The Longman Anthology of Short Fiction: Stories and Authors in Context [Paperback]

Dana Gioia (Author), R. S. Gwynn (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0801331595 | ISBN-13: 978-0801331596 | Publication Date: December 8, 2000 | Edition: 1st

The Longman Anthology of Short Fiction provides a comprehensive survey of the short story encompassing a rich global and historical mix in a way readers find accessible, engaging, and relevant. The selections present a diverse mix of classic, contemporary, and new voices. A unique feature, "Fact into Fiction" presents the factual account that inspired selected authors to write a particular work. For anyone interested in fiction.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

*JN707, 0-321-08326-1, Gioia, Dana; Gwynn, R.S., The Longman Anthology of Short Fiction: Stories and Authors in Context, Compact Edition*/ The Longman Anthology of Short Fiction provides a comprehensive survey of the short story encompassing a rich global and historical mix in a way readers find accessible, engaging, and relevant. The selections present a diverse mix of classic, contemporary, and new voices. A unique feature, "Fact into Fiction" presents the factual account that inspired selected authors to write a particular work. For anyone interested in fiction.

About the Author

Dana Gioia is a poet, critic, and teacher. Born in Los Angeles, he attended Stanford and Harvard before taking a detour into business. ("Not many poets have a Stanford M.B.A., thank goodness!") After years of writing and reading late in the evenings after work, he quit a vice presidency to write and teach. He has published three collections of poetry: Daily Horoscope (1986); The Gods of Winter (1991); Interrogations at Noon (2001), winner of the 2001 American Book Award; an opera libretto, Nosferatu (2002); several anthologies; and an influential study of poetry's place in contemporary America, Can Poetry Matter? (1992). Gioia has taught at Johns Hopkins, Sarah Lawrence, Wesleyan (Connecticut), Mercer, and Colorado College. He is also the co-founder of the summer poetry conference at West Chester University in Pennsylvania and a frequent commentator on literature for the British Broadcasting Corporation. He currently lives in Santa Rosa, California, with his wife, Mary, two sons, and an ever growing number of cats.

(The surname Gioia is pronounced JOY-A. As some of you may have already guessed, gioia is the Italian word for joy.)

Product Details

• Paperback: 1952 pages
• Publisher: Longman; 1st edition (December 8, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801331595
• ISBN-13: 978-0801331596
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.9 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,059,854 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thorough, May 7, 2004

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Greta Rudolph (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Longman Anthology of Short Fiction: Stories and Authors in Context (Paperback)

This thick volume contains stories from the last century. Each entry begins with a profile of the author, including his or her major works and a short biography, then has between 1 and 3 short stories. Afterwards, many entries have an essay by the author about the work, or have extensive information about the historical context of the story.
This book strives to be complete, with selections of different styles of writing, various themes, and non-western as well as Western authors. It suceeds in this to a certain extant, but the majority of the stories are written by white American men. However, many other stories are included.
Because of the size of this tome, it may be difficult for the reader to discover the very good stories buried admist the mediocre. Even a dedicated reader might get bogged down in the dozens mediocre stories about rape and lust, never finding the great stories that are also present.