Twentieth Century Short Stories

by Douglas R. Barnes (Editor), R.F. Egford (Editor)

The stories in this impressive collection have been chosen for the challenge they offer the reader and the variety of language used.

Genres: Short Stories, Collections, Anthologies

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1982

Reviews

[Alan]

fantastic selection of stories. Conrad's Secret Sharer, Lawrence's Odour of Chrysanthemums, E M Forster's The Machine Stops, Mansfield's Daughters of the Late Colonel, Greene's The Destructors.
I read this first as a pupil in 1969 for my 'O' level English. I loved it then (well all but Mansfield, who had to 'grow' on me), and now it looks like a list of the great British (in fact English: if you count Mansfield and Conrad as English, as they settled here) stories of the first half of the 20th Century.

The book made me love short stories above all else, and to look for the best forever.. and try and emulate, as far as I was able, the compact beauty of the form that these masters display.

I'm sure I've added this already to GR, a previous editon, but can't find it.

[Sean]

OK - 48 years since I read it. It was a set book for English 'O' level. But it introduced me to great authors such as Joseph Conrad, Graham Greene and Saki. I have to give it 5 stars just for its influnce.

[Jeannette]

Dusting off the cover of this classic selection of short stories definitely takes you back to late nights pouring over homework, course work and frantic scribbling on the Quad at school.
Included in this collection of short stories:
The Secret Sharer, joseph Conrad
Odour of Chrysanthemums, D.H. Lawrence
The Lumber Room, Saki
The Daughters of the Late Colonel, Katherine Mansfield
The Machine Stops, E.M .Forster
The Destructors, Graham Green.
The central characters in each story were all depicted in such different settings and genres and yet there was a central thread of experiences and adverse events. Key elements of a well written fictional story to engage the reader( or get picked apart by sometimes not such enthusiastic readers..) to interpret and understand complex relationships within families,peer groups and work environments: just as relevant in the 21st Century.
From a post-war playground for The Wormsley Common Gang in The Destructors to the short story The Machine Stops in the subterranean tunnels of the Earth.
From the young captain anchored in The Gulf of Siam secretly harbouring a passenger below deck in The Secret Sharer to a grieving mother and widow in Odour of Chrysanthemums.
From Nicholas,( a young scamp of a lad)being disciplined in his auntie's house," because you're in disgrace" in The Lumber Room to The Colonels daughters, Josephine and Constantia planning their father's funeral in a time of family duty.
None of the stories disappoint and you get drawn in to the characters life changing events: with humour, with sadness and personal experiences.
I recommend looking out a copy of The Twentieth Century Short Stories and why not flick through Questions to Guide Reading?,( My copy had some very helpful annotations!)
Enjoy a trip down memory lane ..

[Richard]

1973 was a good year to be doing English Literature O Level. Our Dickens was Great Expectations and our Shakespeare was Macbeth. In addition we had a book of short stories, 2 of which remained vividly in my mind through the advancing years.

Eventually I tracked the collection down, Twentieth-Century Short Stories. I was amazed to discover the A list credentials of the various authors, and delighted that at the time, I had read the stories for what they were and not for who had written them.

This is a fabulous collection, all beautifully created and written. Enjoyable and satisfying to read. The two I remembered best? EM Forster - The Macine Stops and Graham Greene - The Destructors.

I often thought of The Machine Stops during lockdown as we were confined to our homes and Zoom and social media were our means of work, communication and leisure. As prominent 'influencers' suggest ever more manufactured food to replace naturally grown nutrition in order to save the climate, the world of The Machine appears to move a step closer.

As I did 50 years ago I continue to find The Destructors a deeply shocking and disturbing short story. But what is it about the darkness in Greene's storytelling that is so compelling?

[Paul]

Excellent selection of stories. The machine stops and the destructors are still as haunting as when I read them 30 years ago.

[Morticia Adams]

I picked this up because I'm finding it difficult to concentrate on longer fiction these days - presumably because I've been spending far too long reading fragmentary stuff on the internet. So I figured that reading short stories, by various writers, might be a good way to wean myself back onto longer fiction.

I can't fault this collection as an instrument for the above purpose - six stories by six of the (early) twentieth century's most illustrious and luminous writers - Graham Greene, Katherine Mansfield, E M Forster, D H Lawrence, Joseph Conrad and Saki - each story entirely different in character and style from the others, each with its own perspective and singular insights into human life. A miner's wife waits with growing apprehension as her husband is late returning from work, and tries to dismiss her fears by persuading herself that he will be drinking away his wages in the pub; a gang of boys engage in the nihilistic and painstakingly methodical destruction of a neighbour's house; two middle-aged women try to come to terms with the death of their unpleasant father. The most riveting contribution comes from E M Forster with "The Machine Stops", an uncannily prescient glimpse of a future which is utterly static and sterile, where human individuality and thought has been destroyed with the advance of technology - astonishingly written in 1909, even before the invention of television, let alone the internet.

I'm happy to say that these stories have been a wonderful reminder of the joys and pleasures of real reading. I'm not quite ready yet to tackle Tolstoy again but this collection has given me a good start.

[Sam]

Nice little book. The stories are easy to read. Didn't give it 5 stars because the stories are written by different authors so they have different writing styles which is OK if you read one story at a time.

[Crystal E. Fall]

3.5/5. Did a book exchange with a friend, and she lent me this book! I enjoyed both The lumber room and Odour of the chrysanthemums quite a bit; The lumber room had this playful quality to the writing which I appreciated, and Odour of the chrysanthemums had such interesting themes of loss, how expectations can influence the choices you make and what it truly means to know a person (or not know them at all) and I thought it explored them really well.

My favourite in the collection by far however was The machine stops - after finishing it I sat for a solid half-hour staring into space and just thinking. About reliance on technology, how ideas and creativity are valued and defined, the physical versus the cognitive world, what being human means in a technologically dependent world... I'm in awe over how it was written over 100 years ago and yet feels so chillingly relevant. It also reminded me of how impactful a well-written dystopian story can be and that I need to read more stories like this.

I didn't really click with The Secret Sharer, The daughters of the late colonel or The destructors, but that's bound to happen in a collection like this with vastly different writers.

[عبدالله المحمدي]

Peace be upon you,

Dear Douglas R. Barnes and dear R. F. Egford,

My name is Abdullah Almahomdy, a freelance translator from Yemen. I translate from English into Arabic, and I would be honored to translate your book *Twentieth Century Short Stories* (قصص القرن العشرين القصيرة), which contains six short stories.

I estimate that the complete translation, including the covers, will take no more than one month. In addition, I would like to enrich the work by illustrating selected scenes from each story.

If you are interested, I can provide a sample translation for your review.

I look forward to your reply and thank you for your valuable time.

Sincerely,
Abdullah Almahomdy
Phone: +967 770 842 937
Email: abdullahalmahomdy@gmail.com

[Maria João]

This is small collection of short stories was selected by members of the London Association for the Teaching of English. Being a non-native English-speaker, some stories were a bit more challenging to follow either vocabulary-wise, or when direct speech was written to reflect the accent in which it was spoken. Joseph Conrad´s "The Secret Sharer" and E. M. Foster´s "The Machine Stops" were definitely my favourites from this book.

[Karen Clark]

O level set text in the late 70's, I have been reliving my youth, but reading for pure pleasure this time. Reading EM Forster's dystopian The Machine Stops this time around feels much more imminent - lockdown really put us all into this kind of reality, only speaking to each other on screens, everything we needed delivered to our doors, no physical human interaction. It's really a very scary vision!

[Rachella Sinclair]

I love short stories. They have so little time to get to the point. Perhaps that's why they're often melancholy. This collection is no exception. Apparently, it was put together for students studying for their GCSEs. What better time to remind students about the sadnesses of everyday life throughout history.

[Roger]

An excellent collection of stories, selected for the quality of their style and the fact that they bear re-reading. Which they clearly do. No doubt out of print, this old school book is worth picking up if you find a copy in a charity shop or at the back of an English Department book cupboard..

[Rupert Grech]

Not my idea of a great selection for school students. I found half of them laboured and dull. The Daughters of the Late Colonel and The Lumber Room were fun, and Odour of Chrysanthemiums was interesting, if a little melodramatic.

[Caz]

Fantastic collection of short stories. E.M.Forster's The Machine Stops describes a world which has an uncanny similarity to modern life, particularly post-covid.

[Seamus McQuaid]

Read a number of these stories at school around the age of 14. The machine stops has always been the one that stands out. Personally the life style reflected in the novel to me mirrors the way life is becoming. As a youngster it seemed pure science fiction now some 55 years later it looks more like a reality.

[Jeanette Greaves]

A GCE set text, I think I read it about four times.

[Debbie]

Some interesting stories picked for the old O'level English Literature of the 1950's and 1960's.

[Concordian Library]

5 Copies