Great American Short Stories

by Washington Irving, Jane Smiley (Introduction and Notes)

From Washington Irving (1783–1859) to F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940), the authors represented in this expansive American short story anthology invite you to see the world as they saw it.

Irving's culture-defining tales of American life—"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle"—offer a turn of events that both surprises and chills the reader. In "Bartleby," Herman Melville introduces us to a lawyer whose easy way of life is upended by a mysterious new clerk who denies his authority, perplexes his visitors, and scandalizes his professional reputation. The title character of "Athénaïs," by Kate Chopin, is a new wife who rebels against the submissive role expected of her by her parents and husband. In Willa Cather's "The Sculptor's Funeral," a young man accompanies the body of his friend and mentor from New York to the renowned artist's hometown where no one ever understood him. And Fitzgerald's "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz" reveals the treachery of a wealthy man protecting his fortune.
--jacket

Table of Contents
The legend of Sleepy Hollow --
Rip Van Winkle / Washington Irving --
Young Goodman Brown --
The minister's black veil --
The fall of the house of Usher --
The tell-tale heart --
The purloined letter / Nathaniel Hawthorne / Edgar Allan Poe --
Bartleby / Herman Melville --
My contraband / Louisa May Alcott --
The celebrated jumbing frog of Caleveras County / Mark Twain --
The luck of Roaring Camp --
The outcasts of Poker Flat / Bret Harte --
An occurrance at Owl Creek Bridge / Ambrose Bierce --
The real right thing --
The best in the jungle / Henry James --
A white heron / Sarah Orne Jewett --
Athénaïse / Kate Chopin --
The revolt of "Mother" / Mary E. Wilkins Freeman --
The wife of his youth / Charles W. Chestnut --
The yellow wall-paper / Charlotte Perkins Gilman --
The other two --
Autres temps / Edith Wharton --
The ransom of Red Chief --
The gift of the Magi / O. Henry --
The open boat --
The bride comes to Yellow Sky / Stephen Crane --
Build a fire / Jack London --
The sculptor's funeral --
Paul's case / Willa Cather --
Sophistication --
The egg / Sherwood Anderson --
Bernice bobs her hair --
The diamond as big as The Ritz / F. Scott Fitzgerald

Genres: Classics, Short Stories, Fiction, Novels, Collections, Literature, Classic Literature

527 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

People remember American writer Washington Irving for the stories " Rip Van Winkle " and " The Legend of Sleepy Hollow ," contained in The Sketch Book (1820).

This author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century wrote newspaper articles under the pseudonym Jonathan Oldstyle to begin his literary career at the age of nineteen years.

In 1809, he published The History of New York under his most popular public persona, Diedrich Knickerbocker.

Historical works of Irving include a five volume biography of George Washington (after whom he was named) as well as biographies of Oliver Goldsmith, Muhammad, and several histories, dealing with subjects, such as Christopher Columbus, the Moors, and the Alhambra, of 15th-century Spain. John Tyler, president, appointed Irving to serve as the first Spanish speaking United States minister to Spain from 1842 to 1846.

Reviews

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. The difference in writing styles of each author was so interesting. Some were very heavy in the English spoken in the early 1800's which made the story a little more difficult - you just had to really pay attention. Some stories were humorous, some sad and some had surprising endings. By the time you get to F. Scott Fitzgerald there is a definite change in language and style. I would definitely recommend this book.

[Jeanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Out of 34 short stories I only really liked three that I had never read before but they were all five star stories: The Yellow Wall-Paper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman; Bernice Bobs Her Hair by F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Diamond as Big as the Ritz by Fitzgerald. All the rest I'd read too many times before or were just kind of dull or sickly romantic.

[Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A thorough collection of American short stories, though the book is a little long. It does a good job of chronicling American letters from the fluid, wordy style of Irving and Hawthorne to the sharper, more succinct style of O"Henry and Fitzgerald. Most of the stories were known to me - though I hadn't read them - as were the writers but there were plenty in here that was new to me. The stories are all well crafted and this collection covers a lot of different genres and even though some of the stories seemed to go nowhere I enjoyed reading all of them.

[Amy Jo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am following the maybe not too grand tradition of reading something not too interesting to ease the transition into the land of sleep. I also wanted to read this compilation of American short stories because I'm trying to weed out the books that I promised I would read but never did because I was uninterested. These are some of my excuses for taking forever to finish this brick of short stories.

Washington Irving
-Rip Van Winkle: Oversleeping your life away after some supernatural not-bowling bowling.
-The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: Courting a gal for her wealth and then getting spooked by legends probably by a rival and a pumpkin.

Nathaniel Hawthrone
-Young Goodman Brown: Everything's a lie and everybody's a sinner. Go figure.
-The Minister's Black Veil: If you change your style without explanation, people will think worst case scenario.
-The May-Pole of Merry Mount: Puritanical zeal will squash alternative lifestyles.

Edgar Allan Poe
-The Fall of the House of Usher: Have a professional conclude a dead person is dead.
-The Masque of the Red Death: Rich people supernatural comeuppance.
-The Tell-Tale Heart: Have good neighbors who will call the cops if they hear final yelp of death.
-The Purloined Heart: Proto-Holmes although I want to say proto-Lupin b/c Dupin sounds so close

Herman Melville
-Bartleby the Scrivener: HATED THIS ONE SO MUCH; THE ENDING NEVER EXPLAINS HIS WEIRD BEHAVIOR AND THE EMPLOYER NEVER LEARNS CONCLUDES HE'S A DOORMAT OF A BOSS

Edward Everett Hale
-The Man Without a Country: I'm a sucker for feel good, and this made me patriotic in a way I'm OK being manipulated to feel

Louisa May Alcott
-My Contraband: Civil war army camp story with possible white savior undertones.

Frank R. Stockton
-The Lady, or the Tiger?: Are you the type of ex to rather have a former paramour die than be in another relationship?

Mark Twain
-The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County: Bored.
-The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg: Yep, totally like a fall from grace for a whole town that built pride themselves on their honesty.

Brett Harte
-The Luck of Roaring Camp: First sets up 3 Godfathers then ends in tragedy
-The Outcasts of Poker Flat: First sets up camaraderie amongst damaged people then ends in tragedy

Ambrose Bierce
-An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge: That Twilight Zone episode is iconic and the writing of this story feels experimental for the time
-The Middle Toe of the Right Foot: It's time to d-d-d-duel. But wait, ghosts!!!

Henry James
-The Aspern Papers: Boring and frustrating. Yea
-The Beast in the Jungle: Frustrating and the woman should've yeeted that man. Boo

George Washington Cable
-'Sieur George: New Orleans setting was a nice change. The moment the man who raised a kid suggests marriage to kid is ICK.

Sarah Orne Jewett
-A White Heron: Basically conservationism vibes; Whoop! Wildlife.
-The Failure of David Berry: Capitalism and uncaring community can ruin a person. Yep

Kate Chopin
-Desiree's Baby: Saw the death flag waving immediately; the twist was a good twist of the knife.
-Athenaise: If you don't like marriage at first, get pregnant and you might like it more.

Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
-The Revolt of "Mother": farmhouse = barn makeovered into new house she deserved
-A New England Nun: Single lady is content to relinquishing long-term engagement because single-life is nice and guy likes other lady

Charles W. Chesnutt
-The Wife of his Youth: Colorism sucks and one should remember their roots.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman
-The Yellow Wall-Paper: Is this what the Bell Jar is like? Mental health needs attention

Hamlin Garland
-Up the Coolly: The odds are stacked against you in society and sometimes that breaks you

Edith Wharton
-The Other Two: Divorce is no longer taboo? Let's write about.
-Autre Temps: Divorce is more common, but you're still not accepted in polite society. Become expat

O. Henry
-The Gift of the Magi: Mickey's (as in Disney's) "Once Upon a Christmas" direct to video did it better
-A Retrieved Reformation: Predictable but cute; Catch Me if You Can but w/safes & no Tom Hanks
-The Ransom of Red Chief: Don't ransom a child who is basically satan

Stephen Crane
-The Open Boat: Being shipwrecked it hard in a small lifeboat
-The Blue Hotel: Don't cheat at cards or be a jerk or you dead
-The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky: High Noon with no murder

Jack London
-To Build a Fire: a dog and the elements trying to kill ya; basically, the only thing I know about Jack London stories

Willa Cather
-Paul's Case: I didn't like this fellow; unnecessarily Anna Karenina'ed himself
-The Sculptor's Funeral: sentimental but relatable with small town politics

Ring Lardner
-Alibi Ike: Don't mess with the love life of a guy who basically carries the team with his skills

Sherwood Anderson
-Sophistication: Two people might like each other? So what.
-The Egg: Dull and makes modern dad jokes/moments so much funnier in comparison

H.P. Lovecraft
-The Outsider: Great use of language as expected; glad it's not paranoid or racist like his can be
-The Colour out of space: Cosmic horror is his bread and butter for a reason

F. Scott Fitzgerald
-Bernice Bobs her Hair: So petty of an ending in a fitting way; it's like a rom-com makeover scene when a pretty girl is recognized as pretty when she takes off her glasses
-The Diamond as Big as the Ritz: More fantastical than what I expected, but glad I still got "screw these rich people" vibes
-Winter Dreams: Classic Fitzgerald with self-made man yearning for something that does not exist anymore and probably never existed the way remembered

Favorites: The Man W/o a Country, The Revolt of Mother, Tell-Tale Heart, The Man who Corrupted Hadleyburg, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

Also, Edith Wharton's, Ambrose Bierce's, Jack London's, F. Scott Fitzgerald's, and Willa Cather's writing styles were standouts.

And Bartleby the Scrivener can fall in a bottomless pit.

Conclusion: I have not read a lot of American short stories, and I'm glad I have read a little slice of that realm of literature. Still, there are quite a bit of stinkers and some stories that just do not match my sensibilities; so many casually racist moments and reminded me of those different racial terms based on how much white blood a person has. Ugh. America has a complicated history.

Read more short stories, but allow oneself to quit them next time to avoid all of the added frustration of finishing a story one does not like.

[Jessika Hoover · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being that this is a collection of stories, I'm not going to review each & every story, but rather the collection as a while. Obviously, I enjoyed some stories more than others, and I'm sure different stories would resonate differently with different readers. All in all, I found this to be a comprehensive collection of authors through American history, & some of my previously-known favorite short stories were included. With that being said, even though I read this collection before, I still enjoyed the fact that it included some lesser-known (at least to me) stories by well-known authors.

It took me quite some time to read again (well over a month), but that was mostly because I didn't feel any particular rush to get through it. I took my time. It was a good book to languish over during the lengthening spring & summer days, just reading a story here & there.

One more note: I found the introduction/notes to be really helpful as they offered insight to each author & his/her times, as well as each of their stories.

Overall, this collection makes a worthy addition to any reader's shelf, especially if interested in a view of early American literature.

[Gary Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the title suggests, this is a book, full of Great American Short Stories. Running from early American writing of Washington Irving to the 1930's F. Scott Fitzgerald. It seems to contain almost every influential writer during this period. It was a wonderful read full of authors I had not read, or only read one or two stories before. This volume goes into my own library.

[James Sadrianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Took me forever. Some favorites and some authors I had never heard of. Great collection.

[Heather L · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent collection. While some of these were new to me, I had read others previously--some more than once.

[Lewis Alderton · Rating 4 out of 5]

8

[TheOriginalNikeGirl]

DNF (For now)

[Marianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this collection for the most part. I especially liked that the short stories were presented in chronological order so if you wanted to read them this way it was easy to do so. And reading them one by one this way was very interesting! Changes in writing style, subject matter, and outlook were readily apparent within this collection.

I will only add I was surprised at how "dark" many of the stories were -- death and destruction seems to be the main focus of most within this collection -- however, I was intrigued by how the perception of death and destruction by the writers changed over time. And especially with topics about death and destruction I really liked the earlier stories where it was assumed that readers were well grounded in Christian principles so, as a reader, I wasn't beaten over the head with religious views like current "evangelical" fiction writing but rather Christian faith was naturally incorporated into the lives and attitudes of the story and characters. In this way, readers are allowed to come to their own conclusions on a variety of important and complex subjects rather than being preached at. I could say a lot more on this topic but I'll save it.

I want to be clear, though, this story collection is not "Christian", rather they are selected stories from early American writing through the turn-of-the-last-century, and many of them tackle what I would consider themes of "faith" -- into what do we put our faith?

I'm not sure what the governing theme was that led to these particular stories being chosen but if a reader wants to get their feet wet on American writers, this is a decent place to begin.

Edit: Forgot to mention, there are several obvious typos throughout in this Barnes & Noble Signature Edition which occasionally did cause some confusion for me, and I'm not talking about archaic spellings of common words but outright wrong spelling -- words that weren't caught by spell-checker and defaulted to the wrong word. This may explain why the price tag is so low on this particular edition.

[Abe · Rating 4 out of 5]

As advertised, this is a collection of pretty famous American short stories starting with Washington Irving (where else?) and ending with F. Scott Fitzgerald. In between are all the authors and stories one might expect.

Not being big on short stories, I either hadn’t read, or hadn’t read in a very long time, any of these famous stories. Reading them all at once like this certainly deepened my appreciation for the art form in general, and for these stories in particular. Naturally the 19th century ones seemed pretty dated; Twain’s Calaveras County frog story made me wonder how this could have launched his career, and Henry James’ first boring story made me do the unthinkable, skipping his second story (the longest in the book!) which is the only one I treated to such an insult. But for the most part even the dated ones, going all the way back to Rip Van Winkle, were interesting insofar as it helped one understand the culture of America in those times.

Very glad I picked this one up. It helps to remember that regardless of format, a great author can spin a yarn or make a point or turn a phrase in a way that makes a difference.

[corinne ready · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite book.

[Kathy]

I really enjoyed this book. It contains short stories from many of the authors you always hear about but have never read. It has made me want to read more from most of them.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Long haul to finish this book, but it was worth it. I enjoyed the stories from W. Cather probably the most.