Table of Contents
CONTENTS Preface vii
Section One
The First Century, 1820—1910 1
Washington Irving
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow 25
Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Birth-mark 46
Edgar Allan Poe
The Black Cat 59
Thomas Bangs Thorpe
A Piano in “Arkansaw” 67
Herman Melville
Bartleby, the Scrivener 73
Bret Harte
Tennessee’s Partner 100
Ambrose Bierce
The Coup de Grâce 108
Henry James
The Real Thing 114
Sarah Orne Jewett
A White Heron 133
Kate Chopin
The Storm 142
Mary E.Wilkins Freeman
The Revolt of “Mother” 148
CharlesW. Chesnutt
The Passing of Grandison 161
Hamlin Garland
Under the Lion’s Paw 174
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iv CONTENTS
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
The Yellow Wall-Paper 186
William Sydney Porter (O. Henry)
The Ransom of Red Chief 200
Stephen Crane
The Blue Hotel 209
Suggestions for Discussion and Writing 230
Section Two
The Earlier Twentieth Century, 1910—1950 233
Edith Wharton
The Other Two 249
Willa Cather
Paul’s Case 265
Sherwood Anderson
The Egg 280
William Carlos Williams
The Use of Force 289
Katherine Anne Porter
The Grave 294
Zora Neale Hurston
The Gilded Six-Bits 300
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Babylon Revisited 310
William Faulkner
Barn Burning 327
Ernest Hemingway
A Clean, Well-Lighted Place 342
Langston Hughes
Thank You, Ma’m 347
John Steinbeck
The Chrysanthemums 351
RichardWright
Big Boy Leaves Home 361
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EudoraWelty
Petrified Man 394
John Cheever
The Swimmer 406
Barnard Malamud
The Magic Barrel 415
Suggestions for Discussion and Writing 428
Section Three
The Later Twentieth Century, 1950—1990 431
Grace Paley
Samuel 445
James Baldwin
Sonny’s Blues 448
Flannery O’Connor
Revelation 472
Ursula K. LeGuin
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas 489
Donald Barthelme
The School 495
John Updike
A & P 499
Raymond Carver
Boxes505
Joyce Carol Oates
Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? 516
Toni Cade Bambara
A Girl’s Story 530
Bobbie Ann Mason
Shiloh539
AliceWalker
Nineteen Fifty-five 551
TobiasWolff
Hunters in the Snow 564
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vi CONTENTS
Tim O’Brien
The Things They Carried 578
Charles Baxter
Gryphon 592
Ann Beattie
Janus 605
Jayne Anne Phillips
Cheers 611
Suggestions for Discussion and Writing 612
Section Four
Into a New Millennium, 1990— 615
Deborah Eisenberg
Twilight of the Superheroes 626
William Gibson
The Gernsback Continuum 650
Ralph Lombreglia
Inn Essence 659
Walter Mosley
Pet Fly 677
Louise Erdrich
Fleur 689
Helena María Viramontes
The Cariboo Cafe 700
Gish Jen
Birthmates 711
Michael Parker
Hidden Meanings 724
Sherman Alexie
This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona 731
Jhumpa Lahiri
This Blessed House 742
Suggestions for Discussion and Writing 755
Credits 657
Index 659
