American Short Story Masterpieces [Hardcover]

Raymond Carver (Editor), Tom Jenks (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1987

This highly Acclaimed collection of short stories by American writers contains only the best literary art of the past four decades. With a bias toward realism editors Raymond Carver and Tom Jenks have selected fiction that “tells a story”–and tells it with a masterful handling of language, situation, and insight.

But what is so special about this volume is that it mirrors our age, our concerns, and our lives. Whether it’s the end of a marriage, as in Bobbie Ann Manson’s “Shiloh,” or the struggle with self-esteem and weight in Andre Dubus’s “The Fat Girl,” the 36 works included her probe issues that give us that “shock of recognition” that is the hallmark of great art—wonderful, absorbing fiction that will be read and reread for decades to come.

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the introduction to this collection, Carver mentions an earlier volume, Short Story Masterpieces published in 1954. The 36 tales here, he says, are distinguished by a similar narrative durability and stand up to the classic stories of that earlier generation. No argument. These unexperimental stories are substantial, solid and, to a paragraph, satisfying. By American writers exclusively (the earlier collection was one-third English and Irish), the offerings are arranged alphabetically by author, from James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues" to "The Liar" by Tobias Wolff. Between is an assortment of modern classics: Doctorow's powerful and lyric story of betrayal, "Willi," Flannery O'Connor's chilling "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," Roth's "The Conversion of the Jews" and Arthur Miller's near-perfect "The Misfits." Other pleasures lie in the wisdom and dignity that mark "Talk of Heroes" by Carol Bly, in the characteristic energy of Elkins's "A Poetics for Bullies," in the spare surprise of David Quammen's "Walking Out" and in the views of modern mall life from Bobbie Ann Mason, Joyce Carol Oates and Jayne Anne Phillips. There are also tales from Helprin, Brautigan, Bourjaily, Carver, Salter, Paley and others. Missing are authors, such as Cheever and Welty, whose works were included in the 1954 Masterpieces, as well as those writing outside the narrative tradition. While this is not a comprehensive collection, its selections are indeed masterpiecestestament to the hearty good health of the traditional modern short story and proof of the genre's continuing rewards.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

YA There's something for everyone in this collection of 36 of the best of American short stories written from the 1950s through 1986. Students of the short story, as well as more casual readers, will find a rich mixture of realistic tales in this well-balanced anthology. This book deserves a place next to Short Story Masterpieces (Dell, 1954; o.p.), edited by Robert Penn Warren and Albert Erskine.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 435 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Press; First Edition edition (March 1, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385295243
• ISBN-13: 978-0385295246
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,350,701 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Bang for the Buck, May 10, 2004

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D. Lee (Ann Arbor, MI) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: American Short Story Masterpieces (Mass Market Paperback)

Perhaps I am biased by nostalgia since this was the text used way back in my high school creative writing class, but this sublime anthology is pound for pound the best collection of short fiction around. There are other excellent collections -- Scribner's Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction comes to mind -- but ASS masterpieces (as we called it back then) has a splendid mix of short story classics in addition to an absurd number of gems. On the all-time classic side, there is "Sonny's Blues," "Rock Springs," "Where are you Going, Where Have you Been?", "A Good Man is Hard to Find," "The Conversion of the Jews," and "The Liar" just to name a few. It's already a terrific list; how many other collections have all these under one roof? But then there are a whole host of lesser-known stories that push this sucker over the top. "1/3, 1/3, 1/3," "A Poetics for Bullies," "The Ledge," "The Heavenly Animal" ... all first-rate stories. And it's only $8.00! Forget Best American Short Stories of the Century. Forget the Norton Anthology. If you can only have one fiction anthology on your shelf, this should be the one.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Literature In Your Pocket, January 24, 2010

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R. J. Marsella (California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: American Short Story Masterpieces (Mass Market Paperback)

There are so many short story collections, many of which contain some of the same selections represented here. What sets this small paperback volume apart is that it is truly portable and can be carried in a jacket pocket when traveling or commuting. It has remarkable stories by a wide selection of American writers. My favorite is Flannery O'Conner's A Good Man Is Hard To FInd but there are many more. This is a risk free purchase if ever there was one. Eight bucks for some of the best samples of short fiction ever written.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Contains some of the best short stories I have ever read., May 21, 2003

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Robert (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: American Short Story Masterpieces (Mass Market Paperback)

I read "Midair" standing up in the bookstore. This book contains some true classics in short story writing.