Download american short stories PDF

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M A N Y V O I C E S L I T E R A T U R E
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MERICAN
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1920 TO THE PRESENT
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HIGH ROAD, 1931, Edward Hopper, watercolor and graphite on paper, 20 x 2715⁄16 in. Josephine N. Hopper Bequest S
(70.1163) Collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Photography by Stephen Sloman © 1989, NY
MANY VOICES LITERATURE SERIES
Perfection Learning Corporation
Logan, Iowa 51546-0500
perfectionlearning.com
A S S
MERICAN HORT TORIES
Printed in the U.S.A.
1920 TO THE PRESENT #38635
LP
EE
AR
A DISTINGUISHED AND CHALLENGING COLLECTION OF RF
SHORT STORIES BY AMERICA’S FINEST WRITERS NE
IC
N
T
GI
AMERICAN SHORT STORIES INTRODUCES STUDENTS TO O
N
IMPORTANT WORKS OF FICTION SINCE 1920 AND PRESENTS
ISBN 13: 978-0-7891-5940-3
A UNIQUE NEW WAY OF LOOKING AT THEM. LITERATURE STUDY ISBN 10: 0-7891-5940-6
IS APPROACHED THROUGH EACH AUTHOR’S WRITING STYLE—
A PROCESS THAT REQUIRES DEEP ANALYSIS OF BOTH THE
IDEAS AND STRUCTURE OF A LITERARY WORK.
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M A N Y V O I C E S L I T E R A T U R E S E R I E S
A S S
MERICAN HORT TORIES
1920 P
TO THE RESENT
Perfection Learning
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Editorial dirEctor Julie a. Schumacher
SEnior EditorS rebecca christian, terry ofner
Editorial aSSiStantS Suzanne Foggia, Megan Snyder
PErMiSSionS Meghan Schumacher
dESign William Seabright and associates, glencoe, illinois
tEachEr rEviEWErS loann campbell, retired teacher of English, ames
high School, ames, iowa
Eric d. turley, teacher of English, Johnsburg high
School, Johnsburg, illinois
StudEnt rEviEWErS luke Scheele, hermann high School, hermann,
Missouri
george thompson, hoover high School,
des Moines, iowa
dr. neil E. nakadate, consultant for this book, is a Professor of English at iowa
State university, ames, iowa. a recipient of the iowa State university Foundation
award for career achievement in teaching, dr. nakadate earned a Ph.d. in English
from indiana university and specializes in contemporary american fiction. he is
the author of several books and articles, including Understanding Jane Smiley. dr.
nakadate reviewed selections for this volume and helped to shape the table of
contents. his work also includes the essay “on Style” and the essays that introduce
each unit. in addition, he wrote the author’s Style feature, which appears before
each story.
copyright © 2003 by Perfection learning corporation
1000 north Second avenue
P.o. Box 500, logan, iowa 51546-0500
Tel: 1-800-831-4190 • Fax: 1-800-543-2745
all rights reserved. no part of this book may
be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever
without written permission from the publisher.
Printed in the united States of america
6 7 8 9 10 11 RD 12 11 10 09 08 07
Paperback ISBN-10: 0-7891-5940-6 ISBN-13: 978-0-7891-5940-3
Hardback ISBN-10: 0-7569-9950-2 ISBN-13: 978-0-7569-9950-6
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M A N Y V O I C E S L I T E R A T U R E S E R I E S
A S S
MERICAN HORT TORIES
1920 P
TO THE RESENT
Perfection Learning
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TO THE READER 8
ON STYLE 10
LITERARY ELEMENTS OF THE SHORT STORY 13
UNIT ONE
Literature from the 1920s to the 1940s
IN ANOTHER COUNTRY (1927) ERNEST HEMINGWAY 21
HE (1930) KATHERINE ANNE PORTER 29
BABYLON REVISITED (1931) F.SCOTT FITZGERALD 43
THE FAR AND THE NEAR (1935) THOMAS WOLFE 67
SUCKER (1936) CARSON MCCULLERS 73
THE CHRYSANTHEMUMS (1937) JOHN STEINBECK 85
WHY I LIVE AT THE P.O. (1941) EUDORA WELTY 99
THE BLACK BALL (ca. 1941) RALPH ELLISON 115
THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY (1942) JAMES THURBER 127
THE LOTTERY (1944) SHIRLEY JACKSON 135
MIRIAM (1945) TRUMAN CAPOTE 147
Responding to Unit One 162
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UNIT TWO
Literature from the 1950s and 1960s
THE VELDT (1950) RAY BRADBURY 169
BARN BURNING (1950) WILLIAM FAULKNER 185
ANGEL LEVINE (1955) BERNARD MALAMUD 207
THE WRYSONS (1958) JOHN CHEEVER 221
HARRISON BERGERON (1961) KURTVONNEGUT 231
EVERYTHING THAT RISES MUST CONVERGE (1961)
FLANNERY O’CONNOR 241
A & P (1961) JOHN UPDIKE 259
THE SKY IS GRAY (1963) ERNEST J.GAINES 269
THE WOOING OF ARIADNE (1965) HARRY MARK PETRAKIS 299
Responding to Unit Two 314
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UNIT THREE
Literature from the 1970s and 1980s
THE KEY (1970) ISAAC BASHEVIS SINGER 321
THE FLOWERS (1973) ALICE WALKER 333
WHERE HAVE YOU GONE, CHARMING BILLY? (1975) TIM O’BRIEN 337
EVERYTHING STUCK TO HIM (1981) RAYMOND CARVER 349
DETROIT SKYLINE, 1949 (1982) BOBBIE ANN MASON 357
AMERICAN HORSE (1983) LOUISE ERDRICH 377
THE WRITER IN THE FAMILY (1984) E.L.DOCTOROW 391
THE FISH (1986) RUSSELL BANKS 407
TRUCKSTOP (1987) GARRISON KEILLOR 417
RULES OF THE GAME (1989) AMY TAN 425
Responding to Unit Three 438
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UNIT FOUR
Literature from the 1990s
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: (1990) JOYCE CAROL OATES 445
FAULT LINES (1992) BARBARA KINGSOLVER 455
TOP OF THE FOOD CHAIN (1992) T.CORAGHESSAN BOYLE 467
LETTERS FROM MY FATHER (1992) ROBERT OLEN BUTLER 475
THIS IS WHAT IT MEANS TO SAY PHOENIX, ARIZONA (1993)
SHERMAN ALEXIE 485
THE INTRUDER (1995) ANDRE DUBUS 499
MORTALS (1996) TOBIAS WOLFF 513
CHARLIE HOGLE’S EARRING (1997) PAUL THEROUX 525
RGINLeDOsESpXSoAOnRFYdiTOnIFTgLL EtISToE ARUNADnRYiAtU TFEToRHMuOSrRS 554450246 © Alex Katz/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
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TO THE READER
n American father in search of his daughter in France. A ranch woman
in the Salinas Valley who yearns for companionship and a sense of self-
worth. A postmistress in Mississippi who decides to live at the post office
after feuding with her eccentric family. A terrified soldier in Vietnam who
longs for his Minnesota home.
These are some of the characters and situations you will encounter in
American Short Stories: 1920 to the Present. They are as varied as the geography
of the U.S. itself. Yet their common denominator is that each is part of a short
story, a form—like jazz or baseball—that some claim is uniquely American.
Of course, thousands of American short stories have been written, and
collections of them abound. What sets this volume apart is its emphasis on
the authors’ writing styles. By examining approaches as diverse as the spare,
understated prose of Ernest Hemingway and the dazzling imagery of Louise
Erdrich, you will come to recognize many elements of style. It has been said
that style is comprised of the fingerprints an author leaves on a story, mak-
ing it so unmistakably his or hers that a careful reader can tell who has writ-
ten it without the byline.
As many of the writers in this volume have remarked, good reading
comes before good writing. Reading this book and completing the activities
will help you shape your own writing style.
Aside from what you will learn about style, this volume provides an
overview of the American short story’s development over the last century.
Many literary historians credit Edgar Allan Poe, the master of horror, with
inventing, or at least refining, the short story form in the mid-19th century.
He saw the short story as different from the novel not only in length but also
in intention and form. Writing when Americans were still trying to create a
distinct literature for their country, Poe developed highly atmospheric, tightly
constructed stories in which brevity and unity contributed to a single,
focused effect.
Other American writers followed Poe’s example by developing their own
subjects and methods. From the beginning, a particular focus of the
American short story has been the theme of personal identity, often explored
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in stories of personal quests that determine an individual’s sense of self and
relationship to others and the world.
During the 19th century, nearly all of the basic themes and issues of the
American short story were introduced and developed by writers such as
Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Mark Twain, and Kate Chopin.
These and other writers focused on specifically American locations, subjects,
and problems, developing a wide range of styles for storytelling. Their sto-
ries arose from local history, moral fables, character studies, and the dilem-
mas posed by race and class.
Against the backdrop of westward expansion, the effects of the Industrial
Revolution, and the impact of wave after wave of immigration, American
writers explored crucial moments of insight in response to conflicts and
dilemmas. The short story—with its limited cast of characters, few scenes or
episodes, and focus on a single effect—provided a good forum for such
explorations. It was practical, besides. With Americans spread out across a
continent, ten cent magazines delivered nationwide by mail gave the coun-
try a sense of having its own literature. It also provided a mass market for
short story writers.
Change was even more rapid in the 20th century, when the stories in this
volume begin. Social, political, and cultural developments included the
building of transcontinental highways, the Constitutional amendment
allowing women to vote, and broad recognition that World War I had intro-
duced a new era of fears and possibilities. American stories since 1920 fre-
quently focus on the relationships of individuals to the changing times,
other people, and locations both familiar and new.
Many 20th-century writers whose works are represented in this book
convey a firm sense of regional identity. Others focus on the lives of people
in the city and the suburbs. Still others explore ethnic identity. The
approaches of these writers range from the use of straightforward plots with
conventional language to the creation of quirky plot lines, points of view,
and narrative voices. The tone ranges from assertive pride to playful irony to
sympathy for suffering and loss.
Since the United States is constantly changing, no single story could
appropriately be called the American story. America is a complex whole,
comprised of countless individual experiences. To read this collection of
short stories is not to define the American experience so much as to learn
from various pieces of it. It is to find yourself—in a phrase borrowed from
John Steinbeck—in search of America.
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