Customer Reviews

The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction: Sixth Edition

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This antholology has some excellent selections, with intelligent choices made as to which works of certain authors to present( Faulkner's are amazing) and a wonderful variety of styles and subjects. As to Cassill himself being a "master" of the short story, however, that may be undue praise, and his own addition to the collection(rather presumptuous and inappropriate for the editor) would have been better replaced by more worthy possibilities. Jack London is unpardonably nowhere to be found. Yet on the whole worth a space on your shelf.

Writers, especially beginning writers, interested in short stories should take a good glance at this anthology. The book draws from a wide selection of international literature leaning towards the contemporary (stories written within the last 20 - 30 years) rather than the modern or classics of the short story genre. The beginning briefly covers some common ideas about action, plot, complication, point of view, indirection, the part and the whole and coherence followed up by questions suitable for classroom discussions. The bulk of the book comes from stories chosen by the editors who wish to believe that even if you bother to read every selection in the book, you as a reader may finish reading the book but the book, the stories themselves may not be finished with you, their ideas staying with you long after the book has been sold back to a college usedbook store or disposed of in some other way. Finally, the last hundred pages deal with writing literature criticism as well as the act of writing itself in short, brief excerpts written by several of the writers who are included in the collection. Although it is on the pricey side, it is a good reference for those interested in short story writing. Another anthology to consider is The Art of the Story edited by Daniel Halpern which is much less expensive and more contemporary than the Norton Anthology.

The short stories in this collection are excellent. However, I wish that at the end of each story, there would be 2-3 questions to help guide the reader's analysis. Some of the stories are really out there and I sometimes found myself puzzled upon completing a story. Some of the stories have an accompaning essay which analizes the work. However, these essays are scarce. Even worse, the essays are attached to short stories that are well-known such as the "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad. There is plenty written about these famous stories that can be found on the internet. The less famous stories, which don't have accompaning essays, have almost no criticism written about them. A couple "guide questions" at the end of the story would not have added much to the length of the anthology. Of course, if you are using this collection in a college course, you don't need analysis included in the collection because your teacher or class discussion can help clarify the story.

Another problem I have with the collection is that the date the story was written are not included with the story. The dates the stories were written are contained in a separate section of the book. Thus, it is annoying to flip to this section and then to flip back to the story itself.

At the beginning of each story, the editors of the collection have included a short synopsis about the author's life and writing career. This adds much to the collection. The editors also include helful footnotes that explain era-specific words and phrases. The anthology also contains useful essays regarding writing about short fiction.

Overall, this book is wonderful. Hopefully in future editions, my concerns can be addressed.

Too often, fiction anthologies look exactly the same because they rely on the same old stories: Joyce's "Araby," John Updike's "A&P," Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily." And even when these conservative, non-risk-taking anthologies try and embrace more contemporary voices, again, the choices tend to be the same: Raymond Carver's "Cathedral," Alice Walker's "Everyday Use," Jamaica Kincaid's "Girl." Don't misunderstand me, many of these often-anthologized stories are terrific, but as an English Instructor, I grow frustrated with anthology after anthology that fails to stand out.

Even though Norton is a giant in the field of literary anthologies, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the content of the Norton Anthology of Short Fiction was a terrific mix of old and new. Better still, editors Richard Bausch and R.V. Cassill often choose fresh stories that haven't been anthologized to death. Thus, instead of publishing Margaret Atwood's terrific (but too-anthologized) "Rape Fantasies," they instead include "Death by Landscape." Instead of Bernard Malamud's "The Magic Barrel," they include "Angel Levine." And although the classic heavies are well-represented (Faulkner, Hemingway, Gilman, Chopin, Poe, Chekhov), there's a healthy (and I mean HEALTHY) dose of fantastic contemporary writers: Stuart Dybek, Barry Hannah, Amny Hempel, Louise Erdrich, Bharati Mukherjee, and on, and on, and on. And unlike other weak anthologies that I've seen, where the editors try to fold in contemporary voices but pick weaker stories by those voices, Bausch and Cassill have carefully selected fine, fine contemporary works. The instructor, student, or general reader who chooses to slowly make his/her way through the stories in this collection will be rewarded with a nuanced, broad vision of fiction's landscape.

I had to buy this book for my Literature class. It's really heavy, really long and it cost a lot of money. But it turned out that I read a lot more than just for class. I like books, but I'm really into them, so I was really surprised by how much I liked these stories. I am still going through them, learning about authors. "Bartleby The Scrivener," "The Golden Wallpaper," "Araby," "Me and Miss Mandible," and "A Good Man Is Hard To Find" are favorites. I can't understand problem somebody else had with the authors' best work not being included. Judging a book solely on what's there, this is great.

You're probably buying this for a class in school, right? Well even if you drop out of the class because the teacher is some blathering bore and you just can't sit still that long because you ran out of ritalin and don't plan on refilling your prescription any time soon, KEEP THE BOOK. It has some of the greatest short stories ever written. And the range is amazing. Most of the stories will never feel dated. Stick it by your bed. Pick it up in the middle of the night when you can't sleep and your head is spinning. Read "Signs and Symbols" by Nabokov. You'll be stunned. Still can't sleep? Flip to Carver's "Cathedral." This book will keep you going for years, as you'll want to read many of the stories over and over again.

There are always a few short stories which are favorites. Here's a list of the stories in this book (the Second Edition)

Woody Allen, 'A Giant Step for Mankind'. Sherwood Anderson, 'The Egg' and 'I Want to Know Why'. James Baldwin, 'Sonny's Blues'. Honore de Bazac, 'A Passion in the Desert'. Donald Barthleme, 'The Indian Uprising'. Saul Bellow, 'Leaving the Yellow House'. Ambrose Bierce, 'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge' (brrr!). Jorge Luis Borges, "Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote'. Ray Bradbury, 'The Veldt'. Morley Callaghan, 'Let Me Promise You'. R.V. Cassill, 'The Biggest Band'. Willa Cather, 'Paul's Case', 'The Old Beauty'. John Cheever, 'The Enormous Radio', and 'The Fourth Alarm'. Anton Chekov, 'The Lady with the Pet Dog', and "A Visit to Friends', and 'The Darling'. Kate Chopin, 'Desiree's Baby'. Arthur C. Clarke, 'The Star' (another good one). Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) 'The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County'. Joseph Conrad, 'Heart of Darkness'. Robert Coover, 'The Babysitter'. Mark Costello, 'Murphy's Xmas'. Stephen Crane, 'The Open Boat' and 'The Blue Hotel'. Isak Dinesen, 'Sorrow-Acre'. Arthur Conan Doyle, 'A Scandal in Bohemia'. Ralph Ellison, 'King of the Bingo Game'. William Faulkner, 'A Rose for Emily', 'That Evening Sun' and 'Barn Burning'. F. Scott Fitzgerald, 'Babylon Revisited'. Gustave Flaubert, 'The Legend of Saint Julian the Hospitaller'. E.M. Forster, 'The Road from Colonus'. Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, 'The Revolt of "Mother"'. Mavis Gallant, 'Acceptance of Their Ways'. Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 'The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World'. Maxim Gorky, 'The Hermit'. James B. Hall, 'A View of the Beach'. Nathaniel Hawthorne, 'Young Goodman Brown' and 'The Birthmark'. Ernest Hemmingway, Hills Like White Elephants'. Shirley Jackson, 'The Lottery' (Very memorable). W.W. Jacobs, 'The Monkey's Paw' (Ditto, and gruesome). Henry James, 'The Tree of Knowledge' and 'The Jolly Corner'. Sarah Orne Jewett, 'The Flight of Betsey Lane'. James Joyce, 'Araby', 'A Little Cloud', and 'The Dead'. Franz Kafka, 'The Metamorphosis' and 'A Hunger Artist'. Ring Lardner, 'Haircut'. Margaret Laurence, 'The Loons'. D.H. Lawrence, 'Tickets, Please', 'The Horse Doctor's Daughter' and 'The Rocking-Horse Winner'. Stephen Leacock, 'The Marine Excursion of the Knights of Pythias'. Ursula K. Le Guin, 'The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas' (Very good). Doris Lessing, 'To Room Nineteen'. Carson McCullers, 'The Jockey'. James Alan McPherson, 'Gold Coast'. Bernard Malamud, 'The Jewbird'. Thomas Mann, 'Disorder and Early Sorrow'. Katherine Mansfield, 'The Garden-Party'. W. Somerset Maugham, 'The Outstation'. Guy de Maupassant, 'The Necklace'. Herman Melville, 'Bartleby the Scrivener'. Yukio Mishima, 'Patriotism'. Alice Munro, 'Royal Beatings'. Vladimir Nabokov, 'Signs and Symbols'. Joyce Carol Oates, 'How I Contemplated the World from the Detroit House of Correction and Began My Life Over Again'. Flannery O'Connor, 'A Good Man is Hard to Find', 'Everything that Rises Must Converge' and 'Parker's Back'. Frank O'Connor, 'Guests of the Nation' and 'My Oedipus Complex'. Tillie Olsen, 'Tell Me a Riddle'. Grace Paley, 'The Used-Boy Raisers'. Dortohy Parker, 'Big Blonde'. William Peden, 'A Boone County Parable'. Jayne Anne Phillips, 'Souvenir'. Edgar Allan Poe, 'The Fall of the House of Usher' and 'The Purloined Letter' (classics). Katherine Anne Porter, 'Theft' and 'Flowering Judas'. J.F. Powers, 'The Valiant Woman'. Philip Roth, 'The Conversion of the Jews'. Saki (H.H.Munro), 'The Open Window'. Max Schott, 'The Horsebreaker'. Irwin Shaw, 'The Girls in Their Summer Dresses'. Isaac Bashevis Singer, 'The Spinoza of Market Street'. Jean Stafford, 'In The Zoo'. John Steinbeck, 'The Chrysanthemums'. Peter Taylor, 'Dream of Men'. James Thurber, 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty'. Leo Tolstoy, 'God Sees the Truth, but Waits' and 'The Death of Ivan Ilych'. John Updike, 'A&P'. Alice Walker, 'Everyday Use'. Eudora Welty, 'Powerhouse' and 'A Worn Path'. Edith Wharton, 'The Muse's Tragedy'. Richard Wilbur, 'A Game of Catch'. William Carlos Williams, 'The Use of Force'. Virginia Woolf, 'Kew Gardens'. Richard Wright, 'The Man Who Was Almost a Man'.

I bought this book for a class, but I will keep it and refer back to it everytime I need to read a classic.

I was supposed to buy the "Shorter" version of the anthology for a class, but I looked at the table of contents and decided this full version was the way to go. It's fantastic. But really, it's an anthology. You don't need reviews, just read the table of contents and you'll know exactly how awesome this book is and whether it suits you. Cheers.

This book was exactly what I needed. It got to me as soon as it said it would and it was in great condition.