Mid-Century: An Anthology of Distinguished Contemporary American Short Stories

by Orville Prescott (editor)

first printing

Genres: Short Stories

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1958

About the author

In addition to being an author in his own right, Prescott wrote as a book critic in the 1950's for the New York Times.

Reviews

[Sharon Barrow Wilfong · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of a largely unheard of group of authors from the middle of the last century. Some of them deserve to be revived, although good luck finding copies, since most of then are out of print. Most of them are written in a style that dates the story, but some have a sharp style that really draws the reader in and, in the case, of one pokes him in the eye.

I'll mention a couple:

The Day of the Last Rock Fight was written by Joseph Whitehill and I've had a time finding copies of his work. This story is told in the rare second person, with the narrator being an adolescent boy sent to a school for the emotionally disturbed. He has decided to confess what actually happened at a rock fight he was involved in at his former school where a classmate ended up dead. One finishes the story wondering if the narrator is reliable or bonkers.

The Cave by James Michener is a gripping story about a platoon of Navy soldiers and Marines during WWII who are hiding out in a cave on an island in the South Pacific theater. They are listening to a British man on the radio who is giving away the positions of the Japanese planes and battle ships. But who is he? And where is he that he is able to report so accurately the enemies plans and enemies? The story pulls you to the end, which does not spare the horror of war or the fate that can happen to even the bravest.

My favorite was from an author I had never heard of. Her name is Jessamyn West and she was apparently a prolific writer in her time and I was able to find some of her books on Amazon, eBay and even my local library.

The title of the story is A Little Collar for the Monkey. It is about a selfish, domineering woman who rules her life and the people around her with malicious glee. One reads with dread wondering what is going to happen to her victims, but the ending is not predictable.

[Carly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wanting to get more into short stories, I picked up a battered copy of this book at a thrift store while I was on vacation. Overall, I found this collection to be a mixed bag for my personal tastes. That being said, there were a handful of hidden gems I really enjoyed.

My favorite story (surprisingly!) was an intimate war account, Waves of Darkness by Cord Meyer, Jr. Normally, not my thing but I recommend reading this. I believe you can find it published online in one of The Atlantic’s archived issues.

And of course, I loved The Lottery by Shirley Jackson. For some reason, no high school English teacher made me read this but I’m glad I finally read this short story classic. Definitely want to read more of Jackson’s novels.

My other favorites were The Day of the Last Rock Fight by Joseph Whitehill (haunting school boy incident), The Shining Thing by Sidney Carroll (a fun read), and My Sister’s Marriage by Cynthia Marshall Rich (for the unreliable narrator girlies).

[fpk · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great find at a library sale, this book contains some widely read classic short stories: The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, The River by Flannery O'Connor, The Cave by James Michener, and my *favorite*: My Sister's Marriage by Cynthia Marshall Rich. If you happen upon this collection it's worth the read. Great in a waiting room, or when you can't sit down for an extended reading time, this short story anthology is great. Not too large either, my copy fits in my purse!