The Best American Short Stories 1981

by Hortense Calisher (Editor), Shannon Ravenel (Series Editor)

Book by

Genres: Short Stories

348 pages, Hardcover

First published October 2, 1981

About the author

Hortense Calisher was an American writer of fiction.

Calisher involved her closely investigated, penetrating characters in complicated plotlines that unfold with shocks and surprises in allusive, nuanced language with a distinctively elegiac voice, sometimes compared with Eudora Welty, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, and Henry James. Critics generally considered Calisher a type of neo-realist and often both condemned and praised for her extensive explorations of characters and their social worlds. She was definitely at odds with the prevailing writing style of minimalism that characterized fiction writing in the 1970s and 1980s and that emphasized a sparse, non-romantic style with no room for expressionism or romanticism. As an anti-minimalist, Calisher was admired for her elliptical style in which more is hinted at than stated, and she was also praised as a social realist and critic in the vein of Honore Balzac and Edith Wharton.

Reviews

[Jakon Hays]

OK – here are some quick figures on The BASS 1981.


I started reading – or at least posted my first report on the book on Jan. 21, 2010. I am making my last post on Feb. 24, 2010. That works out to:


1 month 3 days

or

4 weeks 6 days

or

34 days

or

24 weekdays

or

802 hours


There were 20 stories and this works out to 1.7 stories per day.


The authors were split right down the center by gender.


As addressed in the Intro to this collection, the most represented literary magazine was the New Yorker, and this collection had the New York literary scene all over it.


My favorite was: The winter father by Andre Dubus

My least favorite was: The Idea of Switzerland by Walter Abish




Overall, I really enjoyed this collection. I suppose I can attribute the speed (slow for most) of my reading/research and thoughts to the excellent collection contained between the covers.


Calisher did a fine job in assembling 20 great stories and her confidence in the strength of the short story form was right on target.

http://yearsofbass.blogspot.com/2010/...

[Ryan]

The 1981 collection was extremely hit or miss -- manic, even. In her effort to provide a good variety of styles and subjects, Calisher ended up letting in some of the most tedious, irritating, and/or pretentious fiction I've read in a BASS collection. On the other hand, she also managed to strike gold several times, perhaps even more regularly than any of her immediate editorial predecessors in this series. Favorites included:

* Walter Abish - "The Idea of Switzerland"
* Max Apple - "Small Island Republics"
* Ann Beattie - "Winter: 1978"
* Andre Dubus - "The Winter Father"
* Elizabeth Tallent - "Ice"
* John Updike - "Still of Some Use"

And some honorable mentions:

* Alice Munro - "Wood" (well-wrought, if a bit predictable)
* Cynthia Ozick - "The Shawl" (a recognized classic, but a touch too harrowing for me to call it a "favorite")