The Cambridge Introduction to the American Short Story (Cambridge Introductions to Literature)

This Wide-ranging Introduction To The Short Story Tradition In The United States Of America Traces The Genre From Its Beginnings In The Early Nineteenth Century With Irving, Hawthorne And Poe Via Fitzgerald, Hemingway And Faulkner To O'connor And Carver. The Major Writers In The Genre Are Covered In Depth With A General View Of Their Work And Detailed Discussion Of A Number Of Examples Of Individual Stories. The Cambridge Introduction To The American Short Story Offers A Comprehensive And Accessible Guide To This Rich Literary Tradition. It Will Be Invaluable To Students And Readers Looking For Critical Approaches To The Short Story And Wishing To Deepen Their Understanding Of How Authors Have Approached And Developed This Fascinating And Challenging Genre. Further Reading Suggestions Are Included To Explore The Subject In More Depth. This Is An Invaluable Overview For All Students And Readers Of American Fiction.--publisher's Description. The Short Story As Ironic Myth: Washington Irving And William Austin -- Nathaniel Hawthorne -- Edgar Allan Poe -- Herman Melville -- New Territories: Bret Harte And Mark Twain -- Realism, The Grotesque And Impressionism: Hamlin Garland, Ambrose Bierce And Stephen Crane -- Henry James -- Rebecca Harding Davis, Sarah Orne Jewett And Mary Wilkins Freeman -- Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Kate Chopin, Edith Wharton And Willa Cather -- Growth, Fragmentation, New Aesthetics And New Voices In The Early Twentieth Century -- O. Henry And Jack London -- Sherwood Anderson -- Ernest Hemingway -- F. Scott Fitzgerald -- William Faulkner -- Katherine Anne Porter, Eudora Welty And Flannery O'connor -- Charles Chesnutt, Richard Wright, James Baldwin And The African American Short Story To 1965 -- Aspects Of The American Short Story 1930-1980 -- Two Traditions And The Changing Idea Of The Mainstream -- The Postmodern Short Story In America -- Raymond Carver -- The Contemporary American Short Story. Martin Scofield. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 256-280) And Index. Cover 1 Half-title 3 Series-title 4 Title 5 Copyright 6 Contents 7 Acknowledgements 11 Chapter 1 Introduction 13 American origins 14 Genre 15 The literary and social context of the early American short story 18 Chapter 2 The short story as ironic myth: Washington Irving and William Austin 22 Washington Irving 22 William Austin 26 Chapter 3 Nathaniel Hawthorne 31 Tales of Puritan history 32 Tales of sin and guilt 36 Art and science 39 Chapter 4 Edgar Allan Poe 43 Poe and the aesthetics of the short story 43 The deaths of beautiful women 44 The imp of the perverse 46 Detection and ratiocination 49 Science, horror and comedy 52 Chapter 5 Herman Melville 55 Chapter 6 New territories: Bret Harte and Mark Twain 65 Bret Harte 65 Mark Twain 69 Chapter 7 Realism, the grotesque and impressionism: Hamlin Garland, Ambrose Bierce and Stephen Crane 77 William Dean Howells, realism and Hamlin Garland 77 Ambrose Bierce 80 Stephen Crane 84 Chapter 8 Henry James 90 Portraits of ladies: ‘new’ and old 92 Lessons of the Master 94 Metaphor and the ghostly 97 Chapter 9 Rebecca Harding Davis, Sarah Orne Jewett and Mary Wilkins Freeman 100 Rebecca Harding Davis 101 Sarah Orne Jewett 102 Mary Wilkins Freeman 104 Chapter 10 Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Kate Chopin, Edith Wharton and Willa Cather 108 Charlotte Perkins Gilman 108 Kate Chopin 110 Edith Wharton 112 Willa Cather 115 Chapter 11 Growth, fragmentation, new aesthetics and new voices in the early twentieth century 119 Chapter 12 O. Henry and Jack London 127 O. Henry 127 Jack London 133 Chapter 13 Sherwood Anderson 140 Chapter 14 Ernest Hemingway 151 Chapter 15 F. Scott Fitzgerald 162 Chapter 16 William Faulkner 172 Chapter 17 Katherine Anne Porter, Eudora Welty and Flannery O’Connor 182 Katherine Anne Porter 182 Eudora Welty 185 Flannery O’Connor 189 Chapter 18 Charles Chesnutt, Richard Wright, James Baldwin and the African American short story to 1965 195 Charles W. Chesnutt 196 The early twentieth century and Richard Wright 198 James Baldwin 202 Chapter 19 Aspects of the American short story 1930–1980 207 Magazines, Jackson and Salinger 207 The rural West, Northern Catholic faith and Southern manners: John Steinbeck, J. F. Powers and Peter Taylor 209 Extreme worlds: Truman Capote, Carson McCullers, Paul Bowles, Jane Bowles 211 The sorrows and consolations of suburbia: John Cheever and John Updike 213 Chapter 20 Two traditions and the changing idea of the mainstream 220 The Jewish American short story, 1950–1980 220 The African American short story, 1930–1980 225 Chapter 21 The postmodern short story in America 229 John Barth 230 Donald Barthelme 231 Robert Coover 233 William H. Gass 235 Chapter 22 Raymond Carver 238 Chapter 23 Epilogue: the contemporary American short story 248 Notes 251 1 Introduction 251 2 The short story as ironic myth: Washington Irving and William Austin 252 3 Nathaniel Hawthorne 253 4 Edgar Allan Poe 254 5 Herman Melville 255 6 New territories: Bret Harte and Mark Twain 255 7 Realism, the grotesque and impressionism: Hamlin Garland, Ambrose Bierce and Stephen Crane 256 8 Henry James 256 9 Rebecca Harding Davis, Sarah Orne Jewett and Mary Wilkins Freeman 257 10 Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Kate Chopin, Edith Wharton and Willa Cather 257 11 Growth, fragmentation, new aesthetics and new voices in the early twentieth century 258 12 O. Henry and Jack London 259 13 Sherwood Anderson 260 14 Ernest Hemingway 261 15 F. Scott Fitzgerald 262 16 William Faulkner 262 17 Katherine Anne Porter, Eudora Welty and Flannery O’Connor 263 18 Charles Chesnutt, Richard Wright, James Baldwin and the African American short story to 1965 264 19 Aspects of the American short story 1930–1980 264 20 Two traditions and the changing idea of the mainstream 265 21 The postmodern short story in America 266 22 Raymond Carver 266 23 Epilogue: the contemporary American short story 267 Guide to further reading 268 American short story anthologies, and other anthologies of American literature containing short stories 268 Volumes of short stories by individual author, and related critical works 269 Critical works on the American short story 290 General works on American literature containing discussions of short story writers 291 General critical and theoretical works on the short story 292 Bibliographies of criticism of the short story 292 Index 293