in 1966 and was the result of work with students at the Phillips Exeter Academy, which at the time was a private boys school. Some of the stories in the original version were taken out and replaced in 1995 with stories of a more modern, ethnically and sexually diverse bent to better serve the contemporary reader. And as you can see from the cover there is a wide selection of writers, which I think makes this a strong collection.
One of my favorite stories in here is "A&P" by John Updike, a story told with the "Subjective" narrative technique. It's the story of one fateful day in the life of Sammy, a clerk at an A&P grocery store. Three girls clad only in bathing suits come into the store and at the end Sammy makes a moral decision that he ends up regretting, a common predicament for Updike characters. This is a great short story that a creative writing teacher I had in college used as a marker for what would be expected in our own stories.
"Points of View" is an excellent and diverse collection of stories no matter what your interests are. Who knows, you could find a style in its pages that inspires you to try your hand at it, as great stories tend to do.
January 15, 2009
This anthology originally appeared in 1966 and has since undergone revision to add more stories from the 1970's and 80's.
It was developed to aid in a creative writing class since its form is to move from one style of narration to another.
Styles of narration featured by section:
Interior Monologue, Dramatic Monologue, Letter Narration, Diary Narration, Subjective Narration, Detached Autobiography, Memoir, Anonymous Narration: 1, 2, 3 or more, and No Character Points of View.
Some of the stories included are fantastic. I cannot say enough in praise of the following stories(though each for different reasons):
"A Bundle of Letters" by Henry James
"Christmas Eve at Johnson's Drugs N Goods" by Toni Cade Bambara
"The Five Forty-Eight" by John Cheever
"Come Out the Wilderness" by James Baldwin
"The Suicides of Private Greaves" by James Moffett
"My Side of the Matter" by Truman Capote
"A & P" by John Updike
"A Coupla Scalped Indians" by Ralph Ellison
"Act of Faith" by Irwin Shaw
It was developed to aid in a creative writing class since its form is to move from one style of narration to another.
Styles of narration featured by section:
Interior Monologue, Dramatic Monologue, Letter Narration, Diary Narration, Subjective Narration, Detached Autobiography, Memoir, Anonymous Narration: 1, 2, 3 or more, and No Character Points of View.
Some of the stories included are fantastic. I cannot say enough in praise of the following stories(though each for different reasons):
"A Bundle of Letters" by Henry James
"Christmas Eve at Johnson's Drugs N Goods" by Toni Cade Bambara
"The Five Forty-Eight" by John Cheever
"Come Out the Wilderness" by James Baldwin
"The Suicides of Private Greaves" by James Moffett
"My Side of the Matter" by Truman Capote
"A & P" by John Updike
"A Coupla Scalped Indians" by Ralph Ellison
"Act of Faith" by Irwin Shaw
November 24, 2011
This collection of short stories by numerous famous authors was very challenging for me, and I dare say, my entire book club. It helped to be able to discuss each story with others, and I understood the pieces better in this framework. I believe characters need to be developed quickly and every word counts in a short story. I don't think I'm a student of this genre, preferring instead to spend more time with the characters and plot.
July 23, 2015
Some of the stories were boring but others were really interesting.
October 4, 2016
SIX WORD REVIEW: The Almanac for short story writing.
October 19, 2017
So, many years ago I was cleaning out the English office at the school at which I taught. I was tossing old books left and right. They hadn't been used for years. I grabbed this particular book just because it sounded as though it would have interesting short stories. I think it was used at one time in our AP classes, but obviously not for long. Finally, I got around to reading the stories...and I've been retired for going on 5 years now. It was OK--there were some really good short stories and some that were blah. The whole purpose of the book was to teach students about writing in different voices, different points of view, and offer different stories to illustrate those voices. Yeah, done with it.
April 12, 2020
I liked reading through the POVs presented here, but I thought the stories were not the authors' best works. I think becoming more aware of style and perspective choices could be really helpful for people in high school or college, or those particularly interested in these classifications, but story-wise, even with all the big-name authors, I can't say I was impressed or inspired. A couple stood out and they were T.C. Boyle's Sinking House and Eudora Welty's Powerhouse.
November 26, 2019
Book for ENWR1510 class. Provided good knowledge on the classification of stories from the perspective of points of view. However, sometimes the classification is a little obscure. Some stories are good; others are a little plain. I wrote my essays on "the stone boy" and "the telephone". I think there are additional stories provided by my professor that I enjoyed more.
October 14, 2018
Excellent review of narrative styles in fiction with many thought-provoking, sometimes uncomfortably so, short stories. Very interesting afterword linking narrative styles with individual and historical development. A good review for me as a non-literary reader
October 8, 2019
A solid anthology. Some classics, some less-heralded work by excellent writers, and only a few duds -- some of which editors in 1995 might include but editors in 2019 would exclude. A good deep dive into point-of-view, the one aspect of craft that unlocks all others.
Read
April 25, 2021Very very good short stories
1. Too early Spring
2. Mademoiselle Pearl
3. Johnny Bear
4. First Confession
5. Diary of a Madman
6. The use of Force
are a few of the best (better ones) - no particular order except Too Early Spring is the best
1. Too early Spring
2. Mademoiselle Pearl
3. Johnny Bear
4. First Confession
5. Diary of a Madman
6. The use of Force
are a few of the best (better ones) - no particular order except Too Early Spring is the best
July 7, 2017
Read the first edition. Second edition has modifications to the original notes on various points of view.
February 4, 2018
Some shorts are suspenseful, some emotive, others are humerus while a few are tedious. However, the anthology is intended less to entertain than to teach the variations in the craft of writing.
March 29, 2019
Excellent collection of some classic short stories through the years
April 23, 2020
Really great but my copy was missing pages. Helpful read for the aspiring writer.
Read
September 1, 2023English class vibes
December 4, 2023
Finally finished reading all the stories. Read my first James Joyce story- it was amazing!
February 25, 2024
Used in a fiction writing class, this book offered excellent examples to understand and discuss point of view. A tricky topic to understand.
April 24, 2010
I love this book beyond any anthology of short stories I've read, and a lot of that is the concept, and not just the content. Point of view makes such a big difference in fiction. I've loved playing with it in my (decidedly amateur) fiction and I love to read stories that play with it--I've been known to read entire novels written in second person ("you")--though that rare point of view isn't included here. There are 44 short stories here, from less than two thousand to over 10,000 words. The points of views represented are: Interior Monologue, Dramatic Monologue, Letter Narration, Diary Narration, Subjective Narration, Detached Autobiography, Observer Narration, Anonymous Narration (Single, Double, Multiple, Objective).
The authors in the edition I own include Dorothy Parker, Tillie Olsen, Katherine Mansfield, Joyce Carol Oates, Henry James, Ambrose Bierce, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, V.S. Naipual, Lorrie Moore, Truman Capote, Langston Hughes, John Updike, Frank O'Connor, Ralph Ellison, Amy Tan, Louise Erdrich, Raymond Carver, James Baldwin, Alice Walker, Margaret Atwood, Shirley Jackson, Eudora Welty among others. Not the same as one in a review naming Dostoevksy, Gogol, Turgenev, Crane, Malamud, Porter, Bellow. So this exists in several editions, and can't be taken as a "best" of the short story (otherwise where is Cather, Chekhov, Hawthorne, Joyce, de Maupassant, O Henry, Poe, Saki, Twain?) but it is a very strong collection. I was impressed by the earlier edition assigned me in high school, and this one holds up well too. Both as best I can remember carry Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery"--among the most memorable and powerful short stories I've ever read.
The authors in the edition I own include Dorothy Parker, Tillie Olsen, Katherine Mansfield, Joyce Carol Oates, Henry James, Ambrose Bierce, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, V.S. Naipual, Lorrie Moore, Truman Capote, Langston Hughes, John Updike, Frank O'Connor, Ralph Ellison, Amy Tan, Louise Erdrich, Raymond Carver, James Baldwin, Alice Walker, Margaret Atwood, Shirley Jackson, Eudora Welty among others. Not the same as one in a review naming Dostoevksy, Gogol, Turgenev, Crane, Malamud, Porter, Bellow. So this exists in several editions, and can't be taken as a "best" of the short story (otherwise where is Cather, Chekhov, Hawthorne, Joyce, de Maupassant, O Henry, Poe, Saki, Twain?) but it is a very strong collection. I was impressed by the earlier edition assigned me in high school, and this one holds up well too. Both as best I can remember carry Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery"--among the most memorable and powerful short stories I've ever read.
July 27, 2011
+Been reading this one for quite awhile. Picked it up at a used-book sale, turned out to be a GEM! This is, I believe, a textbook for an upper-level English course (besides the stories, of which there are 44, there are a couple of very scholarly essays regarding not only child development but the development of fiction in more and more narrow "points of view." This looks at fiction from various perspectives, from essentially interior monologue/soliloquy to the anonymous narrator of several characters. I fiund some of the exposition a bit difficult to follow, but then I'm not a 20+ year old college student anymore, so my academic skills are a bit rusty.
The stories themselves are a very enjoyable collection of authors ranging from Amy Tan to T.C. Boyle to Henry James to Joyce Carol Oates,to Eudora Welty, etc. etc. I have found the Internet (specifically Wikipedia) very helpful in tracing down the background and literary opus of all these authors, deepening the enjoyment. Several were my favorites: "The Circuit" by Francisco Jiminez, about migrant sharecroppers (I found out that this was part of a longer collection of related stories by the same author, plan to read 'e,m for sure), and "Powerhouse" by Eudora Welty, about an African-American jazz musician whose lifestyle and personal tragedies seem somehow secondary to The Music.
Many more examples are there. This is somewhat slow going, and, as with many such works, I have used these stories to "cleanse my palate" between novels. I HIGHLY recommend this one!
The stories themselves are a very enjoyable collection of authors ranging from Amy Tan to T.C. Boyle to Henry James to Joyce Carol Oates,to Eudora Welty, etc. etc. I have found the Internet (specifically Wikipedia) very helpful in tracing down the background and literary opus of all these authors, deepening the enjoyment. Several were my favorites: "The Circuit" by Francisco Jiminez, about migrant sharecroppers (I found out that this was part of a longer collection of related stories by the same author, plan to read 'e,m for sure), and "Powerhouse" by Eudora Welty, about an African-American jazz musician whose lifestyle and personal tragedies seem somehow secondary to The Music.
Many more examples are there. This is somewhat slow going, and, as with many such works, I have used these stories to "cleanse my palate" between novels. I HIGHLY recommend this one!
May 18, 2015
I’ve been dipping in and out of this anthology for a few years now and it’s been an enjoyable journey for the most part. Exploring what points of view spark your own interest also makes for captivating observation.
Dramatic monologue along with anonymous narration (with no character point of view) I ultimately found far less engaging but what surprised me was that letter narration did little for me as a reader - despite the fact that I enjoy an array of Victorian epistolary novels (along with the more modern The Prestige by Christopher Priest).
Top reads that I’d highly recommend from my well-worn, dog-eared, 1966 2nd hand edition include: ‘Johnny Bear’ by John Steinbeck,‘The Five-Forty-Eight’ by John Cheever, ‘Bad Characters’ by Jean Stafford, ‘Fever Flower’ by Shirley Ann Grau, ‘Patricia, Edith and Arnold’ by Dylan Thomas, ‘Unlighted Lamps’ by Sherwood Anderson, ‘First Confession’ by Frank O’Connor, ‘The Use of Force’ by Carlos Williams, ‘Too Early Spring’ by Stephen Vincent Benet, ‘Maria Concepcion’ by Katherine Anne Porter, ‘My Side of the Matter’ by Truman Capote, ‘The Suicides of Private Greaves’ by James Moffett, ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ by Edgar Allan Poe, ‘A and P’ by John Updike, ‘Flowers for Algernon’ by Daniel Keyes and ‘This is My Living Room’ by Tom Mcafee.
These before-mentioned gems aren’t the end of it either - there are plenty more to like in this short story treasure chest. The anthology will provide a fantastic and varied reading experience for all those interested in narrative voice and short fiction.
Dramatic monologue along with anonymous narration (with no character point of view) I ultimately found far less engaging but what surprised me was that letter narration did little for me as a reader - despite the fact that I enjoy an array of Victorian epistolary novels (along with the more modern The Prestige by Christopher Priest).
Top reads that I’d highly recommend from my well-worn, dog-eared, 1966 2nd hand edition include: ‘Johnny Bear’ by John Steinbeck,‘The Five-Forty-Eight’ by John Cheever, ‘Bad Characters’ by Jean Stafford, ‘Fever Flower’ by Shirley Ann Grau, ‘Patricia, Edith and Arnold’ by Dylan Thomas, ‘Unlighted Lamps’ by Sherwood Anderson, ‘First Confession’ by Frank O’Connor, ‘The Use of Force’ by Carlos Williams, ‘Too Early Spring’ by Stephen Vincent Benet, ‘Maria Concepcion’ by Katherine Anne Porter, ‘My Side of the Matter’ by Truman Capote, ‘The Suicides of Private Greaves’ by James Moffett, ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ by Edgar Allan Poe, ‘A and P’ by John Updike, ‘Flowers for Algernon’ by Daniel Keyes and ‘This is My Living Room’ by Tom Mcafee.
These before-mentioned gems aren’t the end of it either - there are plenty more to like in this short story treasure chest. The anthology will provide a fantastic and varied reading experience for all those interested in narrative voice and short fiction.
February 9, 2016
This is a great collection of short stories to buy if you are a writer of short stories or even a careful reader who is curious about how writers work very diligently to maintain the point of view of one or two characters in a short story. There are examples of writing Interior Monologue, such as Tillie Olsen's "I Stand Here Ironing," subjective narration such as the wonderful funny "My Side of the Matter" by Truman Capote where you can easily tell the narrator is unreliable, single character point of view like "The Five-Forty-Eight" by John Cheever, dual character point of view like Margaret Atwood's "Uglypuss" and many other examples. It's not so much that these are the best short stories you've ever read as that these are examples of how to execute the various options for points of view. Until you can master the notion of points of view you will not achieve mastery in writing a short story. So I encourage all short story writers to buy this convenient book almost as a reference book on the various short story models.
February 9, 2009
The copy I have is actually the original 1966 edition, but I couldn't find that edition on here. Anyway, I loved this book. It contained the first story of John Steinbeck's that I've ever enjoyed reading, as well as contributions by such literary giants as James Joyce, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe and Joseph Conrad. Some of the stories were rather boring and some were not at all my taste, but I found some new favorites-"The Iliad of Sandy Bar" by Bret Harte and the frankly disturbing "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson-as well as some old friends-particularly the heartbreakingly exquisite "Flowers for Algernon". I would recommend that any lover of short stories find and buy this book.
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