Charmed Lives: Classic English Short Stories

by T.S. Dorsch

The four volumes of "Classic English short stories" have been compiled to reflect the variety of short fiction written in English during the 20th century. Each volume covers a different period and represents the most distinguished writers of their day. This collection contains stories written in English in the 1950s and 1960s, many by authors living in countries as diverse as Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, South Africa, Nigeria and the West Indies. T.S.Dorsch has made the selection and added a preface and biographical notes.

256 pages, Paperback

First published August 4, 1988

Reviews

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A 60s collection that recalled the stories I grew up reading – mostly solid, coming of age (children misunderstanding the adult world) stuff or eccentric characters given their head. There were 3 or 4 great ones – e.g. the opener Mary Lavin’s The Great Wave was astonishing: moving and disorienting and visceral, and the closing ‘A Wedding in Spring’ by George Lamming, about a black West Indian marrying a white woman in 50s London, a sprightly comedy farce (‘Caruso never travelled without his gang: Slip Disk, Toodles and Square Dick; then there was Lice Preserver, Gunner, Crim, Clarke Gable Number Two, and the young Sir Winston.’). There were 3 or 4 very good (HE Bates, Gordimer, Jhabvala, Sansom), some not bad (L E Jones, John Wain) and some boring (Ustinov, Angus Wilson).