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The Oxford Book of English Short Stories
"The subjects of these stories range from the sublime to the ridiculous, from the momentous to the trivial, from the grim to the farcical," writes acclaimed novelist A.S. Byatt in her introduction to this remarkable collection. Indeed, if the eccentricities of the English imagination can be
contained in a single volume, an anthology of short stories might be the best book for the task.
From Anthony Trollope, Charles Dickens, and Thomas Hardy through Rudyard Kipling, H.G. Wells, D.H. Lawrence, and Virginia Woolf, right up to Graham Greene, J.G. Ballard, Angela Carter, Ian McEwan, and many others, The Oxford Book of English Short Stories exhibits the capacious and often
capricious nature of the English literary sensibility. "There is English empiricism, English pragmatism, English starkness, English humour, English satire, English dandyism, English horror, and English whimsy," notes A.S. Byatt in surveying the stories she has selected. "There are characteristic
mixed modes which seem to go back further than Austen and Defoe to Chaucer and Shakespeare." Byatt shows us the links between stories, the literary currents that both connect and distinguish writers as diverse as Mary Mann, V.S. Pritchett, P.G. Wodehouse, Penelope Fitzgerald, and Alan Sillitoe. And
although the thirty-seven stories gathered here range from social realism to surreal fantasy, from rural poverty to war-blitzed London, from tales of the supernatural to precise delineations of the mundane, all are unified by Byatt's demanding criteria that the works be both "startling and
satisfying."
For short story lovers and anyone unable to resist the enchantments of the English imagination, The Oxford Book of Short Stories offers a wide array of unforgettable pleasures.
contained in a single volume, an anthology of short stories might be the best book for the task.
From Anthony Trollope, Charles Dickens, and Thomas Hardy through Rudyard Kipling, H.G. Wells, D.H. Lawrence, and Virginia Woolf, right up to Graham Greene, J.G. Ballard, Angela Carter, Ian McEwan, and many others, The Oxford Book of English Short Stories exhibits the capacious and often
capricious nature of the English literary sensibility. "There is English empiricism, English pragmatism, English starkness, English humour, English satire, English dandyism, English horror, and English whimsy," notes A.S. Byatt in surveying the stories she has selected. "There are characteristic
mixed modes which seem to go back further than Austen and Defoe to Chaucer and Shakespeare." Byatt shows us the links between stories, the literary currents that both connect and distinguish writers as diverse as Mary Mann, V.S. Pritchett, P.G. Wodehouse, Penelope Fitzgerald, and Alan Sillitoe. And
although the thirty-seven stories gathered here range from social realism to surreal fantasy, from rural poverty to war-blitzed London, from tales of the supernatural to precise delineations of the mundane, all are unified by Byatt's demanding criteria that the works be both "startling and
satisfying."
For short story lovers and anyone unable to resist the enchantments of the English imagination, The Oxford Book of Short Stories offers a wide array of unforgettable pleasures.
470 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1998
42 people are currently reading
526 people want to read
About the author
A.S. Byatt
175 books2,829 followersA.S. Byatt (Antonia Susan Byatt) is internationally known for her novels and short stories. Her novels include the Booker Prize winner Possession, The Biographer’s Tale and the quartet, The Virgin in the Garden, Still Life, Babel Tower and A Whistling Woman, and her highly acclaimed collections of short stories include Sugar and Other Stories, The Matisse Stories, The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye, Elementals and her most recent book Little Black Book of Stories. A distinguished critic as well as a writer of fiction, A S Byatt was appointed CBE in 1990 and DBE in 1999.
BYATT, Dame Antonia (Susan), (Dame Antonia Duffy), DBE 1999 (CBE 1990); FRSL 1983; Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France), 2003 , writer; born 24 Aug. 1936;
Daughter of His Honour John Frederick Drabble, QC and late Kathleen Marie Bloor
Byatt has famously been engaged in a long-running feud with her novelist sister, Margaret Drabble, over the alleged appropriation of a family tea-set in one of her novels. The pair seldom see each other and each does not read the books of the other.
Married
1st, 1959, Ian Charles Rayner Byatt (Sir I. C. R. Byatt) marriage dissolved. 1969; one daughter (one son deceased)
2nd, 1969, Peter John Duffy; two daughters.
Education
Sheffield High School; The Mount School, York; Newnham College, Cambridge (BA Hons; Hon. Fellow 1999); Bryn Mawr College, Philadelphia, USA; Somerville College, Oxford.
Academic Honours:
Hon. Fellow, London Inst., 2000; Fellow UCL, 2004
Hon. DLitt: Bradford, 1987; DUniv York, 1991; Durham, 1991; Nottingham, 1992; Liverpool, 1993; Portsmouth, 1994; London, 1995; Sheffield, 2000; Kent 2004; Hon. LittD Cambridge, 1999
Prizes
The PEN/Macmillan Silver Pen Of Fiction prize, 1986 for STILL LIFE
The Booker Prize, 1990, for POSSESSION
Irish Times/Aer Lingus International Fiction Prize, 1990 for POSSESSION
The Eurasian section of Best Book in Commonwealth Prize, 1991 for POSSESSION
Premio Malaparte, Capri, 1995;
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature, California, 1998 for THE DJINN IN THE NIGHTINGALE''S EYE
Shakespeare Prize, Toepfer Foundation, Hamburg, 2002;
Publications:
The Shadow of the Sun, 1964;
Degrees of Freedom, 1965 (reprinted as Degrees of Freedom: the early novels of Iris Murdoch, 1994);
The Game, 1967;
Wordsworth and Coleridge in their Time, 1970 (reprinted as Unruly Times: Wordsworth and Coleridge in their Time, 1989);
Iris Murdoch 1976
The Virgin in the Garden, 1978;
GEORGE ELIOT Selected Essays, Poems and Other Writings , 1979 (editor);
Still Life, 1985
Sugar and Other Stories, 1987;
George Eliot: selected essays, 1989 (editor)
Possession: a romance, 1990
Robert Browning''s Dramatic Monologues, 1990 (editor);
Passions of the Mind, (essays), 1991;
Angels and Insects (novellas),1992
The Matisse Stories (short stories),1993;
The Djinn in the Nightingale''s Eye: five fairy stories, 1994
Imagining Characters, 1995 (joint editor);
New Writing 4, 1995 (joint editor);
Babel Tower, 1996;
New Writing 6, 1997 (joint editor);
The Oxford Book of English Short Stories, 1998 (editor);
Elementals: Stories of fire and ice (short stories), 1998;
The Biographer''s Tale, 2000;
On Histories and Stories (essays), 2000;
Portraits in Fiction, 2001;
The Bird Hand Book, 2001 (Photographs by Victor Schrager Text By AS Byatt);
A Whistling Woman, 2002
Little
BYATT, Dame Antonia (Susan), (Dame Antonia Duffy), DBE 1999 (CBE 1990); FRSL 1983; Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France), 2003 , writer; born 24 Aug. 1936;
Daughter of His Honour John Frederick Drabble, QC and late Kathleen Marie Bloor
Byatt has famously been engaged in a long-running feud with her novelist sister, Margaret Drabble, over the alleged appropriation of a family tea-set in one of her novels. The pair seldom see each other and each does not read the books of the other.
Married
1st, 1959, Ian Charles Rayner Byatt (Sir I. C. R. Byatt) marriage dissolved. 1969; one daughter (one son deceased)
2nd, 1969, Peter John Duffy; two daughters.
Education
Sheffield High School; The Mount School, York; Newnham College, Cambridge (BA Hons; Hon. Fellow 1999); Bryn Mawr College, Philadelphia, USA; Somerville College, Oxford.
Academic Honours:
Hon. Fellow, London Inst., 2000; Fellow UCL, 2004
Hon. DLitt: Bradford, 1987; DUniv York, 1991; Durham, 1991; Nottingham, 1992; Liverpool, 1993; Portsmouth, 1994; London, 1995; Sheffield, 2000; Kent 2004; Hon. LittD Cambridge, 1999
Prizes
The PEN/Macmillan Silver Pen Of Fiction prize, 1986 for STILL LIFE
The Booker Prize, 1990, for POSSESSION
Irish Times/Aer Lingus International Fiction Prize, 1990 for POSSESSION
The Eurasian section of Best Book in Commonwealth Prize, 1991 for POSSESSION
Premio Malaparte, Capri, 1995;
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature, California, 1998 for THE DJINN IN THE NIGHTINGALE''S EYE
Shakespeare Prize, Toepfer Foundation, Hamburg, 2002;
Publications:
The Shadow of the Sun, 1964;
Degrees of Freedom, 1965 (reprinted as Degrees of Freedom: the early novels of Iris Murdoch, 1994);
The Game, 1967;
Wordsworth and Coleridge in their Time, 1970 (reprinted as Unruly Times: Wordsworth and Coleridge in their Time, 1989);
Iris Murdoch 1976
The Virgin in the Garden, 1978;
GEORGE ELIOT Selected Essays, Poems and Other Writings , 1979 (editor);
Still Life, 1985
Sugar and Other Stories, 1987;
George Eliot: selected essays, 1989 (editor)
Possession: a romance, 1990
Robert Browning''s Dramatic Monologues, 1990 (editor);
Passions of the Mind, (essays), 1991;
Angels and Insects (novellas),1992
The Matisse Stories (short stories),1993;
The Djinn in the Nightingale''s Eye: five fairy stories, 1994
Imagining Characters, 1995 (joint editor);
New Writing 4, 1995 (joint editor);
Babel Tower, 1996;
New Writing 6, 1997 (joint editor);
The Oxford Book of English Short Stories, 1998 (editor);
Elementals: Stories of fire and ice (short stories), 1998;
The Biographer''s Tale, 2000;
On Histories and Stories (essays), 2000;
Portraits in Fiction, 2001;
The Bird Hand Book, 2001 (Photographs by Victor Schrager Text By AS Byatt);
A Whistling Woman, 2002
Little
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
October 7, 2009
Great collection, I have read most of them at the time of writing this. I have found diamonds among some writers I had consumed to the mine of beneath my notice.
I love what Byatt says in her introduction:
"I found, reading in bulk, that I was developing a dislike for both the 'well-made tale' and the fleeting 'impression'. Manuals on how to write short stories, and much criticism, stress unity of form, stress that only one thing should happen, that an episode or incident should be developed, or an emotion caught, with no space for digression, or change of direction or tone.... Many of the stories in this collection break all the rules of unity of tone and narrative. They appear to be one kind of story and mutate into another. They make unexpected twists then twist again. They pack together comedy and tragedy, farce and delicacy, elegance and the grotesque. The workmanlike English story is bland....even-toned and neatly constructed. The great English story is shocking - even the sparest and driest - and hard to categorise."
I love what Byatt says in her introduction:
"I found, reading in bulk, that I was developing a dislike for both the 'well-made tale' and the fleeting 'impression'. Manuals on how to write short stories, and much criticism, stress unity of form, stress that only one thing should happen, that an episode or incident should be developed, or an emotion caught, with no space for digression, or change of direction or tone.... Many of the stories in this collection break all the rules of unity of tone and narrative. They appear to be one kind of story and mutate into another. They make unexpected twists then twist again. They pack together comedy and tragedy, farce and delicacy, elegance and the grotesque. The workmanlike English story is bland....even-toned and neatly constructed. The great English story is shocking - even the sparest and driest - and hard to categorise."
December 27, 2014
An anthology such as The Oxford Book of English Short Stories may be judged by many measurements: does it anthologize well-known works or hidden gems? Does it have a discernible theme? Are the authors well-balanced, through time and genre?
A.S. Byatt has compiled a singular classic in this one. As an avid reader of anthologies of all kinds, one of the most important criterion for me is whether or not it is a rehash of the canon or introduces something new to the mix, and Byatt does not disappoint. Though some of the stories were familiar - I know I've read "The Troll" by T.H. White somewhere before - others were completely new, though I am intimately familiar with the authors.
Byatt, additionally, has chosen what would at first glance appear to be a very odd theme. Of course, the title points you to the most obvious: English short stories. But what, Byatt wonders in the introduction, does it really mean to be English? She categorically rejects the twee countryside stories, filled with gentle countrymen and their stout, good-hearted wives, and instead focuses on the "thingyness of things". As I said, a very odd theme, but Byatt shows what an anthology should do, which is to illuminate the theme through the choices made. By the time I had reached the wicked tale of Huxley's fallen nun, I began to see what Byatt meant. There is a solidity, a practicality, a certain concreteness to the best of English authors. We see some, as M.R. James and Mew, use it to create horror; Wodehouse and Waugh to spark laughter; Lawrence and Pritchett to inspire thoughtfulness; and Kipling and Wells to provoke awe.
I will admit that there did, for me, seem to be a "sweet spot" of the book, where the authors were at once familiar and beloved: G.K. Chesterton, Saki, Wodehouse, and others appear right in a row, and while Byatt chose stories that were largely unknown to me, their style was. The ones toward the end of the book* I was less keen on - some of them, to me, overshot literary prowess and landed straight in pretentiousness, while others seemed a little too self-aware.
Where they worked, however, they worked - and give a glimmer of what it means to be English.
* My copy had an unfortunate misprint which resulted in half of "Dream Cargoes" and the two John Fuller stories being completely unreadable. Only the last bit of "My Story" was intact - all the more galling, because it looks quite promising.
A.S. Byatt has compiled a singular classic in this one. As an avid reader of anthologies of all kinds, one of the most important criterion for me is whether or not it is a rehash of the canon or introduces something new to the mix, and Byatt does not disappoint. Though some of the stories were familiar - I know I've read "The Troll" by T.H. White somewhere before - others were completely new, though I am intimately familiar with the authors.
Byatt, additionally, has chosen what would at first glance appear to be a very odd theme. Of course, the title points you to the most obvious: English short stories. But what, Byatt wonders in the introduction, does it really mean to be English? She categorically rejects the twee countryside stories, filled with gentle countrymen and their stout, good-hearted wives, and instead focuses on the "thingyness of things". As I said, a very odd theme, but Byatt shows what an anthology should do, which is to illuminate the theme through the choices made. By the time I had reached the wicked tale of Huxley's fallen nun, I began to see what Byatt meant. There is a solidity, a practicality, a certain concreteness to the best of English authors. We see some, as M.R. James and Mew, use it to create horror; Wodehouse and Waugh to spark laughter; Lawrence and Pritchett to inspire thoughtfulness; and Kipling and Wells to provoke awe.
I will admit that there did, for me, seem to be a "sweet spot" of the book, where the authors were at once familiar and beloved: G.K. Chesterton, Saki, Wodehouse, and others appear right in a row, and while Byatt chose stories that were largely unknown to me, their style was. The ones toward the end of the book* I was less keen on - some of them, to me, overshot literary prowess and landed straight in pretentiousness, while others seemed a little too self-aware.
Where they worked, however, they worked - and give a glimmer of what it means to be English.
* My copy had an unfortunate misprint which resulted in half of "Dream Cargoes" and the two John Fuller stories being completely unreadable. Only the last bit of "My Story" was intact - all the more galling, because it looks quite promising.
November 2, 2012
I was rather disappointed with this. First off, I was expecting it to be short stories in English, rather than specifically English short stories. So immediately, we've cut out many of the best writers on the planet, even just ones who write in English. Then, AS Byatt went and picked a bunch of short stories particularly for their break with the 'traditional' way of writing short stories. I think, based on this book, we can safely say that the 'traditional' way is popular for a reason. It makes better stories.
That's not to say that there aren't good stories in here, not at all. While, say, Dickens' "The Haunted House" is nothing more than a confused mess, things like Saki's "The Toys of Peace", Graham Greene's "The Destructors" (possibly the high point of the collection), and GK Chesterton's "The Tremendous Adventures of Major Brown", to name the three that caught me the most, are excellent examples of the short story. Still, a disappointing collection, all in all.
That's not to say that there aren't good stories in here, not at all. While, say, Dickens' "The Haunted House" is nothing more than a confused mess, things like Saki's "The Toys of Peace", Graham Greene's "The Destructors" (possibly the high point of the collection), and GK Chesterton's "The Tremendous Adventures of Major Brown", to name the three that caught me the most, are excellent examples of the short story. Still, a disappointing collection, all in all.
July 26, 2015
I read a dozen of these stories with a keen group of Japanese students last year and, based on that experience, I can certainly recommend this collection for non-native speakers of English. Some of the stories (Rosamond Lehmann's "A Dream of Winter," Elizabeth Taylor's "The Blush") rely for their effect on an understanding of class that is beyond most Japanese students' experience, but more straightfoward narratives, such as Mary Mann's chilling "Little Brother" and Penelope Fitzgerald's "At Hiruharama," as well as the marvellously ironic fairytale that is Angela Carter's "The Kiss" were enjoyed by the whole class.
Shame on OUP for reprinting this more than once without bothering to correct the unbelievable error in the table of contents: William Gilbert's dates are given as 1540-1603. They should be 1804-1890.
Shame on OUP for reprinting this more than once without bothering to correct the unbelievable error in the table of contents: William Gilbert's dates are given as 1540-1603. They should be 1804-1890.
March 24, 2015
I'm not usually a fan of short stories but I did enjoy this little collection. I found some of them to be quite dull, but others to be fairly intriguing. As a whole it is a sweet set, and it is great to see a mixture of stories throughout the centuries.
I dislike Angela Carter's Kiss and the overload of description involved. I found 'The Landlord of the Crystal Fountain' dull and unrealistic with a sudden marriage proposal and the fact that she accepted just annoyed me to no end!
I did however enjoy Dicken's 'Haunted House' with its psychological elements. I also Loved Ian McEwan's 'Solid Geometry' and Greene's 'The Destroyers'. They were both a bit odd but I read them over and over they were so well-worded.
I dislike Angela Carter's Kiss and the overload of description involved. I found 'The Landlord of the Crystal Fountain' dull and unrealistic with a sudden marriage proposal and the fact that she accepted just annoyed me to no end!
I did however enjoy Dicken's 'Haunted House' with its psychological elements. I also Loved Ian McEwan's 'Solid Geometry' and Greene's 'The Destroyers'. They were both a bit odd but I read them over and over they were so well-worded.
June 5, 2012
A very good mix of stories. Collection has clearly been well thought through. I like the fact that it's in chronological order as it's interesting to see the styles change, not only author to author but decade to decade.
As with all short story collections, some are better than others. A great variety here though.
As with all short story collections, some are better than others. A great variety here though.
April 22, 2018
Read in 2008 with Dad.
The January book for me and Dad’s 2008 reading challenge. We picked this b/c Dad had (recently) so enjoyed V.S. Pritchett’s Oxford short story collection.
However, the selection of stories in this book felt very bizarre to both of us. Byatt’s particular idea of “what makes an English short story” was a very specific type and some of the things she claimed were “very particularly Britishly funny” in her introduction were things we either found a) not funny or b) not very British feeling (to us, both non Brits, of course).
So while there were some stories we really loved (some we both loved), there were a lot of stories that we didn’t like / I wouldn’t recommend the collection as a whole.
There were a lot of stories that were supposed to be (per her intro) scary = but weren’t. Or stories that would be scary if they were written differently, but a LOT of stories in this book were very distant / the heavy presence of a “storyteller” telling the story (a very passive voice relating the action) on top of the writer made what was happening in the story seem very far away and hard to connect with.
There were a lot of stories I call “afterschool specials” = you know, “message” or “lesson” stories.
And there were a lot of stories that seemed very atypical of their authors. In other words, my dad said, “if the story in this book were the first A.E. Coppard story I read, I would never have been interested in reading him again.” Same goes for Dickens, Hardy, D.H. Lawrence and T.H. White. All great writers, all represented here by bad stories.
While we had different faves, these are eight we both liked.
Dad’s faves were: “”Wireless” by Rudyard Kipling, “”At Hiruharama” by Penelope Fitzgerald, and
“An Englishman’s Home” by Evelyn Waugh.
Mine were: “The Tremendous Adventures of Major Brown” by G.K. Chesteron, “Solid Objects” by Virginia Woolf, “A Widow’s Quilt” by Silvia Townsend Warner (and not because of the quilting), “A Dream of Winter” by Rosamond Lehmann, and “Telephone” by John Fuller.
We’d both recommend those (and some others), but not this particular collection. And we both thought “The Destructors” by Graham Greene was a really good story but had an incredibly devastating (and not funny at all) ending.
Given our experience with this collection, and his previous love for the Pritchett, we’ve added that one to our challenge for our last set of stories (even though he’s read it already).
The January book for me and Dad’s 2008 reading challenge. We picked this b/c Dad had (recently) so enjoyed V.S. Pritchett’s Oxford short story collection.
However, the selection of stories in this book felt very bizarre to both of us. Byatt’s particular idea of “what makes an English short story” was a very specific type and some of the things she claimed were “very particularly Britishly funny” in her introduction were things we either found a) not funny or b) not very British feeling (to us, both non Brits, of course).
So while there were some stories we really loved (some we both loved), there were a lot of stories that we didn’t like / I wouldn’t recommend the collection as a whole.
There were a lot of stories that were supposed to be (per her intro) scary = but weren’t. Or stories that would be scary if they were written differently, but a LOT of stories in this book were very distant / the heavy presence of a “storyteller” telling the story (a very passive voice relating the action) on top of the writer made what was happening in the story seem very far away and hard to connect with.
There were a lot of stories I call “afterschool specials” = you know, “message” or “lesson” stories.
And there were a lot of stories that seemed very atypical of their authors. In other words, my dad said, “if the story in this book were the first A.E. Coppard story I read, I would never have been interested in reading him again.” Same goes for Dickens, Hardy, D.H. Lawrence and T.H. White. All great writers, all represented here by bad stories.
While we had different faves, these are eight we both liked.
Dad’s faves were: “”Wireless” by Rudyard Kipling, “”At Hiruharama” by Penelope Fitzgerald, and
“An Englishman’s Home” by Evelyn Waugh.
Mine were: “The Tremendous Adventures of Major Brown” by G.K. Chesteron, “Solid Objects” by Virginia Woolf, “A Widow’s Quilt” by Silvia Townsend Warner (and not because of the quilting), “A Dream of Winter” by Rosamond Lehmann, and “Telephone” by John Fuller.
We’d both recommend those (and some others), but not this particular collection. And we both thought “The Destructors” by Graham Greene was a really good story but had an incredibly devastating (and not funny at all) ending.
Given our experience with this collection, and his previous love for the Pritchett, we’ve added that one to our challenge for our last set of stories (even though he’s read it already).
February 20, 2023
I have decided that short stories make the best airplane reading. It breaks the flight up. The change from story to story keeps my attention. If I want to give up on one, I just move to the next, rather try to pull out my back up plane book.
Byatt is an accomplished novelist. She says in her introduction that she "decided to be stringent about the Englishness of the writers", so nobody from the Ireland, Scotland or the colonies. There are no pre-1800 stories, which is fine with me. She also decided to avoid the neat "well made" stories. She sought out the shocking and striking stories by even the best-known authors. None of these stories are the classic stories that appear in all the anthologies. She worked hard to come up with this collection.
The best-known authors are represented by lesser-known stories. "A Mere Interlude" by Thomas Hardy is an adventure love story with a wonderful surprise ending. Charles Dickens is represented by "The Haunted House" which is a very un-Dickens ghost story. Penepole Fitzgerald's "At Hiruharama" is a wonderfully odd tale set in New Zealand.
There are only two clinkers in the 37 stories and eight five star stories, the three above and the stories by Virginia Wolfe, P. G. Wodehouse, Graham Greene, T. H. White and G. K. Chesterton. Most of the other stories are excellent.
I had some quibbles about the presentation. There is no indication of when the stories where first published. Even the rights page cites to recent republished versions, not the original date. It helps to understand the setting of the story to know when it was first published.
The introduction contains Byatt's short comments on each story. They are incisive and interesting. They should be afterwords to each story, to save the flipping back to the introduction as you finish each story.
This is a first rate collection.
Byatt is an accomplished novelist. She says in her introduction that she "decided to be stringent about the Englishness of the writers", so nobody from the Ireland, Scotland or the colonies. There are no pre-1800 stories, which is fine with me. She also decided to avoid the neat "well made" stories. She sought out the shocking and striking stories by even the best-known authors. None of these stories are the classic stories that appear in all the anthologies. She worked hard to come up with this collection.
The best-known authors are represented by lesser-known stories. "A Mere Interlude" by Thomas Hardy is an adventure love story with a wonderful surprise ending. Charles Dickens is represented by "The Haunted House" which is a very un-Dickens ghost story. Penepole Fitzgerald's "At Hiruharama" is a wonderfully odd tale set in New Zealand.
There are only two clinkers in the 37 stories and eight five star stories, the three above and the stories by Virginia Wolfe, P. G. Wodehouse, Graham Greene, T. H. White and G. K. Chesterton. Most of the other stories are excellent.
I had some quibbles about the presentation. There is no indication of when the stories where first published. Even the rights page cites to recent republished versions, not the original date. It helps to understand the setting of the story to know when it was first published.
The introduction contains Byatt's short comments on each story. They are incisive and interesting. They should be afterwords to each story, to save the flipping back to the introduction as you finish each story.
This is a first rate collection.
August 20, 2020
I don't normally enjoy short stories, but due to life circumstances and the inability to put down a story once I've started it, I thought I'd see if a short story would suit better!
And I'm really enjoying this book! I don't like all the stories, but I've been flipping back and forth from the Introduction (which is not normally something I'd read) and the stories, to see what Byatt says about them. I wish she'd written more about each one, I'm enjoying her commentary.
It's been really interesting. A few ('Wireless' by Rudyard Kipling and 'The Two Doctors') had me re-reading to see what the point had been. Obviously the narrator was extremely unnerved, but I only vaguely could see why it would be so. And the one by Aldous Huxley made me want to find him and slap him upside his head for wasting his talent on making the world a worse place, but that's my common reaction to everything I've read by him, so that made sense once I realized the author.
But overall, it's lots of different and strange perspectives, and I'm gobbling them up and loving it! I think the editor did an excellent job.
And I'm really enjoying this book! I don't like all the stories, but I've been flipping back and forth from the Introduction (which is not normally something I'd read) and the stories, to see what Byatt says about them. I wish she'd written more about each one, I'm enjoying her commentary.
It's been really interesting. A few ('Wireless' by Rudyard Kipling and 'The Two Doctors') had me re-reading to see what the point had been. Obviously the narrator was extremely unnerved, but I only vaguely could see why it would be so. And the one by Aldous Huxley made me want to find him and slap him upside his head for wasting his talent on making the world a worse place, but that's my common reaction to everything I've read by him, so that made sense once I realized the author.
But overall, it's lots of different and strange perspectives, and I'm gobbling them up and loving it! I think the editor did an excellent job.
January 20, 2024
Most of the stories in this collection are remarkable - the standouts for me are Hardy, Wodehouse, Waugh and Ballard. The collection offers a wide range of themes from NIMBYism to the quirkiness of the English people.
I feel the latter quarter started to decline particularly as we enter the postmodern era of the collection. The second and third last stories which discuss incest a large appendage were particularly unwelcome.
Nonetheless it's a strong collection overall and worthwhile reading for lovers of this format.
I feel the latter quarter started to decline particularly as we enter the postmodern era of the collection. The second and third last stories which discuss incest a large appendage were particularly unwelcome.
Nonetheless it's a strong collection overall and worthwhile reading for lovers of this format.
July 19, 2018
Not my favorite collection. I came across a few short stories I had not read before and that was the great part of this collection. I came across no new favorite short stories, and felt that the stories were not exactly great. But obviously this is a matter of personal opinion. I tend to reread my short story collections every few years, this one I'll be skipping out on rereading.
October 4, 2022
I want to think I am doing something wrong by giving this collection an 'Average' rating, but so many of the short stories were just not all that memorable- so 'Average' it is.
I did enjoy a few of them more, but others less- to the point of wondering why they were included.
I'd recommend the collection as reading to pass the time while on a train or plane, I suppose.
I did enjoy a few of them more, but others less- to the point of wondering why they were included.
I'd recommend the collection as reading to pass the time while on a train or plane, I suppose.
January 5, 2025
Ülevaade inglaslikkusest lühijuttude kogumikuna. Parim (üllatavaim, kaasahaaravaim) oli Ian MacEwani Solid geometry asjade pärandamisest, alalhoidmisest, tajumisest, mõistmisest ja paratamatust kadumisest. Aga ka The beauty of the dawn shift valgustusaegse reisitungiga noormehest teel Venemaa avaruste poole oli paeluv oma veidral moel (intsest, luiged, sidrun…?).
May 23, 2020
"The Sacristan of St. Botolph," by William Gilbert (1866): 8.5
- Strange, in that it's largely unremarkable but nonetheless works a strange, half humorous, half affecting magic on you, especially given the dry superciliousness with which the protagonist denies his obvious lusts and shortcuts (Plot: vain, faux pious man made magical realism wise to suffer through the tribulations and trials of an early Christian anchorage and does about as bad as possible, until a surreal ending in which he's basically willingly dancing at a devils debauch. Again, about as bad as he coulda done.) Interestingly, here is the example Par excellence for the falseness of the genre divisions between high and low, between fantastic and realist, in much of classic literature. The difference here being that the purpose is primarily ethical and unapologetically didactic, which might prevent those today from seeing this as truly speculative literature.
"The Haunted House," by Charles Dickens (1859): 9.25
- There's the story and there's the "story." And I'm equipped to speak about the former and likely not the latter. First, though, on Dickens, who I've read, and who nonetheless had appeared to me like a completely different vision of a writer than this hectic, carefully controlled bit of surreal prose effluvia. If anything, this story exists simply as an excuse for his pen to find the page--the "haunted" house simply the bare outlines necessary to hang words and ideas and frenetic genius around (the story being: man takes up in haunted house, nearly immediately sees ghost and notes the midnight fairy-like journeys he has been taken upon, only to realize that he's crazy, and his fever dreams of running a 'Seraglio' are simply complex prose masks for Dickens to describe the unafraid, if unnerved interactions between this crazy man and those still around the house before they're snatched back). What I'm saying is that I didn't expect this. I'm finding next to nothing about this story online, which is strange considering its author. I can only conclude that people are just simply bedeviled by it and either 1) think they just don't understand or 2) completely appalled by the strange turns taken. In fact, some of the only commentary I've seen has said exactly the former. Yet, regarding that, it doesn't actually, in thought and reflection, seem so difficult to understand: our man is hallucinating and starts to imagine these elaborate scenarios, played out amongst the inhabitants of the house, until he's ultimately shunted away (the more academic and anal reader could no doubt pour over the material for a day and come up with some character to character parallels between the Seraglio citizens and the house denizens). Yet, it's actually the second of these two thoughts that is more interesting to me, especially, again, in retrospect. In the mid C19, in the middle of Christmas story, Dickens deviates from both logical narrative structure and down-the-line moral recttitude to portray an imagined harem lorded over by himself, newly Muslim, and staffed by a bunch of volunteer only-just pubescent girls! What a thing. It's a bit disturbing in the read, and I'm not sure it's not supposed to be. And this is all cushioned by this often witty, dry comedic prose -- admittedly, yes, just as often prone to some digressive purple and lost ways, such as the lines about the man on the train "who had several legs too many, and all of them too long" as well as that about the spendthrift trust-fund kid who was nonetheless resourceful but only in his hour of need, and therefore our narrator was "convinced that only if he should go broke, would his fortune be made."
"Relics of General Chasse," by Anthony Trollope (1859): 7.25
- Even from the first paragraph, we have such wonderfully droll evidence of that thing that is either a product of the authors Englishness or imperial haughtiness (likely both), but which is either way nigh inimitable today, save in some high satire, although even that’ll miss the mark, as part of the eye-rolling charm of the thing is the slightly off-putting knowledge that the motive's genuine — that being, the condescending, “isn’t that great” tone by which Trollope discusses the creation of the kingdom of Belgium and the constitution of various kingdomly parts, namely a court and a culture. The story, unfortunately, devolves quote quickly from these heights. It’s simply a comic story told in a comic style, with little of the dryness of the opening. That story: the narrator and an obese cleric friend visit Antwerp, the latter loses his pants while trying on those of an old general, some women mistakenly cut up his in a greedy search for fabrics, very inconveniencing the vicar, until they finally get some measure of revenge when the narrator coincidentally sees these same women and tricks them into thinking that people are onto them. So it goes. There are the clear bodily comic over/undertones here — although mostly conveyed through doublespeak, metaphor, and character-naming slyness — which go a way towards a partially evergreen skewering of bildungsbürgerliche pretensions and partially depend completely on the specific morals and hot buttons of Trollope’s own early Victorian context. It is what it was.
- Strange, in that it's largely unremarkable but nonetheless works a strange, half humorous, half affecting magic on you, especially given the dry superciliousness with which the protagonist denies his obvious lusts and shortcuts (Plot: vain, faux pious man made magical realism wise to suffer through the tribulations and trials of an early Christian anchorage and does about as bad as possible, until a surreal ending in which he's basically willingly dancing at a devils debauch. Again, about as bad as he coulda done.) Interestingly, here is the example Par excellence for the falseness of the genre divisions between high and low, between fantastic and realist, in much of classic literature. The difference here being that the purpose is primarily ethical and unapologetically didactic, which might prevent those today from seeing this as truly speculative literature.
"The Haunted House," by Charles Dickens (1859): 9.25
- There's the story and there's the "story." And I'm equipped to speak about the former and likely not the latter. First, though, on Dickens, who I've read, and who nonetheless had appeared to me like a completely different vision of a writer than this hectic, carefully controlled bit of surreal prose effluvia. If anything, this story exists simply as an excuse for his pen to find the page--the "haunted" house simply the bare outlines necessary to hang words and ideas and frenetic genius around (the story being: man takes up in haunted house, nearly immediately sees ghost and notes the midnight fairy-like journeys he has been taken upon, only to realize that he's crazy, and his fever dreams of running a 'Seraglio' are simply complex prose masks for Dickens to describe the unafraid, if unnerved interactions between this crazy man and those still around the house before they're snatched back). What I'm saying is that I didn't expect this. I'm finding next to nothing about this story online, which is strange considering its author. I can only conclude that people are just simply bedeviled by it and either 1) think they just don't understand or 2) completely appalled by the strange turns taken. In fact, some of the only commentary I've seen has said exactly the former. Yet, regarding that, it doesn't actually, in thought and reflection, seem so difficult to understand: our man is hallucinating and starts to imagine these elaborate scenarios, played out amongst the inhabitants of the house, until he's ultimately shunted away (the more academic and anal reader could no doubt pour over the material for a day and come up with some character to character parallels between the Seraglio citizens and the house denizens). Yet, it's actually the second of these two thoughts that is more interesting to me, especially, again, in retrospect. In the mid C19, in the middle of Christmas story, Dickens deviates from both logical narrative structure and down-the-line moral recttitude to portray an imagined harem lorded over by himself, newly Muslim, and staffed by a bunch of volunteer only-just pubescent girls! What a thing. It's a bit disturbing in the read, and I'm not sure it's not supposed to be. And this is all cushioned by this often witty, dry comedic prose -- admittedly, yes, just as often prone to some digressive purple and lost ways, such as the lines about the man on the train "who had several legs too many, and all of them too long" as well as that about the spendthrift trust-fund kid who was nonetheless resourceful but only in his hour of need, and therefore our narrator was "convinced that only if he should go broke, would his fortune be made."
"Relics of General Chasse," by Anthony Trollope (1859): 7.25
- Even from the first paragraph, we have such wonderfully droll evidence of that thing that is either a product of the authors Englishness or imperial haughtiness (likely both), but which is either way nigh inimitable today, save in some high satire, although even that’ll miss the mark, as part of the eye-rolling charm of the thing is the slightly off-putting knowledge that the motive's genuine — that being, the condescending, “isn’t that great” tone by which Trollope discusses the creation of the kingdom of Belgium and the constitution of various kingdomly parts, namely a court and a culture. The story, unfortunately, devolves quote quickly from these heights. It’s simply a comic story told in a comic style, with little of the dryness of the opening. That story: the narrator and an obese cleric friend visit Antwerp, the latter loses his pants while trying on those of an old general, some women mistakenly cut up his in a greedy search for fabrics, very inconveniencing the vicar, until they finally get some measure of revenge when the narrator coincidentally sees these same women and tricks them into thinking that people are onto them. So it goes. There are the clear bodily comic over/undertones here — although mostly conveyed through doublespeak, metaphor, and character-naming slyness — which go a way towards a partially evergreen skewering of bildungsbürgerliche pretensions and partially depend completely on the specific morals and hot buttons of Trollope’s own early Victorian context. It is what it was.
July 29, 2017
Good for children
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 28, 2019
Some (very) curious choices here, Ms. Byatt. Enjoyed a couple few, but ahem....
April 1, 2024
byatt has collected gems and strung them together masterfully! a delightful collection and a straight up joy to read through!
July 6, 2018
A stunning collection of superb short stories - in the main.
Several I would have cheerfully omitted, and they bring the overall quality of the collection down. Many of them, though, have influenced me to read a novel by the authors as soon as I could.
The Kiss inspired me so much, I read Angela Carter's The Magic Toyshop [1967] as soon as I bought it, and I got the full collection of her short stories, Burning Your Boats: Collected Short Stories [1995], reading several immediately, plus obtaining her collection of autobiographical writings, Nothing Sacred: Selected Writings [1982]; I picked out and read another Graham Greene novel, A Burnt-Out Case [1960], after The Destructors; I bought Mr. Fortune's Maggot [1927] by Sylvia Townsend Warner after the strangely cynical A Widow's Quilt; I bought a couple of Elizabeth Taylor's novels after the beautiful The Blush, scheduling In a Summer Season [1961] for sometime soon, plus another short story of hers, Sisters, in Penguin Modern Stories 6 [1969]. I read another short story by Leonora Carrington - bizarre. I read McEwan's Atonement [2001] - outstanding - within a couple of weeks of his absurdly humorous Solid Geometry...
So many of these stories are - if you have never read anything by their authors - inspirational delights. Some mere representative padding.
My 10 favourites:
· The Man Who Loved Islands - D. H. Lawrence
· The Kiss - Angela Carter
· The Waterfall - H.E. Bates [1933]
· The Beauty Of The Dawn Shift - Rose Tremain
· Solid Objects - Virginia Woolf
· The Blush - Elizabeth Taylor
· Solid Geometry - Ian McEwan
· Enoch's Two Letters - Alan Sillitoe
· Dead Languages - Philip Hensher
· The Reverent Wooing Of Archibald - P.G. Wodehouse
Several I would have cheerfully omitted, and they bring the overall quality of the collection down. Many of them, though, have influenced me to read a novel by the authors as soon as I could.
The Kiss inspired me so much, I read Angela Carter's The Magic Toyshop [1967] as soon as I bought it, and I got the full collection of her short stories, Burning Your Boats: Collected Short Stories [1995], reading several immediately, plus obtaining her collection of autobiographical writings, Nothing Sacred: Selected Writings [1982]; I picked out and read another Graham Greene novel, A Burnt-Out Case [1960], after The Destructors; I bought Mr. Fortune's Maggot [1927] by Sylvia Townsend Warner after the strangely cynical A Widow's Quilt; I bought a couple of Elizabeth Taylor's novels after the beautiful The Blush, scheduling In a Summer Season [1961] for sometime soon, plus another short story of hers, Sisters, in Penguin Modern Stories 6 [1969]. I read another short story by Leonora Carrington - bizarre. I read McEwan's Atonement [2001] - outstanding - within a couple of weeks of his absurdly humorous Solid Geometry...
So many of these stories are - if you have never read anything by their authors - inspirational delights. Some mere representative padding.
My 10 favourites:
· The Man Who Loved Islands - D. H. Lawrence
· The Kiss - Angela Carter
· The Waterfall - H.E. Bates [1933]
· The Beauty Of The Dawn Shift - Rose Tremain
· Solid Objects - Virginia Woolf
· The Blush - Elizabeth Taylor
· Solid Geometry - Ian McEwan
· Enoch's Two Letters - Alan Sillitoe
· Dead Languages - Philip Hensher
· The Reverent Wooing Of Archibald - P.G. Wodehouse
November 20, 2014
I like editor A. S. Byatt's selection criterion: "that both the writing and the story should be startling and satisfying, and if possible make the hairs on the neck prickle with excitement, aesthetic or narrative." Though not all the stories live up to that criterion in my opinion, there are some notable ones that deserve special mention:
Thomas Hardy's A Mere Interlude -
It's a very interesting tale, full of twists and tension that keeps you flipping the pages. The plot is one of the most intriguing I've ever seen!
G. K. Chesterton's The Tremendous Adventures of Major Brown -
It's indeed an adventure that is both fun and exciting. It reads like a thriller and a detective story, but the whole setting is rather hilarious, especially the ending.
D. H. Lawrence's The Man who Loved Islands -
I marvel at Lawrence's breathtaking descriptions of nature and weather, and how he intimately intertwines them with the character's struggles and feelings.
Evelyn Waugh's An Englishman's Home -
I just feel this whole story is very "English", though I can't quite put down the reason why. Maybe it's because of the very cleverly constructed crime story in which the criminals prevail?
T. H. White's The Troll -
It's a surreal horror story, absurdly supernatural yet disturbingly believable. The whole plot is so patently unrealistic, but White's storytelling is so convincing that you'll still have goosebumps all over.
John Fuller's Telephone -
It's an extremely short story that is nothing more than an internal monologue about the phone ringing. But it's a wonder how Fuller can make so much out of so little!
Rose Tremain's The Beauty of the Dawn Shift -
As the editor so aptly comments, "The dreamy precise prose gives the hero's journey a fabulous quality, yet it is simultaneously sensuously solid." As the title implies, it's a beautiful story, but it's a beautifully sad story.
Thomas Hardy's A Mere Interlude -
It's a very interesting tale, full of twists and tension that keeps you flipping the pages. The plot is one of the most intriguing I've ever seen!
G. K. Chesterton's The Tremendous Adventures of Major Brown -
It's indeed an adventure that is both fun and exciting. It reads like a thriller and a detective story, but the whole setting is rather hilarious, especially the ending.
D. H. Lawrence's The Man who Loved Islands -
I marvel at Lawrence's breathtaking descriptions of nature and weather, and how he intimately intertwines them with the character's struggles and feelings.
Evelyn Waugh's An Englishman's Home -
I just feel this whole story is very "English", though I can't quite put down the reason why. Maybe it's because of the very cleverly constructed crime story in which the criminals prevail?
T. H. White's The Troll -
It's a surreal horror story, absurdly supernatural yet disturbingly believable. The whole plot is so patently unrealistic, but White's storytelling is so convincing that you'll still have goosebumps all over.
John Fuller's Telephone -
It's an extremely short story that is nothing more than an internal monologue about the phone ringing. But it's a wonder how Fuller can make so much out of so little!
Rose Tremain's The Beauty of the Dawn Shift -
As the editor so aptly comments, "The dreamy precise prose gives the hero's journey a fabulous quality, yet it is simultaneously sensuously solid." As the title implies, it's a beautiful story, but it's a beautifully sad story.
Want to read
June 3, 2025Read so far:
The Sacristan of St. Botolph / William Gilbert --
The haunted house / Charles Dickens --
*Relics of General Chasse : A tale of Antwerp / Anthony Trollope --
A mere interlude / Thomas Hardy --3
Little brother / Mary Mann --
*Two doctors / M. R. James --
*Behind the shade / Arthur Morrison --
'Wireless' / Rudyard Kipling --2
*Under the knife / H. G. Wells --
A white night / Charlotte Mew --
The toys of peace / Saki --3
The tremendous adventures of Major Brown / G. K. Chesterton --3
*Some talk of Alexander / A. E. Coppard --
*The reverent wooing of Archibald / P. G. Wodehouse --
Solid objects / Virginia Woolf --3
The man who loved islands / D. H. Lawrence --2
A tragedy in green / Ronald Firbank --
*A widow's quilt / Sylvia Townsend Warner --
Nuns at luncheon / Aldous Huxley --2
Landlord of the crystal fountain / Malachi Whitaker --
*On the edge of the cliff / V. S. Pritchett --
A dream of winter / Rosamund Lehmann --2
*An Englishman's home / Evelyn Waugh --
The destructors / Graham Greene --3
*The waterfall / H. E. Bates --
The troll / T. H. White --
The blush / Elizabeth Taylor --3
At Hiruharama / Penelope Fitzgerald --3
*My flannel knickers / Leonora Carrington --
*Enoch's two letters / Alan Sillitoe --
Dream cargoes / J. G. Ballard --
Telephone / John Fuller --
My story / John Fuller --
*The kiss / Angela Carter --
The beauty of the dawn shift / Rose Tremain --
*Solid geometry / Ian McEwan --
Dead languages / Philip Hensher--
The Sacristan of St. Botolph / William Gilbert --
The haunted house / Charles Dickens --
*Relics of General Chasse : A tale of Antwerp / Anthony Trollope --
A mere interlude / Thomas Hardy --3
Little brother / Mary Mann --
*Two doctors / M. R. James --
*Behind the shade / Arthur Morrison --
'Wireless' / Rudyard Kipling --2
*Under the knife / H. G. Wells --
A white night / Charlotte Mew --
The toys of peace / Saki --3
The tremendous adventures of Major Brown / G. K. Chesterton --3
*Some talk of Alexander / A. E. Coppard --
*The reverent wooing of Archibald / P. G. Wodehouse --
Solid objects / Virginia Woolf --3
The man who loved islands / D. H. Lawrence --2
A tragedy in green / Ronald Firbank --
*A widow's quilt / Sylvia Townsend Warner --
Nuns at luncheon / Aldous Huxley --2
Landlord of the crystal fountain / Malachi Whitaker --
*On the edge of the cliff / V. S. Pritchett --
A dream of winter / Rosamund Lehmann --2
*An Englishman's home / Evelyn Waugh --
The destructors / Graham Greene --3
*The waterfall / H. E. Bates --
The troll / T. H. White --
The blush / Elizabeth Taylor --3
At Hiruharama / Penelope Fitzgerald --3
*My flannel knickers / Leonora Carrington --
*Enoch's two letters / Alan Sillitoe --
Dream cargoes / J. G. Ballard --
Telephone / John Fuller --
My story / John Fuller --
*The kiss / Angela Carter --
The beauty of the dawn shift / Rose Tremain --
*Solid geometry / Ian McEwan --
Dead languages / Philip Hensher--
Read
March 17, 2015It was an interesting book but I have to admit I gave up. You really have to "read" this rather than having it as a bedtime read. That said some of the stories are really entertaining and light hearted.
January 20, 2015
With a few exceptions, (e.g. Dickens) didn't like most of these stories. Although written by established authors I found them all a bit too well written - if that makes sense - but not enjoyable, or interesting, to read. Maybe a worthy collection, but not for me.
March 5, 2016
"The subjects of these stories range from the sublime to the ridiculous, from the momentous to the trivial, from the grim to the farcical," writes novelist A.S. Byatt in her introduction to this great collection of stories.
July 6, 2012
One of the most teachable anthologies out there. Wonderful scope.
February 5, 2013
Highlights for me were 'The Kiss' and 'Solid Geometries.
July 6, 2016
This is an excellent collection of short stories by some famous and not quite so famous authors. I enjoyed all of them to some degree.
May 21, 2016
Favorite short stories:
- "Little brother" by Mary Mann
- "Solid Objects" by Virginia Woolf
- "The Man who loved the islands" by D.H. Lawrence
- "The kiss" by Angela Carter
- "Little brother" by Mary Mann
- "Solid Objects" by Virginia Woolf
- "The Man who loved the islands" by D.H. Lawrence
- "The kiss" by Angela Carter
March 18, 2018
Gets an extra star for finding a happy story by Thomas Hardy, "A Mere Interlude". I didn't think that was possible. Other than the Thomas Hardy surprise (and the extremely depressing Charles Dickens piece called "The Haunted House") this is yet another very mixed anthology bag. The ones in the middle tend to be the better pieces, with the first and last pieces being painful in a Beowulf kind of way.
Many of the pieces are speculative fiction pieces such as ghost stories and fairy tales. There is even a selection called "Dream Cargoes" from J. G. Ballard, who was primarily known for his science fiction. These pieces made a nice break from the humdrum pieces about real life. Some of the pieces are like a sudden slap in the face after having a few relatively happy pieces. One such is "Little Brother" by Mary Mann which is almost like reading one of those testimonials from concentration camp survivors. Very chilling.
My favorite story was "The Destructors" by Graham Greene because it pictures the British sense of dark humor in even the most trying of circumstances -- such as living through the Blitz.
The rest are the usual scratch-your-head variety or are utterly forgettable. Not my cup of tea -- so to speak.
Many of the pieces are speculative fiction pieces such as ghost stories and fairy tales. There is even a selection called "Dream Cargoes" from J. G. Ballard, who was primarily known for his science fiction. These pieces made a nice break from the humdrum pieces about real life. Some of the pieces are like a sudden slap in the face after having a few relatively happy pieces. One such is "Little Brother" by Mary Mann which is almost like reading one of those testimonials from concentration camp survivors. Very chilling.
My favorite story was "The Destructors" by Graham Greene because it pictures the British sense of dark humor in even the most trying of circumstances -- such as living through the Blitz.
The rest are the usual scratch-your-head variety or are utterly forgettable. Not my cup of tea -- so to speak.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews