Bennett Cerf was one of the founders of the publishing firm Random House. Cerf was known for his compilations of jokes and stories, and for his regular appearances on the panel game show What's My Line?
This book is a great example of the serendipity that can happen at a used bookstore. Ran across this gem and saw it had stories by Conrad, Faulkner, Steinbeck, Pearl S Buck, W Somerset Maugham, Hemingway ..... Not all of the stories have aged as well as others but Heart of Darkness and Steinbeck's Red Pony stand out in this collection. Off to my local bookstore for more hidden gems.
I found this book in an estate sale. It is filled with good stories from the 40's. My favorite was "The Haircut" by Ring Lardner. Like many of my books, it sat on a shelf for a couple months before I discovered how many good stories it had in it.
The short story is the highest form of literature (imo) and this anthology has some truly sparkling examples. Prior to this, my familiarity with Ring Lardner was limited to the expressed admiration of Holden Caulfield. As surprised as I was to learn he was a real person, I’m equally eager to read more from him thanks to the inclusion of “Haircut” herein.
“I’m a Fool” by Sherwood Anderson and “Miss Brill” by Katherine Mansfield also stand out for me amongst this very strong collection and I’m hoping to find more anthologies of this caliber next time I’m at the used book store.