CONTENTS. Chronological Table of Contents xiii Preface xvii

Transcription

1 CONTENTS Chronological Table of Contents xiii Preface xvii Writing about Fiction xxi Stories LEE K. ABBOTT One of Star Wars, One o/doom 1 CONRAD AIKEN Silent Snow, Secret Snow 17 DOROTHY ALLISON Jason Who Will Be Famous 30 SHERWOOD ANDERSON I Want to Know Why 37 MARGARET ATWOOD Death by Landscape 44 Related: Atwood, Why Do You Write? 1706 JAMES BALDWIN Sonny's Blues 57 TONI CADE BAMBARA Gorilla, My Love 80 Related: Bambara, What Is It I Think I'm Doing Anyhow? 1706 ANDREA BARRETT The Littoral Zone 85 Related: Barrett on Willa Cather's Paul's Case 1755 DONALD BARTHELME Me and Miss Mandible 93 RICHARD BAUSCH Letter to the Lady of the House 102 Related: Bausch, Letter to a Young Writer 1707 Bausch on Anton Chekhov's Gusev 1793 CHARLES BAXTER The Disappeared 109 Related: Baxter on William Maxwell's The Thistles in Sweden 1756 ANN BEATTIE Snow 127 Related: Beattie on Peter Taylor's A Spinster's Tale 1756 MADISON SMARTT BELL Witness 129 WENDELL BERRY A Burden 141 AMBROSE BIERCE An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge 149 JORGE LUIS BORGES Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote 156 RAY BRADBURY The Veldt 164 FREDERICK BUSCH Bread 175 Related: Busch on Ernest Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants 1757 TRUMAN CAPOTE Miriam 188 RAYMOND CARVER The Student's Wife 197 Cathedral 202 R. V. CASSILL The Rationing of Love 213 WILLA CATHER A Wagner Matinee 226 Paul's Case 231 Related: Andrea Barrett on Paul's Case 1755

2 vi Contents JOHN CHEEVER The Enormous Radio 246 The Death of Justina 254 ANTON CHEKHOV Gusev 262 Anna on the Neck 271 Related: Anton Chekhov 1787 KATE CHOPIN The Story of an Hour 281 SAMUEL CLEMENS (MARK TWAIN) The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County 284 The Invalid's Story 288 JOSEPH CONRAD Heart of Darkness 294 Related: Conrad, Preface to The Nigger of the "Narcissus" 1711 Conrad, Letter to Barrett H. Clark 1713 Barry Hannah on Heart of Darkness 1763 C. P. Sarvan, Racism and the Heart of Darkness 1774 JULIO CORTAZAR Letter to a Young Lady in Paris 355 STEPHEN CRANE The Open Boat 362 The Blue Hotel 379 Related: Crane, Letter to John Northern Hilliard 1714 Allan Gurganus on The Open Boat 1761 Charles C. Walcutt, [Stephen Crane: Naturalist] 1783 EDWIDGE DANTICAT A Wall of Fire Rising 399 ANITA DESAI Royalty 411 JAMES DICKEY The Mill Wheel 424 ISAK DINESEN Sorrow-Acre 426 Related: Tobias Wolff on Sorrow- Acre 1786 ANDRE DUBUS The Intruder 449 STUART DYBEK We Didn't 458 RALPH ELLISON King of the Bingo Game 467 Related: Ellison, An Interview 1715 LOUISE ERDRICH Matchimanito 475 PERCIVAL EVERETT The Fix 488 WILLIAM FAULKNER A Rose for Emily 500 Barn Burning 507 Related: William Faulkner 1800 F. SCOTT FITZGERALD Babylon Revisited 520 RICHARD FORD Great Falls 536 Privacy 547 Related: Ford on Bharati Mukherjee's The Management of Grief 1761 MARY E. WILKINS FREEMAN A New England Nun 550 MAVIS GALLANT The Ice Wagon Going Down the Street 559 GEORGE GARRETT Feeling Good, Feeling Fine 576 CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN The Yellow Wallpaper 580 NADINE GORDIMER A Soldier's Embrace 592 ALLAN GURGANUS Nativity, Caucasian 603 Related: Gurganus on Stephen Crane's The Open Boat 1761 BARRY HANNAH Sick Soldier at Your Door 610 Related: Hannah on Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness 1763 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE Young Goodman Brown 620

3 Contents vii The Birthmark 629 Related: Edgar Allan Poe, Review of Hawthorne's Twice-Told Tales 1772 ERNEST HEMINGWAY Hills Like White Elephants 6 42 Related: Hemingway, An Interview 1717 Frederick Busch on Hills Like White Elephants 1757 AMY HEMPEL In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson Is Buried 647 ALICE HOFFMAN The Wedding of Snow and Ice 654 ZORA NEALE HURSTON The Conscience of the Court 663 SHIRLEY JACKSON The Lottery 673 HENRY JAMES The Real Thing 680 Related: James, The Art of Fiction 1719 RUTH PRAWER JHABVALA Passion 698 CHARLES JOHNSON Moving Pictures 711 EDWARD P. JONES A New Man 716 Related: Jones on Frank O'Connor's Guests of the Nation 1765 JAMES JOYCE Araby 726 The Dead 730 Related: C. C. Loomis Jr., Structure and Sympathy in Joyce's "The Dead" 1766 FRANZ KAFKA The Metamorphosis 761 A Hunger Artist 795 Related: Kafka, Letter to Max Brod 1722 Stanley Corngold, Kafka's The Metamorphosis: Metamorphosis of the Metaphor 1758 YASUNARIKAWABATA The White Horse 802 A. L. KENNEDY Not Anything to Do with Love 805 JAMAICA KINCAID Girl 810 JHUMPA LAHIRI Hell-Heaven 812 RING LARDNER Ex Parte 826 D. H. LAWRENCE The Horse Dealer's Daughter 834 The Rocking-Horse Winner 846 URSULA K. LE GUIN The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas 858 DORIS LESSING To Room Nineteen 863 Related: Lessing, An Interview 1723 JOHN L'HEUREUX Brief Lives in California 887 SANDRA TSING LOH My Father's Chinese Wives 896 BERNARD MALAMUD Angel Levine 906 KATHERINE MANSFIELD The Garden Party 914 BOBBIE ANN MASON Shiloh 925 GUY DE MAUPASSANT BouledeSuif 936 An Adventure in Paris 964 Related: Maupassant, The Novel 1725 WILLIAM MAXWELL The Thistles in Sweden 969 Related: Charles Baxter on The Thistles in Sweden 1756 John Updike, Three New Yorker Stalwarts [William Maxwell] 1778 JILL McCORKLE Intervention 984 THOMAS McGUANE Cowboy 996

4 viii Contents T. M. McNALLY Bastogne 1004 JAMES ALAN McPHERSON Why I Like Country Music 1017 HERMAN MELVILLE Bartleby, the Scrivener 1029 Related: Leo Marx, Melville's Parable of the Walls 1769 BHARATI MUKHERJEE The Management of Grief 1056 Related: Mukherjee, A Four-Hundred- Year-Old Woman 1727 Richard Ford on The Management of Grief 1761 ALICE MUNRO Royal Beatings 1069 Miles City, Montana 1085 Related: Alice Munro 1812 SABINA MURRAY Position 1099 VLADIMIR NABOKOV Signs and Symbols 1108 JOYCE CAROL OATES Convalescing 1113 How I Contemplated the World from the Detroit House of Correction and Began My Life Over Again 1126 Related: Joyce Carol Oates 1824 TIM O'BRIEN The Things They Carried 1138 How to Tell a True War Story 1150 FLANNERY O'CONNOR A Good Man Is Hard to Find 1160 Good Country People 1171 Related: Flannery O'Connor 1837 FRANK O'CONNOR Guests of the Nation 1186 Related: Edward P. Jones on Guests of the Nation 1765 TILLIE OLSEN O Yes 1195 GRACE PALEY The Used-Boy Raisers 1207 JAYNE ANNE PHILLIPS El Paso 1212 LUIGI PIRANDELLO War 1223 EDGAR ALLAN POE The Fall of the House of Usher 1227 The Purloined Letter 1241 Related: Poe, The Philosophy of Composition 1729 Poe, Review of Hawthorne's Twice-Told Tales 1772 Richard Wilbur, The House of Poe 1784 KATHERINE ANNE PORTER The Jilting of Granny Weatherall 1254 Floweringjudas 1260 Related: Porter, An Interview 1730 V. S. PRITCHETT The Fall 1270 E. ANNIE PROULX What Kind of Furniture Would Jesus Pick? RON RASH Their Ancient, Glittering Eyes 1294 AGNES ROSSI Morpheus 1305 PHILIP ROTH The Conversion of the Jews 1310 GEORGE SAUNDERS Victory Lap 1321 JAMES SALTER Give 1333 DANZY SENNA Admission 1339 IRWIN SHAW The Girls in Their Summer Dresses 1355 JEAN SHEPHERD Lost at C 1362 ISAAC BASHEVIS SINGER Gimpel the Fool 1377 JANE SMILEY The Life of the Body 1388 LEE SMITH Intensive Care 1401

5 Contents ix Related: Smith on Flannery O'Connor's A Good Man Is Hard to Find 1844 ELIZABETH SPENCER Wisteria 1420 JEAN STAFFORD In the Zoo 1424 JOHN STEINBECK The Chrysanthemums 1439 ROBERT STONE Under the Pitons 1447 ELIZABETH STROUT Pharmacy 1467 LINDA SVENDSEN Marine Life 1484 AMY TAN Rules of the Game 1490 PETER TAYLOR A Spinster's Tale 1498 Related: Ann Beattie on A Spinster's Tale 1513 LEO TOLSTOY The Death of Ivan Ilyich 1514 Related: Tolstoy, What Is Art? 1733 Gary Saul Morson, The Reader as Voyeur: Tolstoi and the Poetics of Didactic Fiction 1771 WILLIAM TREVOR Events at Drimaghleen 1554 JOHN UPDIKE A&P 1566 Brother Grasshopper 1571 Related: Updike, Accepting the Howells Medal 1735 Updike, Three New Yorker Stalwarts [William Maxwell] 1778 HELENA MARIA VIRAMONTES The Moths 1581 ALICE WALKER Everyday Use 1586 ROBERT PENN WARREN Blackberry Winter 1593 BRAD WATSON Visitation 1609 STEPHANIE POWELL WATTS Unassigned Territory 1621 EUDORA WELTY Why I Live at the P.O A Worn Path 1638 Related: Welty, An Interview 1736 Susan Dodd on A Worn Path 1760 EDITH WHARTON Xingu 1645 THOMAS WILLIAMS Goose Pond 1663 WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS The Use of Force 1673 TOBIAS WOLFF In the Garden of the North American Martyrs 1677 Bullet in the Brain 1685 Related: Wolff on Isak Dinesen's Sorrow-Acre 1786 VIRGINIA WOOLF Kew Gardens 1689 RICHARD WRIGHT The Man Who Was Almost a Man 1695 Writers on Writing 1705 MARGARET ATWOOD Why Do You Write? 1706 TONI CADE BAMBARA What Is It I Think I'm Doing Anyhow? 1706 RICHARD BAUSCH Letter to a Young Writer 1707 JOSEPH CONRAD Preface to The Nigger of the "Narcissus" 1711 Letter to Barrett H. Clark, May 4, STEPHEN CRANE Letter to John Northern Hilliard, February 189S[?] 1714 RALPH ELLISON An Interview 1715

6 x Contents ERNEST HEMINGWAY An Interview 1717 HENRY JAMES The Art of Fiction 1719 FRANZ KAFKA Letter to Max Brod, July 5, DORIS LESSING An Interview 1723 GUY DE MAUPASSANT The Novel 1725 BHARATI MUKHERJEE A Four-Hundred-Year-Old Woman 1727 EDGAR ALLAN POE The Philosophy of Composition 1729 KATHERINE ANNE PORTER An Interview 1730 LEO TOLSTOY What Is Art? 1733 JOHN UPDIKE Accepting the Howells Medal 1735 EUDORA WELTY An Interview 1736 Writing Fiction 1739 A Local Habitation and A Name: Meditations on Writing 1749 Reviews and Commentaries 1755 ANDREA BARRETT Willa Cather's "Paul's Case" 1755 CHARLES BAXTER William Maxwell's "The Thistles in Sweden" 1756 ANN BEATTIE Peter Taylor's "A Spinster's Tale" 1756 FREDERICK BUSCH Ernest Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants" 1757 STANLEY CORNGOLD Kafka's The Metamorphosis: Metamorphosis of the Metaphor SUSAN DODD Eudora Welty's "A Worn Path" 1760 RICHARD FORD Bharati Mukherjee's "The Management of Grief' 1761 ALLAN GURGANUS Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat" 1761 BARRY HANNAH Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness 1763 EDWARD P. JONES Frank O'Connor's "Guests of the Nation" 1765 C. C. LOOMIS JR. Structure and Sympathy in Joyce's "The Dead" 1766 LEO MARX Melville's Parable of the Walls 1769 GARY SAUL MORSON The Reader as Voyeur: Tolstoi and the Poetics of Didactic Fiction 1771 EDGAR ALLAN POE Review of Hawthorne's Twice-Told Tales 1772 C. P. SARVAN Racism and the Heart of Darkness 1774 JOHN UPDIKE from Three New Yorker Stalwarts [William Maxwell] 1778 CHARLES C. WALCUTT [Stephen Crane: Naturalist] 1783 RICHARD WILBUR The House ofpoe 1784 TOBIAS WOLFF Isak Dinesen's "Sorrow-Acre" 1786 Authors in Depth Anton Chekhov 1787 RICHARD FORD from Why We Like Chekhov 1787

7 Contents xi ANTON CHEKHOV Letter to Nikolai Chekhov., March, Letter to D. V. Grigorovich, March 28, Letter to A. S. Suvorin, October 27, RICHARD BAUSCH Anton Chekhov's "Gusev" 1793 DONALD RAYFIELD from Sakhalin: June December STEPHEN L. BAEHR from The Locomotive and the Giant: Power in Chekhov's "Anna on the Neck" 1796 VLADIMIR NABOKOV from Chekhov's Prose 1798 William Faulkner 1800 WILLIAM FAULKNER An Interview 1800 Nobel Prize Address 1805 EDMOND L. VOLPE A Rose for Emily 1806 SHERWOOD ANDERSON The Book of the Grotesque 1808 JOEL WILLIAMSON from William Faulkner and Southern History 1810 Alice Munro 1812 ALICE MUNRO What Is Real? 1812 from Introduction to the Vintage Edition of Selected Stories 1815 SHEILA MUNRO from Lives of Mothers & Daughters: Growing Up with Alice Munro 1817 ROBERT THACKER from Alice Munro: Writing Her Lives 1818 MARGARET ATWOOD An Appreciation 1820 RUSSELL BANKS An Appreciation 1821 BRAD HOOPER An Appreciation 1822 Joyce Carol Oates 1824 JOYCE CAROL OATES The Art and Craft of Revision 1824 from The Nature of Short Fiction; or, The Nature of My Short Fiction 1825 from Fiction, Dreams, Revelations 1827 Why Is Your Writing So Violent? 1828 from American Literary Culture: A Personal Perspective 1830 SUE SIMPSON PARK from A Study in Counterpoint: Joyce Carol Oates's "How I Contemplated the World and Began My Life Over Again" 1832 ALFRED KAZIN Two Cassandras: Joan Didion and Joyce Carol Oates 1835 Flannery O'Connor 1837 FLANNERY O'CONNOR The Nature and Aim of Fiction 1837 The Grotesque in Southern Fiction 1838 from Writing Short Stories 1839 BRAD GOOCH from The Bible Salesman 1841 TONY MAGISTRALE from "I'm Alien to a Great Deal": Flannery O'Connor and the Modernist Ethic 1843 LEE SMITH Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" 1844 ALICE WALKER from Beyond the Peacock: The Reconstruction of Flannery O'Connor 1845 THOMAS MERTON Flannery O'Connor: A Prose Elegy 1847 FLANNERY O'CONNOR A Prayer Journal 1849 Glossary of Critical Terms 1851 Permissions Acknowledgments 1857 Index of Titles 1867