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Title: The Oxford Book of American Short Stories (Oxford Paperbacks) by Joyce Carol Oates ISBN: 0-19-509262-7 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 September, 1994 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A solid sampling of U.S. stories
Comment: "The Oxford Book of American Short Stories," edited by Joyce Carol Oates, is an impressive anthology. The editor herself is well-known as a master writer of short stories, so you know that she has insights into the genre.
This is a truly sweeping anthology. The authors (56 altogether) range chronologically from Washington Irving (1783-1859) to Pinckney Benedict (b. 1964). Many of the "giants" of U.S. literature, among them a number of Nobel and Pulitzer recipients, are included: Herman Melville ("The Paradise of Bachelors..."), Edgar Allan Poe ("The Tell-Tale Heart"), Edith Wharton ("A Journey"), Saul Bellow (Something to Remember Me By"), etc.
In her introduction, Oates notes that one of her goals in this anthology was to present "[f]amiliar names, unfamiliar titles." Thus, it is rewarding to see stories like "Cannibalism in the Cars," by Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain). But she does, in some cases, include an author's best-known story (like Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper"). A good balance overall.
Oates also includes many authors who represent ethnic currents in U.S. literature: African-American, Jewish, Native American, Latina, and Asian-American. There are also a number of "regional" writers.
There is a wide variety of themes and stylistic approaches represented in this book. I was particularly interested in those stories that represent various forms of American vernacular speech: Jean Toomer's "Blood-Burning Moon," Eudora Welty's "Where Is That Voice Coming From?", etc. I was also pleased at the inclusion of one of Ray Bradbury's masterful science fiction tales (the haunting "There Will Come Soft Rains").
Obviously, an anthology of this nature will not please everybody perfectly; I'm sure many readers will name favorite stories and authors whom they would have liked to have seen included in this collection. Personally, I would have added a story each by Alice Walker, Hisaye Yamamoto, Samuel Delany, H.P. Lovecraft, and Octavia Butler. But overall, this is a fine anthology, good both for classroom use and individual recreational reading.
Rating: 4
Summary: Oates tries, but fails, to ruin a good thing.
Comment: This is a solid cross-section of time, authors, style, intent, and soul. I taught this to 50+ teenagers with a high degree of success and corporate enjoyment. The primary downfall of the piece is that Oates comments before each story, sometimes playing the obnoxious neighbor by actually giving away the resolution. Read her comments after you read the story. Otherwise, great work.
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Title: The Best American Short Stories of the Century by John Updike, Katrina Kenison ISBN: 0395843677 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Pub. Date: 20 April, 2000 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: The Oxford Book of English Short Stories (Oxford Books of Prose) by A. S. Byatt ISBN: 019280376X Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: The Granta Book of the American Short Story by Richard Ford ISBN: 1862071098 Publisher: Granta Books Pub. Date: 01 October, 1998 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: The Oxford Book of Short Stories (Oxford Books of Prose) by V. S. Pritchett ISBN: 0192801910 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 October, 2001 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: 75 Short Masterpieces by Roger B. Goodman ISBN: 0553251414 Publisher: Bantam Books Pub. Date: 01 August, 1996 List Price(USD): $6.50 |
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