- Hardcover: 782 pages
- Publisher: OUP USA (11 Feb 1993)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0195070658
- ISBN-13: 978-0195070651
- Product Dimensions: 21.8 x 15.2 x 4.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,217,941 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Review
Only a novelist would ever think up such a project. Only a very good one could pull it off. (Observer )
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Observer
`Only a novelist would ever think up such a project. Only a very good one could pull it off.'
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
Born in New York City on April 3, 1783, the last of eleven children of a wealthy Scottish merchant and an Englishwoman, Washington Irving is our first American writer to achieve a distinguished international reputation; the first to become a "classic" during his own lifetime. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Born in New York City on April 3, 1783, the last of eleven children of a wealthy Scottish merchant and an Englishwoman, Washington Irving is our first American writer to achieve a distinguished international reputation; the first to become a "classic" during his own lifetime. Read the first page
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Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Oates takes a typically expansive and broad view of the american short story, beginning at the beginning and including nearly everything in between. Nearly every story is worth reading, and there are many delight that will be unknown to many, especially in the earlier sections - many of these stories have a heartrendingly tragic power
0 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I appreciate this book was very very cheap, but it definitely isn't as 'good as new.' It has a tea stain all down the back inside cover and several of the pages and is generally crumpled. Shame on you seller!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
13 reviews
51 of 52 people found the following review helpful
Oates tries, but fails, to ruin a good thing.
8 Jan 1998
Format:Paperback
This is a solid cross-section of time, authors, style, intent, and soul. I taught this to 50+ teenagers with a high degree of success and corporate enjoyment. The primary downfall of the piece is that Oates comments before each story, sometimes playing the obnoxious neighbor by actually giving away the resolution. Read her comments after you read the story. Otherwise, great work.
29 of 30 people found the following review helpful
A solid sampling of U.S. stories
5 Sep 2001
Format:Paperback
"The Oxford Book of American Short Stories," edited by Joyce Carol Oates, is an impressive anthology. The editor herself is well-known as a master writer of short stories, so you know that she has insights into the genre.
This is a truly sweeping anthology. The authors (56 altogether) range chronologically from Washington Irving (1783-1859) to Pinckney Benedict (b. 1964). Many of the "giants" of U.S. literature, among them a number of Nobel and Pulitzer recipients, are included: Herman Melville ("The Paradise of Bachelors..."), Edgar Allan Poe ("The Tell-Tale Heart"), Edith Wharton ("A Journey"), Saul Bellow (Something to Remember Me By"), etc.
In her introduction, Oates notes that one of her goals in this anthology was to present "[f]amiliar names, unfamiliar titles." Thus, it is rewarding to see stories like "Cannibalism in the Cars," by Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain). But she does, in some cases, include an author's best-known story (like Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper"). A good balance overall.
Oates also includes many authors who represent ethnic currents in U.S. literature: African-American, Jewish, Native American, Latina, and Asian-American. There are also a number of "regional" writers.
There is a wide variety of themes and stylistic approaches represented in this book. I was particularly interested in those stories that represent various forms of American vernacular speech: Jean Toomer's "Blood-Burning Moon," Eudora Welty's "Where Is That Voice Coming From?", etc. I was also pleased at the inclusion of one of Ray Bradbury's masterful science fiction tales (the haunting "There Will Come Soft Rains").
Obviously, an anthology of this nature will not please everybody perfectly; I'm sure many readers will name favorite stories and authors whom they would have liked to have seen included in this collection. Personally, I would have added a story each by Alice Walker, Hisaye Yamamoto, Samuel Delany, H.P. Lovecraft, and Octavia Butler. But overall, this is a fine anthology, good both for classroom use and individual recreational reading.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Top-rate short story collection
19 Sep 2007
Format:Paperback
When I went to graduate school for a course of study that involved primarily reading, I did not want to spend too much free time reading. Because I find it hard to put down a book that I enjoy, it was hard to commit to a novel. So I became a devoted reader of short stories, including many anthologies and collections.
This collection by Joyce Carol Oates was, hands down, the best that I ever encountered. A hardcover volume makes a good graduation present for a young scholar, or someone who loves to read but cannot find the time for a novel.
This collection by Joyce Carol Oates was, hands down, the best that I ever encountered. A hardcover volume makes a good graduation present for a young scholar, or someone who loves to read but cannot find the time for a novel.
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