Points of View: Revised Edition [Mass Market Paperback]

James Moffett (Editor), Kenneth R. McElheny (Editor)

Book Description

Release date: August 1, 1995

Since its original publication in 1966, this volume has attained classic status. Now its contents have been updated and its cultural framework enlarged by the orginal editors. Many of the 44 stories come from a new writing generation with a contemporary consciousness, and this brilliant blending of masters of the past and the brightest talents of the present achieves the goal of making a great collection even greater.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 608 pages
• Publisher: Signet (August 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451628721
• ISBN-13: 978-0451628725
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1.3 x 6.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #50,702 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Really helps an aspiring writer understand the power of pov. July 27, 1998

By [e-mail]

Format:Mass Market Paperback

This book uses a wonderfully varied selection of stories to teach the reader about different Point of View's (pov) and how they effect the tone and content of a story. As a wanna-be writer I have found this one of my most effective books I make frequent reference to.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An educational anthology on point- of- view in storytelling December 21, 2004

By Shalom Freedman HALL OF FAMETOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:Mass Market Paperback

My review is of the 1966 New American Library edition of the work. I found this book to be an excellent educator in the art of the short - story. The editors give two examples of stories in the following categories: Interior Monlongue, Dramatic Monologue, Letter Narration, Diary Narration, Subjective Narration, Detached Autobiography, Memoir or Observed Narration, Biography or Anonymous Narration, Anonymous Narration Dual Character Point-of- View ,Anonymous Narration Multiple Character Point- of - View Anonymous Narration No Character Point of view. Among the many memorable stories here are classics of the genre by Joyce, Edgar Allan Poe, de Maupassant, Conrad, Henry James, Dostoevsky. There is a great story by Irwin Shaw "Act of Faith"and Updike's well- known "A & P".

There is much to learn and much to enjoy here. However I missed there not being a story from my own personal favorite story-writer Isaac Bashevis Singer.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Short stories for students, and for you April 21, 2007

By Karen Chung

Format:School & Library Binding

I read the 1966 edition, and these comments apply specifically to that edition.

Literature by its very nature is open-ended and difficult to organize in a truly systematic or conclusive way. You can classify literary writings by culture of origin, historical period, or movement, e.g. Romanticism; yet each work is entirely individual and has something unique to say that cannot be subsumed under any classificatory heading.

The editors of this anthology made the choice of *voice* to organize their selections. From what and whose point of view does the author unravel his or her story? This volume offers one relatively concrete way to approach fiction reading and make it fit a bit more tidily into a curriculum of more easily systematized subjects, like chemistry, statistics, even foreign language learning. Yet "point of view" is only the take-off point. The real value in good literature, of which these stories are outstanding representative examples, is the story, the message, the language, all of which leave technical issues behind in a cloud of dust once you are drawn in to the author's world.

This is probably the best collection of short stories in English I have read. Each one of the stories cuts to the quick on themes of love, hate, separation, reunion, guilt, and death. Some are by familiar authors, who I'd first read in junior high school, others were completely new to me. At no point was I reading just to finish the book; I savored each work. My favorites include pieces by Dorothy Parker, Fyodor Dostoevski, Daniel Keyes, Cynthia Rich (sister of Adrienne), Frank O'Conner, Jean Stafford, Guy de Maupassant, and Saul Bellow.... I was surprised and deeply impressed by John Steinbeck's "Johnny Bear", which I hadn't known of before, and now plan to use it in my freshman English class. Even the story by DH Lawrence, who I'm generally not that crazy about, was an excellent choice. The story by Moffett, one of the editors of the collection, is engaging and skillfully written. I was moved rereading Keyes's "Flowers for Algernon" in a way I don't remember feeling when I first read it for a class decades ago.

I'm a bit disappointed at some of the swaps made for the new edition, e.g. the Dorothy Parker. The Ambrose Bierce, on the other hand, could have been replaced by something with broader appeal. I thought some of the stories might have been omitted due to concerns of political correctness, but "Powerhouse", "The Iliad of Sandy Bar" and "The Suicides of Private Greaves" are, thankfully, still included. Personally, I recommend ordering a used copy of the original edition for a consistent picture of the editors' original vision. It is a coherent one, and I can't imagine that coherence was completely preserved in the new edition - though I'm sure it is also a strong, but quite different, collection.

These stories bear out the words of past Bridport Prize judge Martin Booth: "A short story is like a slap in the face. It must immediately sting, make itself known at once, and it must leave a red mark for hours to come." Each one of these stories does just that, to the point that you need recovery time after each one to get over what you've just been "slapped" with, and to ready yourself for the next blow. Highly recommended. Read more ›

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Give it to a teenager June 13, 2002

By Kevin Brianton

Format:Mass Market Paperback

This book was given to us by a Canadian exhange teacher and it has opened up so many avenues of reading. From Shirley Jackson's horror masterpiece The Lottery through to Truman Capote's My Side of the Matter, it is a brilliant, brillant anthology. A lifetime's reading awaits anyone who picks up this book as each story makes you seek out the author.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Very satisfying, indeed January 5, 2007

By HMC

Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I read the first edition as a teenager; it opened my eyes to perspective in literature. This updated edition provides some of the best of the first edition with some new, very satisfying selections.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book for Studying Point of View! April 5, 2008

By R.LAW

Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book offers an excellent selection of stories written in various points of view. If you want to accent your studies or if you need to see the point of view element in action, this book is the perfect source. Chapter organization is based on each type of point of view so that the reader can zero in on whatever point of view she would like to review. The authors featured are both classical writers and modern authors. After working through dozens of books on point of view, this one stands out from the others.
This book is a keeper. It belongs in the collection of any serious writer.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my all time favorites August 31, 2010

By Sharon Carson

Format:Mass Market Paperback

Fantastic set of classic short stories. I have re-read many of them. While I have several collections of short stories- this one is by far the best.

4.0 out of 5 stars College reading February 9, 2013

By C. Adler

Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

So great to get a book for college and nt pay full price and still get what you need out of it.
We are very happy to be able to buy books on Amazon for school.