
"How ironic," Joyce Carol Oates writes in her introduction to this marvelous collection, "that in our age of rapid mass-production and the easy proliferation of consumer products, the richness and diversity of the American literary imagination should be so misrepresented in most anthologies." Why, she asks, when writers such as Samuel Clemens, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Eudora Welty, Flannery O'Connor, Saul Bellow, and John Updike have among them written hundreds of short stories, do anthologists settle on the same two or three titles by each author again and again? "Isn't the implicit promise of an anthology that it will, or aspires to, present something different, unexpected?"In The Oxford Book of American Short Stories, Joyce Carol Oates offers a sweeping survey of American short fiction, in a collection of fifty-six 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," Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart," and Hemingway's "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place." But alongside these classics, Oates introduces such little-known stories as Mark Twain's "Cannibalism in the Cars," a story that reveals a darker side to his humor ("That morning we had Morgan of Alabama for breakfast. He was one of the finest men I ever sat down to...a perfect gentleman, and singularly juicy"). 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." From Flannery O'Connor we find "A Late Encounter With the Enemy," and from John Cheever, "The Death of Justina," one of Cheever's own favorites, though rarely anthologized. The reader will also delight in the range of authors found here, from Charles
Joyce Carol Oates challenges the repetitive nature of traditional literary anthologies by curating a collection that prioritizes both canonical staples and overlooked gems of the American short story. The editor seeks to broaden the reader's understanding of the American literary imagination by selecting works that represent a diverse range of voices, including those of women and minority writers. The collection operates as a non-linear survey, allowing the reader to navigate through various historical periods and stylistic movements without a singular, overarching narrative constraint.
Discussion often centers on the editor's deliberate choice to avoid the most predictable selections from famous authors in favor of more nuanced or experimental pieces. Readers frequently highlight the inclusion of lesser-known works by major figures like Mark Twain and John Cheever as a primary strength of the volume. Critics note that the anthology succeeds in providing a more comprehensive view of the American literary landscape than standard academic collections. The pacing is varied, reflecting the diverse styles and thematic concerns of the authors included. Many readers appreciate the balance between established literary giants and the inclusion of marginalized voices that have historically received less attention in similar surveys.
Page Count:
782
Publication Date:
1994-01-01
Publisher:
Oxford Univ Press
ISBN-10:
0192824066
ISBN-13:
9780192824066
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