Synopses & Reviews
An arresting collection of contemporary fiction at its best, these stories explore a vast range of subjects, from love and deception to war and the insidious power of class distinctions. However clearly spoken, in voices sophisticated, cunning, or na•ve, here is fiction that consistently defies our expectations. Selected from thousands of stories in hundreds of literary magazines, the twenty prize-winning stories are accompanied by essays from each of the three eminent jurors on which stories they judged the best, and observations from all twenty prizewinners on what inspired them.
“The Room”
William Trevor
“The Scent of Cinnamon”
Charles Lambert
“Cherubs”
Justine Dymond
“Galveston Bay, 1826”
Eddie Chuculate
“The Gift of Years”
Vu Tran
“The Diarist”
Richard McCann
“War Buddies”
Joan Silber
“Djamilla”
Tony DSouza
“In a Bears Eye”
Yannick Murphy
“Summer, with Twins”
Rebecca Curtis
“Mudder Tongue”
Brian Evenson
“Companion”
Sana Krasikov
“A Stone House”
Bay Anapol
“The Company of Men”
Jan Ellison
“City Visit”
Adam Haslett
“The Duchess of Albany”
Christine Schutt
“A New Kind of Gravity”
Andrew Foster Altschul
“Gringos”
Ariel Dorfman
“El Ojo de Agua”
Susan Straight
“The View from Castle Rock”
Alice Munro
Synopsis
Since its establishment in 1919, the O. Henry Prize stories collection has offered an exciting selection of the best stories published in hundreds of literary magazines every year. Such classic works of American literature as Ernest Hemingway's "The Killers (1927); William Faulkner's "Barn Burning (1939); Carson McCuller's "A Tree. A Rock. A Cloud (1943); Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery (1949); J.D. Salinger's "For Esme with Love and Squalor (1963); John Cheever's "The Country Husband (1956); and Flannery O'Conner's "Everything that Rises Must Converge (1963) all were O. Henry Prize stories.
An accomplished new series editor--novelist and short story writer Laura Furman--has read more than a thousand stories to identify the 20 winners, each one a pleasure to read today, each one a potential classic. The O. Henry Prize Stories 2003 also contains brief essays from each of the three distinguished judges on their favorite story, and comments from the prize-winning writers on what inspired their stories. There is nothing like the ever rich, surprising, and original O. Henry collection for enjoying the contemporary short story.
"The Thing in the Forest" A. S. Byatt
"The Shell Collector Anthony Doerr
"Burn Your Maps" Robyn Jay Leff
"Lush" Bradford Morrow
"God's Goodness" Marjorie Kemper
"Bleed Blue in Indonesia" Adam Desnoyers
"The Story" Edith Pearlman
"Swept Away" T. Coraghessan Boyle
"Meanwhile" Ann Harleman
"Three Days. A Month. More." Douglas Light
"The High Road" Joan Silber
"Election Eve" Evan S. Connell
"Irish Girl" Tim Johnston
"What Went Wrong" Tim O'Brien
"The American Embassy" Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
"Kissing" William Kittredge
"Sacred Statues" William Trevor
"Two Words" Molly Giles
"Fathers" Alice Munro
"Train Dreams" Denis Johnson
About the Author
Laura Furman's work has appeared in The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Ploughshares, The Yale Review, and other magazines. She is the founding editor of the highly regarded American Short Fiction (threetime finalist for the American Magazine Award). A professor of English at the University of Texas at Austin, she teaches in the graduate James A. Michener Center for writers. She lives in Austin. Ursula LeGuin is the author of The Left Hand of Darkness. She lives in Portland, Oregon. Charles D'Ambrosio is the author of The Dead Fish Museum. He lives in Portland, Oregon. Lily Tuck's most recent work is The News from Paraguay, which won the National Book Award . She lives in New York City and Maine.
Table of Contents
Introduction Laura Furman, Series Editor
The Room
William Trevor, The New Yorker
The Scent of Cinnamon
Charles Lambert, One Story
Cherubs
Justine Dymond, The Massachusetts Review
Galveston Bay, 1826
Eddie Chuculate, Manoa
The Gift of Years
Vu Tran, Fence
The Diarist
Richard McCann, Bloom
War Buddies
Joan Silber, Land-Grant College Review
Djamilla
Tony D'Souza, Tin House
In a Bears Eye
Yannick Murphy, McSweeney's Quarterly
Summer, with Twins
Rebecca Curtis, Harper's Magazine
Mudder Tongue
Brian Everson, McSweeney's Quarterly
Companion
Sana Krasikov, The New Yorker
A Stone House
Bay Anapol, Manoa
The Company of Men
Jan Ellison, New England Review
City Visit
Adam Haslett, The Atlantic Monthly
The Duchess of Albany
Christine Schutt, Noon
A New Kind of Gravity
Andrew Foster Altschul, StoryQuarterly
Gringos
Ariel Dorfman, Subtropics
El Ojo de Agua
Susan Straight, Zoetrope
The View from Castle Rock
Alice Munro, The New Yorker
Reading THE O. HENRY PRIZE STORIES 2007
Charles DAmbrosio on “The Room” by William Trevor
Ursula K. Le Guin on “Galveston Bay, 1826” by Eddie Chuculate
Lily Tuck on “The Room” by William Trevor
Writing THE O. HENRY PRIZE STORIES 2007
The Writers on Their Work
Recommended Stories
Publications Submitted
Permissions