Randall Jarrell's Book of Stories (New York Review Books Classics) [Paperback]

Randall Jarrell (Editor, Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 30, 2002 | Series: New York Review Books Classics

Storytelling as a fundamental human impulse, one that announces itself at the moment, hidden in infancy, that dreams begin—this is what the poet and critic Randall Jarrell set out to illuminate in this extraordinary book. Here Jarrell presents ballads, parables, anecdotes, and legends along with some of the finest work of Chekhov, Babel, Elizabeth Bowen, Isak Dinesen, Kafka, Peter Taylor, and Katherine Anne Porter. This wonderful anthology, with its celebrated introductory essay, enlarges and deepens our perception of the storyteller's art and its central place in the world of our feelings.

Contents
RANDALL JARRELL: Introduction
FRANZ KAFKA: A Country Doctor
ANTON CHEKHOV: Gusev
RAINER MARIA RILKE: The Wrecked Houses; The Big Thing
ROBERT FROST: The Witch of Coös
GIOVANNI VERGA: La Lupa
NIKOLAI GOGOL: The Nose
ELIZABETH BOWEN: Her Table Spread
LUDWIG TIECK: Fair Eckbert
BERTOLT BRECHT: Concerning the Infanticide, Marie Farrar
LEO TOLSTOY: The Three Hermits
PETER TAYLOR: What You Hear from 'Em?
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN: The Fir Tree
KATHERINE ANNE PORTER: He
ANONYMOUS: The Red King and the Witch
ANTON CHEKHOV: Rothschild's Fiddle
THE BROTHERS GRIMM: Cat and Mouse in Partnership
E. M. FORSTER: The Story of the Siren
THE BOOK OF JONAH
FRANZ KAFKA: The Bucket-Rider
SAINT-SIMON: The Death of Monseigneur
ISAAC BABEL: Awakening
CHUANG T'ZU: Five Anecdotes
HUGO VON HOFMANNSTHAL: A Tale of the Cavalry
WILLIAM BLAKE: The Mental Traveller
D. H. LAWRENCE: Samson and Delilah
LEO TOLSTOY: The Porcelain Doll
IVAN TURGENEV: Byezhin Prairie
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH: The Ruined Cottage
FRANK O'CONNOR: Peasants
ISAK DINESEN: Sorrow-Acre

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Long out of print, this landmark volume—and the sweeping essay at the front—may change how you think about fiction. (It may also change how you think about your own life.) This is a book to return to, and to keep." — Stephen Burt

"It has been clear for some time that Randall Jarrell is one of the most gifted poets and critics of his generation." — The New York Times Book Review

"Randall Jarrell was such a gifted reader of poetry that it’s easy to overlook how keenly he read and discussed prose. The introduction to this wide—ranging collection is alone worth the price of admission: a brilliant, characteristically light—stepping little journey into the heart of the narrative impulse. This is as fine an entry into the art of the short story as any I know." — Brad Leithauser

"[Jarrell was] perhaps the most fearsome (and admired) American critic of the twentieth century." — The Atlantic Monthly

"My favorite short—story anthology is Randall Jarrell’s, with a brilliant essay as a preface." — Michael Dirda, The Washignton Post

About the Author

Randall Jarrell (1914-1965) was born in Tennessee and graduated from Vanderbilt. A poet, novelist, translator, and critic as well as writer for children, Jarrell was a prolific author whose best-known works include the poems collected in The Woman at the Washington Zoo and The Lost World, the academic comedyPictures from an Institution, the children’s story The Bat Poet, and Poetry and the Age, a group of essays. An influential critic who, as poetry reviewer for The Nation, helped to launch the careers of Robert Lowell and other contemporaries, Jarrell taught for many years at the University of North Carolina, where he was much revered. He died in a car accident in 1965.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: NYRB Classics (June 30, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590170059
• ISBN-13: 978-1590170052
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.8 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #925,944 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars where dreams begin, August 7, 2007

By 

wordtron (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Randall Jarrell's Book of Stories (New York Review Books Classics) (Paperback)

this is a superb anthology of stories, poems, fables and more collected by poet/novelist randall jarrell to illuminate the notion of "storytelling as a fundamental human impulse, one that announces itself at the moment, hidden in infancy, that dreams begin..." authors include kafka, chekhov, rilke, robert frost, gogol, elizabeth bowen, brecht, peter taylor, hans christian anderson, the book of jonah, anonymous, the brothers grimm, isaac babel, chuang t'zu, blake, tolstoy, turgenev, dinesen, among others. reading this reaffirms why i love to read, and puts in to relief that narrative timelessness so often missing in contemporary fiction. strange and dreamy, each story swallows you whole. i've read this twice and will return again.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best short story anthologies available, June 8, 2010

By 

C. Randall Curb (USA and UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Randall Jarrell's Book of Stories (New York Review Books Classics) (Paperback)

For some years, this has been one of my favorite collections of miscellaneous short stories. The variety is impressive, and the editorship by Randall Jarrell is delightfully idiosyncratic and eclectic. I like the fact that he includes a few fairy tales and even the Biblical Book of Jonah, in addition to modern masters of the story form like Isak Dinesen and Frank O'Connor. Note that there are not many American or English short stories, however. Just for the record, the contents of the collection are: RANDALL JARRELL: Introduction;FRANZ KAFKA: A Country Doctor; ANTON CHEKHOV: Gusev;RAINER MARIA RILKE: The Wrecked Houses; The Big Thing; ROBERT FROST: The Witch of Co̦s; GIOVANNI VERGA: La Lupa; NIKOLAI GOGOL: The Nose; ELIZABETH BOWEN: Her Table Spread; LUDWIG TIECK: Fair Eckbert; BERTOLT BRECHT: Concerning the Infanticide, Marie Farrar; LEO TOLSTOY: The Three Hermits; PETER TAYLOR: What You Hear from `Em?; HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN: The Fir Tree; KATHERINE ANNE PORTER: He; ANONYMOUS: The Red King and the Witch; ANTON CHEKHOV: Rothschild's Fiddle; BROTHERS GRIMM: Cat and Mouse in Partnership; E. M. FORSTER: The Story of the Siren; THE BOOK OF JONAH; FRANZ KAFKA: The Bucket-Rider; SAINT-SIMON: The Death of Monseigneur; ISAAC BABEL: Awakening; CHUANG T'ZU: Five Anecdotes; HUGO VON HOFMANNSTHAL: A Tale of the Cavalry;

WILLIAM BLAKE: The Mental Traveller; D. H. LAWRENCE: Samson and Delilah; LEO TOLSTOY: The Porcelain Doll; IVAN TURGENEV: Byezhin Prairie; WILLIAM WORDSWORTH: The Ruined Cottage; FRANK O'CONNOR: Peasants; ISAK DINESEN: Sorrow-Acre.