The Granta Book of the American Short Story, Volume One

by Richard Ford (Editor)

Overview

Richard Ford, who is among the finest of American novelists and short-story writers, edits and introduces this volume. First published by Granta Books in 1992, it became the definitive anthology of American short fiction written in the last half of the twentieth century - an 'exemplary choice' in the words of the Washington Post - with stories by writers such as Eudora Welty, John Cheever and Raymond Carver (and forty others) demonstrating how much memorable power can lie in the briefest narration. Along with The New Granta Book of the American Short Story , this book constitutes an important reflection and judgement of recent American writing - as well as the superb pleasure yielded by the stories themselves.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781862079045
Publisher:	Granta Books
Publication date:	04/26/2011
Pages:	736
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.80(h) x 2.00(d)

About the Author

Richard Ford's story collections include Rock Springs, Women Without Men, and A Multitude of Sins. His novel Independence Day was the first novel to win both the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Pulitzer Prize. His latest novel, The Lay of the Land, was published in 2006.

Date of Birth:

February 16, 1944

Place of Birth:

Jackson, Mississippi

Education:

B.A., Michigan State University, 1966; M.F.A., University of California, Irvine, 1970

Table of Contents

A Day in the Open – Jane Bowles
A Distant Episode – Paul Bowles
Blackberry Winter – Robert Penn Warren
O City of Broken Dreams – John Cheever
The Lottery – Shirley Jackson
The View from the Balcony – Wallace Stegner
No Place for You, My Love – Eudora Welty
The Statue of Grace – Harold Brodkey
The Magic Barrel – Bernard Malamud
Good Country People – Flannery O’Connor
In Time Which Made a Monkey of Us All – Grace Paley
Sonny’s Blues – James Baldwin
Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time – Peter Taylor
Welcome to the Monkey House – Kurt Vonnegut,Jr
In the Zoo – Jean Stafford
A Poetics for Bullies – Stanley Elkin
Upon the Sweeping Flood – Joyce Carol Oates
The Indian Uprising – Donald Barthelme
In the Heart of the Heart of the Country – William Gass
A Solo Song: For Doc – James Alan McPherson
The Babysitter – Robert Coover
City Boy – Leonard Michaels
White Rat – Gayl Jones
Are These Actual Miles? – Raymond Carver
Train – Joy Williams
Fuge in A Minor – William Kotzwinkle
Here Come the Maples – John Updike
Pretty Ice – Mary Robinson
Testimony of Pilot – Barry Hannah
Greenwich Time – Ann Beattie
Lechery – Jayne Anne Phillips
Liars in Love – Richard Yeats
The Circling Hand – Jamaica Kincaid
Territory – David Leavitt
Bridging – Max Apple
Greasy Lake – T. Coraghessan Boyle
The Rich Brother – Tobias Wolff
American Express – James Salter
The Joy Luck Club – Amy Tan
The Fireman’s Wife – Richard Bausch
Hot Ice – Stuart Dybek
You’re Ugly, Too – Lorrie Moore 
The Things They Carried – Tim O’Brien

Editorial Reviews

‘Ford’s introduction is as complete and persuasive an introduction to post-war American writing as one could hope for’ The Times
 
‘An indispensable volume ... a colossal book that contains not only classics by the greats but also perfect stories by lesser known writers’ Philip Hensher, Mail on Sunday
 
‘Ford’s choice of stories is exemplary ... there’s wonderful reading here’ Washington Post
 
‘This is a rich collection’ Guardian
 
‘A carefully wrought compilation that does credit to its rich subject’ Literary Review
 
‘Ford treats us to some stunning stories’ Nation

From the Publisher