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Short Story Masterpieces by American Women Writers
Fourteen short works of fiction by noteworthy American women authors offer entrancing tales of redemption, betrayal, tradition, and rebellion. Dating from the nineteenth to twenty-first centuries, these narratives range in mood from "Heat," Joyce Carol Oates's chilling tale of murder, to "Why I Live at the P.O.," Eudora Welty's comic monologue in the Southern Gothic tradition.
Other contributors include Flannery O'Connor, Kate Chopin, and Edna Ferber as well as lesser-known, newly rediscovered writers. Edith Wharton examines the issue of divorce and remarriage in "The Other Two," and Willa Cather explores life among Greenwich Village artists at the turn of the twentieth century in "Coming, Aphrodite!" Stories with modern settings include Alice Walker's "Everyday Use," an insightful look at the role of heritage in African-American culture, and Louise Erdrich's "The Shawl," a meditation on memory and the transformation of old stories into new ones. Together, the tales offer a revealing panorama of perspectives on women's ongoing struggles for dignity and self-sufficiency.
Dover Original.
Other contributors include Flannery O'Connor, Kate Chopin, and Edna Ferber as well as lesser-known, newly rediscovered writers. Edith Wharton examines the issue of divorce and remarriage in "The Other Two," and Willa Cather explores life among Greenwich Village artists at the turn of the twentieth century in "Coming, Aphrodite!" Stories with modern settings include Alice Walker's "Everyday Use," an insightful look at the role of heritage in African-American culture, and Louise Erdrich's "The Shawl," a meditation on memory and the transformation of old stories into new ones. Together, the tales offer a revealing panorama of perspectives on women's ongoing struggles for dignity and self-sufficiency.
Dover Original.
- GenresShort StoriesFiction
240 pages, Paperback
First published August 14, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
June 18, 2014
ARC for review.
*****A brief check-in to say that I am LOVING this book. If you are a short story person, put it on your list!
No hyperbole in the title....these really are masterpieces. You know, when you are in college you tend to read lots of different short stories by many different authors (thank you Norton Anthologies. Or not.). And then, you get older and unless you are a better person than me and read the types of cool magazines that still purchase and print short fiction (God bless them....the spirit is willing but time is short) then I think many of us tend toward novels or non-fiction and, perhaps, the occasional short story collection by a favorite author. I know there are great collections out there, but i just don't get to them and, based on how much I enjoyed this, I'm the loser.
The selection are presented in chronological order and include a brief biography of the writer. Some of the names were familiar (Joyce Carol Oates, naturally, Flannery O'Connor (in the only story in the collection I had already read, "The Life You Save May Be Your Own"), Alice Walker, Eudora Welty) and others weren't (how I have never heard of Constance Fenimore Woolson or Ellen Glasgow? Glasgow won the Pulitzer!).
My personal favorites were "Roast Beef, Medium" by Edna Ferber, "Coming, Aphrodite!" by Willa Cather and "The Shawl" by Louise Erdrich, but, honestly, there's not a dud in the bunch. Definitely worth your time.
*****A brief check-in to say that I am LOVING this book. If you are a short story person, put it on your list!
No hyperbole in the title....these really are masterpieces. You know, when you are in college you tend to read lots of different short stories by many different authors (thank you Norton Anthologies. Or not.). And then, you get older and unless you are a better person than me and read the types of cool magazines that still purchase and print short fiction (God bless them....the spirit is willing but time is short) then I think many of us tend toward novels or non-fiction and, perhaps, the occasional short story collection by a favorite author. I know there are great collections out there, but i just don't get to them and, based on how much I enjoyed this, I'm the loser.
The selection are presented in chronological order and include a brief biography of the writer. Some of the names were familiar (Joyce Carol Oates, naturally, Flannery O'Connor (in the only story in the collection I had already read, "The Life You Save May Be Your Own"), Alice Walker, Eudora Welty) and others weren't (how I have never heard of Constance Fenimore Woolson or Ellen Glasgow? Glasgow won the Pulitzer!).
My personal favorites were "Roast Beef, Medium" by Edna Ferber, "Coming, Aphrodite!" by Willa Cather and "The Shawl" by Louise Erdrich, but, honestly, there's not a dud in the bunch. Definitely worth your time.
August 6, 2021
I’m very selective about the books I read.
Life is too darned short to put in the time only to be disappointed.
Therefore, I do my research before I buy/read.
I also want to know about the author.
All things considered, I’m rarely disappointed.
I occasionally enjoy these types of compilations of various authors as I usually find one or more new to me.
In this volume there were two stories I had read previously: Desiree’s Baby by Kate Chopin and The Other Two by Edith Wharton. Both are excellent.
Desiree’s Baby reminds me, in style, of The Necklace by de Maupassant.
There were a few authors new to me, but my favorite story was the humorous Why I Live at the P.O. by Eudora Welty.
I couldn’t get enough of Mama, Papa-Daddy, Uncle Rondo, Stella-Rondo and 2 year old adopted(?) Shirley-T.
Great laughs.
Life is too darned short to put in the time only to be disappointed.
Therefore, I do my research before I buy/read.
I also want to know about the author.
All things considered, I’m rarely disappointed.
I occasionally enjoy these types of compilations of various authors as I usually find one or more new to me.
In this volume there were two stories I had read previously: Desiree’s Baby by Kate Chopin and The Other Two by Edith Wharton. Both are excellent.
Desiree’s Baby reminds me, in style, of The Necklace by de Maupassant.
There were a few authors new to me, but my favorite story was the humorous Why I Live at the P.O. by Eudora Welty.
I couldn’t get enough of Mama, Papa-Daddy, Uncle Rondo, Stella-Rondo and 2 year old adopted(?) Shirley-T.
Great laughs.
December 3, 2014
For a complete review, visit my blog: http://bookbindersdaughter.wordpress....
One of the most common comments that I get from people when find out that I review books and have a blog is that they don’t have time to read. If you truly want to work more reading into your schedule and lack the time, then I highly recommend giving short stories a try. Even if you read for only 5 minutes a day, you will be exposed to some fantastic writing, especially in this collection of SHORT STORY MASTERPIECES BY AMERICAN WOMEN WRITERS.
June 13, 2014
This new anthology of 14 stories by acclaimed American women authors follows on from an earlier volume from the same publisher entitled Great Short Stories by American Women. This new collection has stories from famous names such as Edith Wharton and Alice Walker, but also offers one from the now little remembered Constance Fenimore Wilson, a great friend of Henry James, and the virtually unknown Mary E Wilkins Freeman. So there’s much variety of style and subject matter to be enjoyed here, and as each one comes with a short biographical note, the book provides a very interesting selection of women's writings from the 19th to the 21st century.
February 5, 2026
This is an interesting collection of short stories, containing a nice variety of American women authors - some of them household names to this day, and others who were quite popular in their time but are less known now. I thought that some of these stories were excellent and quite powerful, and others had less of an impact on me - kind of expected for a short story collection of such variety. While I enjoyed most of them, and am glad I read them, the ones that resonated the most (and seemed like they will stick with me) were "Desiree's Baby," by Kate Chopin; "England to America," by Margaret Prescott Montague; "The Shadowy Third," by Ellen Glasgow; "Gal Young Un," by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings; and "Everyday Use," by Alice Walker. And the ones that grabbed me by the throat and won't let go were "The Life You Save May Be Your Own," by Flannery O'Connor; "Heat," by Joyce Carol Oates; and "The Shawl," by Louise Erdrich.
June 8, 2020
the thing that's great about reading best-of anthologies is that the short stories really are all good! I gotta do more of this! For me the highlights were the Eudora Welty (hilarious) the Willa Cather (I'm predictable) and the Louise Erdrich (I haven't loved the other works I've read by her, but The Shawl was stellar)
While I do commend the editor for both the selection of 14 great stories and the organization and introductions to each of the authors, I also do feel like I have to note that out of the 14 stories there were only 2 authors of color represented and only 1 black woman. Which is not great. I know WHY it's like that but that doesn't make it less not great!
While I do commend the editor for both the selection of 14 great stories and the organization and introductions to each of the authors, I also do feel like I have to note that out of the 14 stories there were only 2 authors of color represented and only 1 black woman. Which is not great. I know WHY it's like that but that doesn't make it less not great!
April 18, 2021
Each of the great fourteen short stories in this collection is preceded by a brief bio of the author providing a bit of history not only of that particular woman but of the times in which she wrote. The "Note" at the beginning mentions a previous volume Great Short Stores by American Women -notice the slightly different title - which I plan to find and read.
Favorites: The Shawl (Louise Erdrich), The Shadowy Third (Ellen Glasgow) and Miss Grief (Constance Fenimore Woolson)
Favorites: The Shawl (Louise Erdrich), The Shadowy Third (Ellen Glasgow) and Miss Grief (Constance Fenimore Woolson)
January 23, 2023
A fascinating anthology that goes from a story"Miss Grief" by Constance Fenimore Woolson (pub. 1880) to "The Shawl" by Louise Erdich (pub. 2001). Those were two of my favorites, but all the stories have something to offer about the times in which they were written and being human, American, rich, poor, etc, in those times.
November 29, 2023
I read this book as part of a course on American short story writers. The collection includes story by some lesser known authors and also well known such as Edith Wharton, Willa Cather, and Flannery O'Connor. My personal favorite was the Shadowy Third by Ellen Glasgow out of the horror genre.
April 5, 2020
Awesome collection of short stories, displaying both well written craft and historical reflection. A broad cross section of stories form a diverse time frame ... definitely worth a read.
May 23, 2021
I really enjoyed this collection. The stories are varied and speak to the nature of being human.
June 4, 2022
A worthy collection. Some stories are better than others.
Read
September 28, 2022read for class —
i rated the stories individually because there was such a wide range of quality and my opinions and ratings differed so much it was hard to give this collection a singular rating.
i rated the stories individually because there was such a wide range of quality and my opinions and ratings differed so much it was hard to give this collection a singular rating.
November 23, 2022
Excellent and eclectic selections of timeless stories. Perfect for classroom, summer reading, school libraries.
January 24, 2026
I loved almost every single one of these stories, a great collection for sure
January 1, 2015
My thanks goes to Dover Publications for the ARC via NetGalley.
This anthology is exactly what it purports to be - a collection of short fiction written by well-known and slightly lesser-known female literary figures. The stories are entertaining and accessible, of various genres and complexity, and the very short introductions at the beginning of each do a good job placing the works and their authors in the context of the larger picture. It is an altogether brilliant method of sampling the work of writer and deciding whether to research her further, and it goes a lot way towards parting the curtains of time and blowing the dust off a significant, but unfortunately neglected part of literary achievement. The fact that this bears repeating in our so-called modern society is sad, but women can write, have written, and continue to write a lot and continue to write well, and deserve anthologies of their own, especially since they live in a world where their work is often looked down upon, elbowed out of collections and left to gather cobwebs.
An additional thing of note is that we are talking about the art of the short story, in its own way neglected in favour of the novel, so I wonder if it would be too much to say that this anthology focuses on a special kind of literary intersectionality.
Aimed at academic and general audiences alike, the collection covers a time-span of about one hundred years.
This anthology is exactly what it purports to be - a collection of short fiction written by well-known and slightly lesser-known female literary figures. The stories are entertaining and accessible, of various genres and complexity, and the very short introductions at the beginning of each do a good job placing the works and their authors in the context of the larger picture. It is an altogether brilliant method of sampling the work of writer and deciding whether to research her further, and it goes a lot way towards parting the curtains of time and blowing the dust off a significant, but unfortunately neglected part of literary achievement. The fact that this bears repeating in our so-called modern society is sad, but women can write, have written, and continue to write a lot and continue to write well, and deserve anthologies of their own, especially since they live in a world where their work is often looked down upon, elbowed out of collections and left to gather cobwebs.
An additional thing of note is that we are talking about the art of the short story, in its own way neglected in favour of the novel, so I wonder if it would be too much to say that this anthology focuses on a special kind of literary intersectionality.
Aimed at academic and general audiences alike, the collection covers a time-span of about one hundred years.
June 12, 2014
When approaching short story collections, I usually look for a compelling theme, something that ties them together. Here the only thing that ties these stories together is, that they are written by women. Culturally and stylishly the individual stories have nothing in common, having a female as their lead in not enough to create a common thread.
Individually speaking, some of these stories are riveting, others are simply included because they were written by women, it seemed, neither fitting in quality nor style into the rest of the collection. I am usually a fan of short fiction, flash or conventional, but it does take the skill to cut the necessary, bring a story to its bare bones, not leave (as some stories in this volume), leave the meat, but loose some of the structure.
Individually these authors, I am sure are interesting, and I will take the time to find more works from them, especially Joyce Carol Oates, who with "Heat" is the best story of the collection.
If you are interested in short stories, there are better collections out there. But there are also worse.
For more reviews visit: http://mylittleavalon.wordpress.com
Individually speaking, some of these stories are riveting, others are simply included because they were written by women, it seemed, neither fitting in quality nor style into the rest of the collection. I am usually a fan of short fiction, flash or conventional, but it does take the skill to cut the necessary, bring a story to its bare bones, not leave (as some stories in this volume), leave the meat, but loose some of the structure.
Individually these authors, I am sure are interesting, and I will take the time to find more works from them, especially Joyce Carol Oates, who with "Heat" is the best story of the collection.
If you are interested in short stories, there are better collections out there. But there are also worse.
For more reviews visit: http://mylittleavalon.wordpress.com
March 20, 2016
I'm not always a big fan of short stories, but I really enjoyed this collection. There were a few stories that I didn't love, but most of them were really enjoyable. I also thought there was a good mix of stories and authors. Overall, is was definitely worth reading.
Received from NetGalley.
Received from NetGalley.
July 6, 2014
I liked this book, its about short story writers who are universally acknowledge because they wrote classics which make lasting impressions using imagination and intensity and ar rich in genre.
January 13, 2016
I got this book free through Goodreads giveaways.
I enjoyed a few of the stories, but overall not an exceptional collection.
I enjoyed a few of the stories, but overall not an exceptional collection.
August 16, 2014
Given To Me For An Honest Review
This book was even better than I had thought. The short stories inside were very good. I enjoyed reading it and I highly recommend it to all.
This book was even better than I had thought. The short stories inside were very good. I enjoyed reading it and I highly recommend it to all.
September 23, 2015
Enjoyed these short stories by so many female literary giants.
October 30, 2014
What a collection of stories. What craft.
November 17, 2014
Best collection of short stories I have ever read. Usually I like a couple but find many short stories frustrating or pointless. I enjoyed almost every story in this collection, highly recommended!
June 16, 2017
Fascinating reading the differences in women through several centuries: the authors and their characters. Especially interesting the contributions to African American and Native American histories.
December 18, 2019
I give it 2 1/2 stars.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews