A Reader's Companion to the Short Story in English

by Erin Fallon (Editor), Rick Feddersen (Editor), James Kurtzleben (Editor), Maurice A. Lee (Editor), Susan Rochette-Crawley (Editor)

Overview

While the short story has existed in various forms for centuries, it has particularly flourished during the last hundred years, and especially in recent decades. Though many outstanding novels have been written in the 20th century, most of these writers have also published short fiction. And in many cases, their short stories exhibit a greater degree of coherence and integrity than their longer works. The rise of creative writing programs in the 1960s helped fuel the growth of the short story and brought academic attention to it. So, too, the emergence of multiculturalism encouraged authors of diverse backgrounds to write about their cultures. This reference is a guide to the contemporary English-language short story.

Included are alphabetically arranged entries for roughly 50 English-language short story writers from around the world, such as Chinua Achebe, John Barth, Jamaica Kincaid, Salman Rushdie, and Amy Tan. More than half the American writers profiled are from historically marginalized groups, such as Jewish-Americans, African-Americans, and Asian-Americans. Most of these authors have been active since 1960, and they reflect a wide range of experiences and perspectives in their works. Each entry is written by an expert contributor and includes biographical material, a brief review of existing criticism, a lengthier analysis of specific works, and a selected bibliography of primary and secondary sources. The volume begins with a detailed introduction to the short story genre and concludes with an annotated bibliography of major works on short story theory.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313291043
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	12/30/2000
Pages:	464
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 1.00(d)
Lexile:	1350L (what's this?)
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

ERIN FALLON is a graduate student in English at the University of New Orleans. She is Assistant Coordinator of the International Conference on the Short Story in English, Recording Secretary for the Society for the Study of the Short Story, and Assistant Editor of Short Story.

R.C. FEDDERSEN is a Doctoral Candidate and Teaching Associate in the Department of English at Oklahoma State University. He is one of the editors of The Tales We Tell: Perspectives on the Short Story (Greenwood, 1998).

JAMES KURTZLEBEN is currently a web designer for Inlet, Inc. He was the Assistant Editor of Short Story and Literary Magazine Review and Managing Editor of the Jourbanal of Caribbean Literatures.

MAURICE A. LEE is Professor of English and Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Central Arkansas. He is founder and Editor of the Jourbanal of Caribbean Literature and Director of a biannual international conference on the short story, now in its twelfth year.

SUSAN ROCHETTE-CRAWLEY is Assistant Professor of English and Coordinator of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Northern Iowa.

Table of Contents

Introduction
China Achebe by Charles Dameron
Ama Atu Aidoo by Susan Rochette-Crawley
Jessica Anderson by Selina Samuels
Margaret Eleanor Atwood by Linda H. Straubel & Gayle Elliott
Toni Cade Bambara by Carol Franko
John Simmons Barth by Terry J. Martin
Donald Barthelme by Jerome Klinkowitz
Ann Beattie by Michael Young and Troy Thibodeaux
Morely Callaghan by Grant Tracey
Angela Olive Carter by Erica Benson
Raymond Carver by Hilary Siebert
Sandra Cisneros by L.M. Lewis
Robert Coover by Wayne B. Stengel
Anita Desai by Minoli Salgado
Louise Erdrich by Norma C. Wilson
Richard Ford by Larry D. Griffin
Janet Frame by Susan Rochette-Crawley
Ernest J. Gaines by Mary Ellen Doyle
Mavis Gallant by Michael Trussler
Nadine Gordimer by Christine Loflin
Patricia Grace by Pierre-Damien Mvuyekure
Gish Jen by R.C. Fedderson
Charles Richard Johnson by Scharron A. Shy-Clayton
Elizabeth Jolley by Brian Dibble
Jamaica Kincaid by Hemine Lee
Maxine Hong Kingston by Jenny Wang
Doris Lessing by Richard Oehling
Bernard Malamud by Begoña Sîo Castiñeira
Bobbie Ann Mason by Cheryl Roberts
James Alan McPherson by James Kurtzleben
Loorie Moore by Susan Rochette-Crawley
Bharati Mukherjee by Sherry Morton-Mollo
Alice Munro by J.R. (Tim) Struthers
R.K. Narayan by Britta Olinder
Tim O'Brien by Brady Harrison
Michael Ondaatje by Allan Weiss
Grace Paley by Ann Charters
Velma Pollard by Pierre-Damien Mvuyekure
Victor S. Prichett by Karen Tracey
Jean Rhys by Paul Kotrodimos
Salman Rushdie by Farhat Iftekharrudin
Samuel Selvon by Hermine Lee
Olive Senior by Mary Gravitt
Leslie Marmon Silko by Neil Nakadate
Amy Tan by Elias Ellefson
William Trevor by Miriam Marty Clark

Editorial Reviews

A multicultural collection of 47 chapters intended to introduce short- story writers to teachers, students, and the reading public. Each chapter includes biographical material, a brief review of existing criticism, a lengthier analysis of specific works, and a selected bibliography. In addition, an introductory chapter provides a brief look at the history of the short story in English. Some of the writers covered: Chinua Achebe, Ama Ata Aidoo, Donald Barthelme, Raymond Carver, Janet Frame, Gish Jen, Maxine Hong Kingston, Doris Lessing, Bernard Malamud, Lorrie Moore, Bharati Mukherjee, Alice Munro, Michael Ondaatje, Victor Sawdon Pritchett, Salman Rushdie, Olive Senior, and Leslie Marmon Silko. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

"valuable to most literature instructors. This work is extremely important because of the popularity of the genre." - Choice

'Valuable to most literature instructors. This work is extremely important because of the popularity of the genre.' - Choice

From the Publisher