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The Seagull Book of Stories
Inspire and engage at an affordable price―in print or online The best-priced alternative to full-length anthologies, this vibrant collection of classroom favorites and contemporary works has been thoroughly refreshed with nearly fifty new selections to inspire you and your students. Available for the first time in a digital format, Seagull Literature is more portable and flexible than ever. Three new examples of literary analysis by students, documented in MLA style, further enhance the writing advice in each volume.
- GenresShort Stories
496 pages, Paperback
Published December 15, 2022
9 people are currently reading
12 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 2, 2023
I don’t ordinarily review textbooks – in fact, I rarely use them in my classes – but this isn’t an ordinary textbook. I wanted something for an Introduction to Fiction, a class I haven’t taught as such for more than a decade, so I took a long look at this.
And it’s great, maybe the best I’ve seen for what it is.
For one thing, this doesn’t feel like a textbook. Even though it’s 340-some pages, it has the feel of a trade paperback. It’s not overwhelmingly heavy, and it lies open at the page you’re reading. It’s a book for reading rather than a book for studying.
For another, Kelly has inspired taste. I knew only about a quarter of the stories before I came upon them here. Of some of the ones I’ve discovered here, several are just terrific. My new favorites of the new ones are Bonnie Jo Campbell’s “The Trespasser,” Lan Samantha Chang’s “San,” Jhumpa Lahiri’s “This Blessed House,” Mary Miller’s “Big Bad Love,” and Amy Hempel’s “In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried.”
On top of that, there are several I have always enjoyed, including ones by Eudora Welty, Flannery O’Connor, Tim O’Brien, and Tillie Olsen.
As if that weren’t enough, there’s a great distribution by gender, era, ethnicity, and race. I can find stories that help me define the classic story versus the Modern, and then I can find others that are colorfully experimental.
Anyway, I am assigning this for my class. In a book that lists for about $35, that feels like the other trades I’ll also assign, this takes care of roughly half a semester’s assignments. I’m glad I found it, and I hope it goes over as well as I think it might.
And it’s great, maybe the best I’ve seen for what it is.
For one thing, this doesn’t feel like a textbook. Even though it’s 340-some pages, it has the feel of a trade paperback. It’s not overwhelmingly heavy, and it lies open at the page you’re reading. It’s a book for reading rather than a book for studying.
For another, Kelly has inspired taste. I knew only about a quarter of the stories before I came upon them here. Of some of the ones I’ve discovered here, several are just terrific. My new favorites of the new ones are Bonnie Jo Campbell’s “The Trespasser,” Lan Samantha Chang’s “San,” Jhumpa Lahiri’s “This Blessed House,” Mary Miller’s “Big Bad Love,” and Amy Hempel’s “In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried.”
On top of that, there are several I have always enjoyed, including ones by Eudora Welty, Flannery O’Connor, Tim O’Brien, and Tillie Olsen.
As if that weren’t enough, there’s a great distribution by gender, era, ethnicity, and race. I can find stories that help me define the classic story versus the Modern, and then I can find others that are colorfully experimental.
Anyway, I am assigning this for my class. In a book that lists for about $35, that feels like the other trades I’ll also assign, this takes care of roughly half a semester’s assignments. I’m glad I found it, and I hope it goes over as well as I think it might.
June 24, 2024
This is a great collection for teaching! It includes a healthy mix of classics and modern stories and has helpful biographies and footnotes throughout.
November 8, 2024
A lot great picks here for short fiction from all different time periods. Solid anthology.
4/5⭐️
4/5⭐️
December 12, 2024
Fantastic collection of short stories and resourceful element descriptions
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews