Great American Short Stories

by Wallace Stegner, Mary Stegner (Editor)

An outstanding collection chronicling the growth of the american short story from humorous legend to powerful contempory fiction. 

Contributors
Washington Irving • Herman Melville • Mark Twain • William Faulkner • John Steinbeck • Eudaro Welty • AND MORE!

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Classics, Literature, American, Anthologies, Collections

512 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1957

About the author

Wallace Earle Stegner was an American historian, novelist, short story writer, and environmentalist. Some call him "The Dean of Western Writers." He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1972 and the U.S. National Book Award in 1977.

Reviews

[Shankar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another amazing book of stories set in late 1800 and early 1900 in America. The author list is elite and each story selected by Wallace Stegner is a gem. Of note are the pieces by

1. Washington Irving
2. Edgar Allan Poe
3. Mark Twain
4. O Henry
5. Stephen Crane
6. Katherine Anne Porter
7. John Steinbeck
8. Edith Wharton
9. Sherwood Anderson
10. John O Hara
11. Hortense Calisher
12. William Faulkner.
13. James Thurber

Though the list is longer these stayed in my mind as wanting to read more their works ( since I know I am going live for a couple of centuries more to do it 🙂).

It was amazing to read situations and emotions that were evident even in those days ( sans digital sans iPhones and the like ). The problems and challenges faced remained the same for people and relationships. Of key note for me that this was a third book in the recent past of smaller town America and it’s mindsets. I wonder if these mindsets have since changed. I am captivated by the range of topics of these writers - John Steinbeck’s story could qualify as a quasi horror story of sorts but interesting in its own way. Each story doesn’t take more than 15 mins - and leaves a lasting impression. I was reminded of Raymond Carver ( the story ends much before it actually does and you don’t know it until you get there ) and Stephen King ( a genre of writing that treats individuals in smaller towns as a different species …. Maybe not but created to cause effect but the result is a portrayal of an individual under extreme situational stress.

Dare I say anything other than highly recommended !!!

[Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best short story collection I've ever read. First of all, each selection reveals the intelligence and high critical standards of the editors, Wallace and Mary Stegner. Their introduction explains the criteria for selection, and is also a fascinating and succinct history of the American short story. Highly recommended!

[Pristine]

not gonna rate it bc it's a school book and school books are.....special in their own unique way!

(plus it's a collection of short stories, so i'm not gonna rate them all together)

[Caden McIlhenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Open boat hard asf

[Edan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here's another one for my Oberlin syllabus. I am definitely drowning in short stories right now.

***

This book has some gems, from Melville's "Bartelby the Scrivener" to "The Real Thing" by Henry James and "The Open Boat" by Stephen Crane. It's a terrific little introduction to classic American short story writing (though there isn't anything by Hemingway or Fitzgerald).

[Jonathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I went into this anthology with moderate expectations and came out a little disappointed. My take on most of the stories was that they relied on a single main technique or twist, and outside of that were a bit…boring. Perhaps that is an audacious statement for works which are largely considered classics and heavily anthologized, but in 2022 many of them are more than a little dated. For a collection put together in 1957 (my copy was the 1967 printing), that is only to be expected.

Let’s focus on the high points. Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener” was the best of the early works, with lively characters and amusing dialogue even if the “point” of the tale was mundane. Henry James’s “The Real Thing” also had characters you could believe in. But my favorite works clustered among the 20th-century writings. O. Henry’s “A Municipal Report” riffed off of a Frank Norris quote in an amusingly overdone way and had some great twists to the story. “Roman Fever” by Edith Wharton was a slow burn that caught fire in the final pages before ending on a mic-dropping stinger that I would consider the highlight moment of the entire anthology. “The Open Boat” by Crane and “Unlighted Lamps” by Sherwood Anderson were both quite readable. “The Wind and the Snow of Winter” was touching. But Steinbeck’s “The Snake” was my personal favorite. The main character was a well-fleshed scientist (impressive background work to on the science throughout), every detail is interesting, and his reactions to his mysterious visitor is colored perfectly. The story ends with an open question that fit everything leading up to that moment well.

One last statement about the anthology. Having a racist narrator or main character doesn’t necessarily make for a racist story. I fully understand that the racism by an unreliable narrator can be a plot device. In some stories the unreliability of the racist narrator/character is obvious, in other cases it's more subtle, and in some cases....I'm not so sure they were written as unreliable. The problem is that every mention of Black people throughout the anthology is through the lens of a racist narrator or character. It’s downright tiring. Whether the racism is being written approvingly or not, do we really have to hear the n-word or other slurs and implications every time a Black person is in a story? Perhaps a product of the times, but I wonder if there weren't other options somewhere in the history of American literature before 1957.

[Ajoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well-composed anthology of American Short Fiction. Wallace and Mary Stegner, have done a commendable effort, in attempting to present stories, that are representative of the progressive stages of development of the form in America. Stegners also provide an informed introductory essay, which further expounds upon the evolution of the American short story.

I do like the fact that they left out familiar names like Hemingway and London, and strove to include writers like Bret Harte, Mary Wilkins Freeman, Hamlin Garland and others, whom I hadn't read before. Even for known attractions like O. Henry and Sherwood Anderson, etc., the stories chosen are ones which aren't perhaps their most well known but are ones highly illustrative of their distinctive approaches.

Includes "The Open Boat", the highlight of the collection as per me, Crane's hyper-real narrative of the aftermath of a shipwreck. Frank O' Hara, "Over the River and through the Wood" was also notable, with the subtle progression to its eventual, forceful conclusion.

An excellent anthology to explore the American short story.

[Janith Pathirage · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection had some really good short stories, bunch of average stories as well as few boring ones. Wish the editor could add more modern short stories from the late 19th to early 2oth century to the anthology as most of the early 19th century stories are dated now (other than few exceptions like Rip Van Winkle). This book got short stories by some of my favorite authors like Edgar Allan Poe, Sherwood Anderson, John Steinbeck and Mark Twain. A keeper for sure.

[Marcy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of these stories were really good!

[Chris Brimmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad historically arranged anthology.

[Melanie Randle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Washington Irving "Rip Van Winkle"
Nathaniel Hawthorne "Young Goodman Brown"
Edgar Allan Poe "The Fall of House Usher"
Herman Melville "Bartleby the Scrivener"
Bret Harte "Tennessees Partner"

[Tristan Fry · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF

[Briana · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this waaaaaay back when I was in 9th grade...ah...so long ago...

I must confess, I fudged a little bit on the required reading because my cheapsk- thrifty mother made me depend on the library...which possessed only one copy of this book...and eventually, I had to give it back...

My Teacher: What did you think of that part at the end?
Everyone else: Ohhhh, it was so saaaaad...
Me: Uh...yeah...it was really sad...
My Teacher: Did you like the sailor?
Everyone else: YEAH, he was just so cool!!
Me: Um...mmhmm, totally, the awesomest character...

They say confession is good for the soul?

*EDIT*

I only had to read 7 stories out of this, and that makes me sort of happy. They weren't really really interesting short stories...I think they're the type that you have to analyze to get the whole depth and breadth of it all.

That's pretty much it...none of them were really worth talking about...

[Chris Gager · Rating 4 out of 5]

The same book I read back in prep school but a different edition/cover shown here. The one I rescued and read was the same edition I had back at Loomis. Interesting to read the same stories after so many years. I really remembered only one well:"The Shuttered Window"(or was it "The Boarded Window"?). Probably because it was creepy. Some great stories("Bartelby") and some not so great. The champ has to be "The Open Boat" by Stephen Crane. A stunner for sure..."When it came on night the white waves paced to and fro in the moonlight and the wind carried the sound of the great sea's voice to the men on shore and they felt that they could then be interpreters." That's the last line from memory. How'd I do?

[hexa6ram · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is what every short story collection should be. A faithful portrayal of it's theme - in this case American short story history. Plus, it's chronological. It starts of brilliantly, with masterfully executed ideas that are both stylistically and thematically amazing. Then we witness a decline in style, but stories are still interesting and engaging. In the end, through those pretty bad ones at the end that are difficult to read through, it becomes evident that humanity lost something in it's modern era, but that's a different story.

In short - a great read with some of the classics of American literature.

Personal favorites: Rip Van Winkle (Irving), Bartleby the Scrivener (Melville), Silent Snow Secret Snow (Aiken)

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

While there is no doubt that most of what is contained in this collection, published in 1957, fits with its title, it is a curiously lopsided sampling. Spanning 130 years of American literature, 15 of its 26 stories date to the 20th century, and 13 of those are drawn from the 25 years between 1925 and 1950. It is nearly impossible to imagine that the editors were unaware of the prejudices exhibited by their choices, but there you have it.

Enjoyable? Yes. Definitive? Hardly. But, perhaps that was not the intent?

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only had to read 10 stories in this book - for school, but I found it very interesting to read so many different styles of writing that I would not normally read for myself. Some of it is funny, some of it is really sad, and some of it is just strange. I hope to get the time to read the other 16 stories someday!

[Matt Belcroft · Rating 2 out of 5]

Short stories by some of America's greatest writers.

My two favorites from this collection are Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving and Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville.

I must be a lover of longer stories and novels because most of these stories felt like they ended too early. But that's just me.

[Barrie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just can't do the old classic shit. I don't understand their language. I don't know what I'm reading and then I finish a page and have to reread it 10 times, and even then I'm like wtf was that. Got about 50 pages in, started skipping around, and finally had to put it down.

[Noa me · Rating 1 out of 5]

this book sucks and i hope u never have to read it. im reading it 4 school.

[Smiley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Conrad Aiken's "Slent Snow, Secret Snow" is one of the best.

[Chris Gager · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read in Prep School but not all the stories. Read many years later in full. Date is a guess.

[Mohammad Aboomar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was probably the second ever English book I read. It was a great introduction to the world of American short stories.

[Sue K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was glad to get a good compilation of short stories. Did not read all of the stories, but the book provided me with authors I wanted to read.

[Don Gubler · Rating 4 out of 5]

A definitive collection.

[Tessa McKnight]

I'm reading this book for school right now.

[Sahar Mashhour]

Of these short stories, I only read The Little Wife by William March.