The New Penguin Book of American Short Stories, from Washington Irving to Lydia Davis

I feel like Im living in this gigantic jiveass jigsaw puzzle The short story is one of the most varied and exciting genres in American literature. This collection brings together many of its finest examples from the early nineteenth century to the present. It contains a richly diverse cast of characters, including convicts, artists, farm labourers, slaves, soldiers and salesmen, witches and ghosts, families and lovers. Their stories are told by some of Americas most celebrated writers (Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edith Wharton, Raymond Carver) and a few, like Fanny Fern or Charles W. Chestnutt, who may be less familiar. The collection offers a stimulating combination of acknowledged classics, including Mark Twains hilarious Jim Smileys Jumping Frog and Edgar Allan Poes chilling The Tell-Tale Heart, and some remarkable pieces that deserve a wider audience, such as Ernest Hemingways story of miscommunication, Out of Season, or Lorrie Moores tale of modern love and wit, Starving Again. Kasia Boddys introduction traces the history of the American short story and explores the changes and continuities in its forms and preoccupations. This edition also contains a chronology, explanatory and biographical notes and suggestions for further reading. Edited with an introduction by KASIA BODDY