Customer Reviews

The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction: 50 North American Stories Since 1970 (Touchstone Books)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I was introduced to this anthology through a fiction-writing course and had not expected it to be so great, but I suppose it was hinted at in the introduction when the editors went through the in-depth and specific process of voting for the best stories. Before this, the anthologies I was most familiar with were the Best American Short Stories, and those are give-or-take every year and beholden to whoever is the author that year. It's a good idea when trying to have an individual, unique voice but sometimes the choices can be lackluster. Maybe it's unfair to compare since the Best American Short Stories come out every year and Scribner's Anthology is a collection of the best since 1970. There is such a variety in these stories that it appeals to all facets of people's literary tastes, in my opinion. A lot of them are so powerfully emotional while being darkly humorous or nostalgic or melancholy or attractively odd at the same time. One of my favorites is Donald Barthelme's "The School", about a school where all the living things suddenly seem to die, but there's a deep, longing whimsy about it.

Anyway, this book is rad and highly recommended.

There are two so-called "editions" of this anthology, one from 1999 and the other from 2007. But to call them different editions, and not simply different volumes, does a great disservice to anyone ordering this book for classroom use. Only ten or so of the stories are the same; many authors from 1999 are left out of the new edition and, inexplicably, some authors in the 1999 edition have new stories in 2007. Have things really changed so much that Sandra Cisneros is now better represented by "Never Marry a Mexican" than by "Woman Hollering Creek"--both of which, after all, appeared in her 1991 collection Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories. Junot Diaz and Annie Proulx's selections have also changed. And Amy Hempel no longer makes the cut? I actually think both anthologies are quite good--I could teach from either of them, or both. But make sure you know what you're ordering. The title and packaging by Sribner's is asking for nothing but confusion.

Love this book. These stories are short. Easy to read, I love it so much I recomend it to everyone.

I use this book when I teach writing classes. Often we don't read the stories (I'm always running low on time) and I'll just send particular students to particular stories so they can see how published writers do the things they're trying to do. For the students who are playing with surrealism (most of them, lately!), there's George Saunder's, "Sea Oak." For students who need to figure out how to write about acts of violence without sounding like they're writing a seventh grade exclamation-point-littered journal, there's Steve Yarbrough's, "The Rest of Her Life." For the students who want to write drug stories, there's Denis Johnson's, "Car Crash While Hitchhiking." The ones interested in sex can turn to Susan Minot's, "Lust." And the ones who just want to see a whole new way of telling a story, and a whole new way of creating a narrative can read Rick Moody's, "Boys."

I highly recommend this for anyone who is trying to write or trying to teach others how to write.

This anthology includes only a few of the most famous authors and stories and a large number of interesting and/or moving stories by people I had barely or never heard of.

I received the Scribner Anthology within a week and it was as good as new! Quick service, great product! Great! :)

There are so many anthologies, it's hard to convince people to buy more then one. But this collection really does include some brilliant pieces. If you don't have a stack of anthologies already, this one is worth the money. Almost every story is worth multiple reads. And no great short story writer is missing.

Love this book, its got some great stories. There's something for everyone here. From George Saunders "Sea Oak" to Junot Diaz'z "Nilda." Its an eclectic interesting group of short stories.

Good book for your basic Eng 101 class..
The short stories are a good selection to be reviewed in class in helps the prof. explain his points.

I am halfway through this book and have loathed the content of every single story except one. They are all about unhappiness and death, and there is more to writing than hacking out a depressing, dramatic tale. Just because the body counts are impressive doesn't mean it's a work of literature.