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The Signet Classic Book of Contemporary American Short Stories
George P. Elliott, Bobbie Ann Mason, Blanche McCrary Boyd, Jayne Anne Phillips, Peter J. Taylor, Ann Beattie, Jean Stafford, Richard Ellman, Purdy James, Donald Barthelme, Stanley Elkin, Philip Roth, Richard Yates, John Updike, Grace Paley, Flannery O'Connor, John Cheever, Alice Walker, Mark Helprin, Wright Morris, Robert Greenwood, Leonard Michaels, Susan Fromberg Schaeffer, Joyce Carol Oates, Layle Silbert, Bernard Malamud, Saul Bellow, Ivi Goodman, Walter Mosley Jr.
- GenresShort Stories
500 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
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About the author
Burton Raffel
149 books31 followersBurton Raffel was a translator, a poet and a teacher. He has translated many poems, including the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 20, 2023
The Signet Classic Book of Contemporary American Short Stories
Contemporary is a relative term. The stories in this volume range from 1948 to 1984. There are 34 stories. Most are very good, a few are just OK, and there are one or two I thought went not much of anywhere. I had only read a few of these stories before, so I was happy to read this anthology.
The best of the bunch include:
John Cheever: “The Hartleys”
Walter Miller Jr.: “The Dumb Waiter”
Flannery O’Connor: “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” (a great but disturbing story)
Bernard Malamud: “The Jewbird”
Alice Walker: “Her Sweet Jerome”
Robert Greenwood: “The Archetypes”
Jayne Anne Phillips: “Souvenir”
Mark Helprin: “The Schreudwespitze:
Richard Yates: “Oh, Joseph. I’m So Tired”
Charles Barnitz: “Kemp’s Homecoming”
Steven Goldleaf: “The Duchess of Yzes”
Contemporary is a relative term. The stories in this volume range from 1948 to 1984. There are 34 stories. Most are very good, a few are just OK, and there are one or two I thought went not much of anywhere. I had only read a few of these stories before, so I was happy to read this anthology.
The best of the bunch include:
John Cheever: “The Hartleys”
Walter Miller Jr.: “The Dumb Waiter”
Flannery O’Connor: “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” (a great but disturbing story)
Bernard Malamud: “The Jewbird”
Alice Walker: “Her Sweet Jerome”
Robert Greenwood: “The Archetypes”
Jayne Anne Phillips: “Souvenir”
Mark Helprin: “The Schreudwespitze:
Richard Yates: “Oh, Joseph. I’m So Tired”
Charles Barnitz: “Kemp’s Homecoming”
Steven Goldleaf: “The Duchess of Yzes”
October 1, 2020
A classic set of stories that introduced me to some authors I’ve never read before. I really disliked the editor, though - I felt that he focused very heavily on the weaknesses of the writers in the story introductions.
April 16, 2023
Some of the stories were better than others. I couldn't tell if the editor wanted to praise or criticize some of the authors, he was pretty inconsistent a couple of times. He did a nice job of comparing some authors to others, though, it helped the introductions feel more familiar.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews