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List of contents
* asterisks indicate selections new to this edition
Introduction
The Telling of the Tale
The Short Story Genre
Reading and Analyzing Short Fiction
Plot
Characterization
Point of View
Theme
Setting
Style and Symbolism
Writing About Short Fiction
Fiction
Nathanel Hawthorne (1804-1864)
Young Goodman Brown
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)
*The Tell-Tale Heart
Sarah Orne Jewett (1849-1909)
A White Heron
Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)
Mother Savage
Kate Chopin (1851-1904)
Désirée's Baby
Anton Chekhov (1860-1904)
The Lady with the Pet Dog
Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935)
The Yellow Wallpaper
Edith Wharton (1862-1937)
Roman Fever
Willa Cather (1876-1947)
*Paul's Case
James Joyce (1882-1941)
*Eveline
William Faulkner (1897-1962)
Barn Burning
Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986)
*The Secret Miracle
Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)
Hills Like White Elephants
Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960)
Sweat
John Steinbeck (1902-1968)
The Chrysanthemums
Richard Wright (1908-1960)
The Man Who Was Almost a Man
Eudora Welty (1909-2001)
*A Worn Path
John Cheever (1912-1982)
Reunion
Ralph Ellison (1914-1995)
A Party Down at the Square
Grace Paley (B. 1922)
Wants
Flannery O'Connor (1925-1964)
Good Country People
Richard Yates (1926-1992)
Doctor Jack-o'-Lantern
Gabriel García Márquez (B. 1928)
A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings
Ursula K. Le Guin
*The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas
Chinua Achebe (B. 1930)
Dead Men's Path
J. G. Ballard (B. 1930)
Time of Passage
Donald Barthelme (1931-1989)
The Genius
Alice Munro (B. 1931)
How I Met My Husband
Andre Dubus (1936-1999)
*The Fat Girl
Joyce Carol Oates (B. 1938)
Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
Raymond Carver (1938-1988)
Cathedral
Margaret Atwood (B. 1939)
Happy Endings
Bobbie Ann Mason (B. 1940)
Shiloh
Alice Walker (B. 1944)
Everyday Use
Tim Gautreaux (B. 1947)
Died and Gone to Vegas
Jamaica Kincaid (B. 1949)
Girl
Dagoberto Gilb (B. 1950)
Look on the Bright Side
Sandra Cisneros (B. 1954)
Woman Hollering Creek
Louise Erdrich (B. 1954)
The Red Convertible
Gish Jen (B. 1955)
In the American Society
Lorrie Moore (B. 1957)
How to Talk to Your Mother (Notes)
Daniel Orozco (b. 1960)
*Orientation
Appendix: The Forms of the Short Story
Acknowledgments
Index of Critical Terms
Summary
The perfect alternative to lengthy fiction anthologies, this brief, inexpensive, and diverse collection of 42 short stories provides a concise yet complete introduction to the study of fiction.
