Synopses & Reviews
Fifty remarkable short stories from a range of contemporary fiction authors including Junot Diaz, Amy Tan, Jamaica Kincaid, Jhumpa Lahiri, and more, selected from a survey of more than five hundred English professors, short story writers, and novelists.
Contributors include Russell Banks, Donald Barthelme, Rick Bass, Richard Bausch, Charles Baxter, Amy Bloom, T.C. Boyle, Kevin Brockmeier, Robert Olen Butler, Sandra Cisneros, Peter Ho Davies, Janet Desaulniers, Junot Diaz, Anthony Doerr, Stuart Dybek, Deborah Eisenberg, Richard Ford, Mary Gaitskill, Dagoberto Gilb, Ron Hansen, A.M. Homes, Mary Hood, Denis Johnson, Edward P. Jones, Thom Jones, Jamaica Kincaid, Jhumpa Lahiri, David Leavitt, Kelly Link, Reginald McKnight, David Means, Susan Minot , Rick Moody, Bharati Mukherjee, Antonya Nelson, Joyce Carol Oates, Tim O’Brien, Daniel Orozco, Julie Orringer, ZZ Packer, Annie Proulx, Stacey Richter, George Saunders, Joan Silber, Leslie Marmon Silko, Susan Sontag, Amy Tan, Melanie Rae Thon, Alice Walker, and Steve Yarbrough.
Synopsis
Fifty remarkable short stories from a range of contemporary fiction authors including Junot Diaz, Amy Tan, Jamaica Kincaid, Jhumpa Lahiri, and more, selected from a survey of more than five hundred English professors, short story writers, and novelists.
Contributors include Russell Banks, Donald Barthelme, Rick Bass, Richard Bausch, Charles Baxter, Amy Bloom, T.C. Boyle, Kevin Brockmeier, Robert Olen Butler, Sandra Cisneros, Peter Ho Davies, Janet Desaulniers, Junot Diaz, Anthony Doerr, Stuart Dybek, Deborah Eisenberg, Richard Ford, Mary Gaitskill, Dagoberto Gilb, Ron Hansen, A.M. Homes, Mary Hood, Denis Johnson, Edward P. Jones, Thom Jones, Jamaica Kincaid, Jhumpa Lahiri, David Leavitt, Kelly Link, Reginald McKnight, David Means, Susan Minot, Rick Moody, Bharati Mukherjee, Antonya Nelson, Joyce Carol Oates, Tim O'Brien, Daniel Orozco, Julie Orringer, ZZ Packer, Annie Proulx, Stacey Richter, George Saunders, Joan Silber, Leslie Marmon Silko, Susan Sontag, Amy Tan, Melanie Rae Thon, Alice Walker, and Steve Yarbrough.
About the Author
Lex Williford teaches in the bilingual writing program at the University of Texas, El Paso. He previously taught in the writing programs at Southern Illinois University and the University of Alabama. His collection of stories, Macauley's Thumb, was co-winner of the 1993 Iowa School of Letters Award for Short Fiction. He lives with his wife in El Paso, Texas. Michael Martone has taught at Iowa State University, Harvard University, and Syracuse University. He is currently teaching at the University of Alabama, where he has directed the MFA Program in Creative Writing. Double-wide: Collected Fiction is his eighth book of stories. Racing in Place, his third book of nonfiction, will be published in 2008. He has edited six other volumes of prose including the Touchstone Anthology of Contemporary Creative Nonfiction with Lex Williford. He lives in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments Foreword Introduction by Rosellen Brown
Russell Banks - Sarah Cole: A Type of Love Story
Donald Barthelme - The School
Rick Bass - The Hermit's Story
Richard Bausch - The Fireman's Wife
Charles Baxter - The Disappeared
Amy Bloom - Silver Water
T. C. Boyle - Caviar
Kevin Brockmeier - The Ceiling
Robert Olen Butler - Jealous Husband Returns in Form of Parrot
Sandra Cisneros - Never Marry a Mexican
Peter Ho Davies - Relief
Janet Desaulniers - After Rosa Parks
Junot Diaz - Nilda
Anthony Doerr - The Caretaker
Stuart Dybek - We Didn't
Deborah Eisenberg - Twilight of the Superheroes
Richard Ford - Communist
Mary Gaitskill - Tiny, Smiling Daddy
Dagoberto Gilb - Winners on the Pass Line
Ron Hansen - Wickedness
A. M. Homes - A Real Doll
Mary Hood - How Far She Went
Denis Johnson - Car Crash While Hitchhiking
Edward P. Jones - Marie
Thom Jones - The Pugilist at Rest
Jamaica Kincaid - Girl
Jhumpa Lahiri - A Temporary Matter
David Leavitt - Territory
Kelly Link - Stone Animals
Reginald McKnight - The Kind of Light Th at Shines on Texas
David Means - The Secret Goldfish
Susan Minot - Lust
Rick Moody - Boys
Bharati Mukherjee - The Management of Grief
Antonya Nelson - Female Trouble
Joyce Carol Oates - The Translation
Tim O'Brien - The Things They Carried
Daniel Orozco - Orientation
Julie Orringer - Pilgrims
ZZ Packer - Brownies
E. Annie Proulx - The Half-Skinned Steer
Stacey Richter - The Cavemen in the Hedges
George Saunders - Sea Oak
Joan Silber - My Shape
Leslie Marmon Silko - Tony's Story
Susan Sontag - The Way We Live Now
Amy Tan - Two Kinds
Melanie Rae Thon - Xmas, Jamaica Plain
Alice Walker - Nineteen Fifty-five
Steve Yarbrough - The Rest of Her Life Permissions