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The Best American Short Stories 1971
This distinguished annual collection of the best short stories by American writers appearing in magazines during the previous year again reflects our specifically American experience, our ways of life and consciousness.
A black-white relationship is probed in Hal Bennett's funny/sad southern tale. James Blake's story about the power of a band of homosexuals in a U.S. prison effectively illuminates a brutal scene. A tender and straightforward view of a young girl's fondness for an older woman and how she faced her friend's death is delicately handled by Beth Harvor. Tillie Olsen contributes a stranger, oblique story of a boy who is sinking into a psychotic depression. Don' Mitchell's story from Thumb-Tripping confronts an innocent young hitchhiking couple with a truck driver on speed.
"Magic," by National Book Award-winner Wright Morris, is a beautiful and stranger story of child's acceptance of his family's eccentricities. In "No Trace" David Madden tells of a father's anguished search of his son's college room and his own conscience as he tries to puzzle out his son's route to violence and revolution. In "With Ché in New Hampshire," Russell Banks contributes a remarkable story of a young American who has just returned from being a guerrilla fighter in Guatemala. and there are other tales of youth -- growing up, in crisis, and in love -- by L. Woiwode, Jonathan Strong, and other writers both well known and new.
These twenty stories have been carefully selected, by the editors, from 118 American magazines -- from major national periodicals to the small literary quarterlies. It is a selection that will delight all those who want to know and enjoy the latest developments in American short fiction.
Contents:
"With Ché in New Hampshire" by Russell Banks
"Dotson Gerber Resurrected" by Hal Bennett
"The Widow, Bereft" by James Blake
"I Take Care of Things" by Jack Cady
"Barbed Wire" by Robert Canzoneri
"The Chicken Which Became a Rat" by Albert Drake
"The Dancing Boy" by William Eastlake
"Pain Was My Portion" by Beth Harvor
"Diesel" by Don Mitchell
"The Decline and Fall of Officer Fergerson" by Marion Montgomery
"Magic" by Wright Morris
"No Trace" by David Madden
"The Gift Bearer" by Philip F. O'Connor
"Requa I" by Tillie Olsen
"Shirt Talk" by Ivan Prashker
"In Late Youth" by Norman Rush
"The Somebody" by Danny Santiago
"Xavier Fereira's Unfinished Book: Chapter One" by Jonathan Strong
"The Klausners" by Leonard Tushnet
"Bloodflowers" by W.D. Valgardson
"The Suitor" by L. Woiwode
A black-white relationship is probed in Hal Bennett's funny/sad southern tale. James Blake's story about the power of a band of homosexuals in a U.S. prison effectively illuminates a brutal scene. A tender and straightforward view of a young girl's fondness for an older woman and how she faced her friend's death is delicately handled by Beth Harvor. Tillie Olsen contributes a stranger, oblique story of a boy who is sinking into a psychotic depression. Don' Mitchell's story from Thumb-Tripping confronts an innocent young hitchhiking couple with a truck driver on speed.
"Magic," by National Book Award-winner Wright Morris, is a beautiful and stranger story of child's acceptance of his family's eccentricities. In "No Trace" David Madden tells of a father's anguished search of his son's college room and his own conscience as he tries to puzzle out his son's route to violence and revolution. In "With Ché in New Hampshire," Russell Banks contributes a remarkable story of a young American who has just returned from being a guerrilla fighter in Guatemala. and there are other tales of youth -- growing up, in crisis, and in love -- by L. Woiwode, Jonathan Strong, and other writers both well known and new.
These twenty stories have been carefully selected, by the editors, from 118 American magazines -- from major national periodicals to the small literary quarterlies. It is a selection that will delight all those who want to know and enjoy the latest developments in American short fiction.
Contents:
"With Ché in New Hampshire" by Russell Banks
"Dotson Gerber Resurrected" by Hal Bennett
"The Widow, Bereft" by James Blake
"I Take Care of Things" by Jack Cady
"Barbed Wire" by Robert Canzoneri
"The Chicken Which Became a Rat" by Albert Drake
"The Dancing Boy" by William Eastlake
"Pain Was My Portion" by Beth Harvor
"Diesel" by Don Mitchell
"The Decline and Fall of Officer Fergerson" by Marion Montgomery
"Magic" by Wright Morris
"No Trace" by David Madden
"The Gift Bearer" by Philip F. O'Connor
"Requa I" by Tillie Olsen
"Shirt Talk" by Ivan Prashker
"In Late Youth" by Norman Rush
"The Somebody" by Danny Santiago
"Xavier Fereira's Unfinished Book: Chapter One" by Jonathan Strong
"The Klausners" by Leonard Tushnet
"Bloodflowers" by W.D. Valgardson
"The Suitor" by L. Woiwode
382 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 1971
65 people want to read
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
November 7, 2023
While reading the late James Blake’s THE JOINT, a collection of his correspondence written mostly from prison, I learned that he published a short story in Esquire magazine that was reprinted in the 1971 edition of The Best American Short Stories. Luckily, the trusty Chicago Public Library was able to obtain an interlibrary loan of that volume for me from a Nazarene College I’d never heard of.
While I found Blake’s story disappointing, I was struck by the number of compelling stories from authors who seem to have been lost in the rush of time:
“Whatever became of Beth Harvor, whose “Pain Was My Portion” is a coming-of-age story in which a young girl simultaneously deals with mortality? Harvor, born in 1936, is Chadian. Perhaps she is better known in Canada than in the U.S. I hope so.
Why hadn’t I heard of Marion Montgomery (1925-2011)? His “The Decline And Fall Of Officer Ferguson” is worthy of inclusion in any anthology of short stories.
And why had I missed “The Gift Bearer” by Philip F. O’Connor (1932-2008) and had to find my way to it by this odd route? It’s a beautiful piece of work that deserves a wide audience.
It disturbs me that better known authors in this collection (Wright Morris, Tillie Olsen) are not represented by their best work, while the strongest work has passed into oblivion. I’m glad that these neglected stories crossed my path.
While I found Blake’s story disappointing, I was struck by the number of compelling stories from authors who seem to have been lost in the rush of time:
“Whatever became of Beth Harvor, whose “Pain Was My Portion” is a coming-of-age story in which a young girl simultaneously deals with mortality? Harvor, born in 1936, is Chadian. Perhaps she is better known in Canada than in the U.S. I hope so.
Why hadn’t I heard of Marion Montgomery (1925-2011)? His “The Decline And Fall Of Officer Ferguson” is worthy of inclusion in any anthology of short stories.
And why had I missed “The Gift Bearer” by Philip F. O’Connor (1932-2008) and had to find my way to it by this odd route? It’s a beautiful piece of work that deserves a wide audience.
It disturbs me that better known authors in this collection (Wright Morris, Tillie Olsen) are not represented by their best work, while the strongest work has passed into oblivion. I’m glad that these neglected stories crossed my path.
Displaying 1 of 1 review