The Contemporary American Short Story

by Bich Minh Nguyen, Porter Shreve

This comprehensive anthology of contemporary American short fiction focuses on the story and its context from 1960 to the present. A special Introduction discusses the elements of tone, point of view, character, etc. and ideas such as realism and postmodernism. The over 50 stories featured in Nguyen and Shreve's anthology range in style from the traditional narrative to experimental forms. Classic stories are juxtaposed with newer, emerging voices. The stories featured are thematically diverse as well, addressing issues of family and culture, love and loss, ethnicity and gender. 1

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies

672 pages, Paperback

First published October 26, 2003

About the author

Bich Minh Nguyen received the PEN/Jerard Award for her memoir Stealing Buddha's Dinner, which was a Chicago Tribune Best Book of 2007 and a BookSense pick. It was also selected as The Great Michigan Read for 2009-2010. Bich has appeared on programs such as The Newshour with Jim Lehrer. She lives in Chicago and Indiana, where she teaches literature and creative writing at Purdue University.

Also writes as Beth Nguyen.

Reviews

[Todd Decker · Rating 5 out of 5]

The text is principally an anthology of the essential works and authors of contemporary American and Canadian short stories, 56 authors including Sherman Alexie, Raymond Carver, Andre Dubus, Jhumpa Lahiri, Alice Munro, Joyce Carol Oates, Tim O’Brien, Flannery O’Connor, and Lesmie Marmon Silko. There is also an excellent collection of essays on the craft by 12 of the authors. Flannery O’Connor’s essay “Writing Short Stories” is especially good. The glossary defines key literary concepts pertaining to short stories and helpfully references authors and stories in the anthology to look to for examples of authors applying those concepts. The volume works well for enjoyable casual reading and for close critical study.

[Jeff Hobbs]

Read so far:

Because my father always said he was the only Indian who saw Jimi Hendrix play "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Woodstock / Sherman Alexie --3
River of names / Dorothy Allison --
Happy endings / Margaret Atwood --3
The lesson / Toni Cade Bambara --3
*The littoral zone / Andrea Barrett --
Lost in the funhouse / John Barth --1
The school / Donald Barthelme --3
The man who knew Belle Starr / Richard Bausch --3
Gryphon / Charles Baxter --3
Janus / Ann Beattie --3
*Birthday party / Gina Berriault --
Cathedral / Raymond Carver --2
The swimmer / John Cheever --3
Monkey garden / Sandra Cisneros --
The Hull case / Peter Ho Davies --3
Fiesta, 1980 / Junot Diaz --2
The fat girl / Andre Dubus --3
Pet milk / Stuart Dybek --2
*In this way we are wise / Nathan Englander --
*The red convertible / Louise Erdrich --
Proper library / Carolyn Ferrell --2
Communist / Richard Ford --2
Elizabeth complex / K.J. Fowler --
*How to talk to a hunter / Pam Houston --
In the American society / Gish Jen --2
*The woman from New York / Ha Jin --
*Menagerie, a child's fable / Charles Johnson --
Emergency / Denis Johnson --3
Girl / Jamaica Kincaid --3
*The third and final continent / Jhumpa Lahiri --
*Gravity / David Leavitt --
Brothers and sisters around the world / A. Lee --
The ones who walk away from Omelas / Ursula Le Guin --4
The Jewbird / Bernard Malamud --2
Shiloh / Bobbie Ann Mason --4
*Of cabbages and kings / James A. McPherson --
What they did / David Means --
Which is more than I can say about some people / Lorrie Moore --2
Management of grief / Bharati Mukherjee --3
*Turkey season / Alice Munro --
Where are you going, where have you been? / Joyce Carol Oates --3
The things they carried / Tim O'Brien --2
Everything that rises must converge / Flannery O'Connor --3
Wants / Grace Paley --2
Satisfaction / Jayne Anne Phillips --
Strays / Mark Richard --
My flamboyant grandson / George Saunders --
*Surrounded by sleep / Akhil Sharma --
Yellow woman / Leslie Marmon Silko --2
The way we live now / Susan Sontag --3
Here come the Maples / John Updike --2
The moths / Helena Maria Viramontes --2
Harrison Bergeron / Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. --3
Everyday use / Alice Walker --3
Newborn thrown in trash and dies / John Edgar Wideman --
*The rich brother / Thomas Wolff --

[Christina Zink · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a compilation of some of the best short stories from authors such as Raymond Carver, Alice Munro, and Stuart Dybek among others. This was an assigned book for a short story class I took in college and even though I graduated three years ago I've picked this back up time and time again. Great collection of choice works.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read many stories from this anthology for Fiction class, Fall 2006: The Lesson, Littoral Zone, The Swimmer, Communist Girl, Shiloh, Where Are You Going Where Have You Been, Everything that Rises Must Converge