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The Best American Short Stories 1996: Selected from U.S. and Canadian Magazines
Each fall The Best American Short Stories provides a fresh showcase for the rich and unpredictable story form. Selected from an unusually wide variety of publications, John Edgar Wideman's choices for 1996 place stories from esteemed magazines alongside selections from some of the smallest and most innovative literary journals.
Among the dazzling new stories from favorite authors is Mary Gordon's "Intertextuality", in which a sentence by Proust propels the narrator into an intricate portrait of her Irish American grandmother. From Robert Olen Butler comes the wry and warm tale "Jealous Husband Returns in Form of Parrot", in which a man learns the consequences of marital distrust. In "Complicities", Alice Adams with her customary finesse contrasts the stinging vulnerability of early adolescence with the burdens and pleasures of midlife.
Among the dazzling new stories from favorite authors is Mary Gordon's "Intertextuality", in which a sentence by Proust propels the narrator into an intricate portrait of her Irish American grandmother. From Robert Olen Butler comes the wry and warm tale "Jealous Husband Returns in Form of Parrot", in which a man learns the consequences of marital distrust. In "Complicities", Alice Adams with her customary finesse contrasts the stinging vulnerability of early adolescence with the burdens and pleasures of midlife.
384 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
11 people are currently reading
255 people want to read
About the author
John Edgar Wideman
95 books408 followersA widely-celebrated writer and the winner of many literary awards, he is the first to win the International PEN/Faulkner Award twice: in 1984 for Sent for You Yesterday and in 1990 for Philadelphia Fire. In 2000 he won the O. Henry Award for his short story "Weight", published in The Callaloo Journal.
In March, 2010, he self-published "Briefs," a new collection of microstories, on Lulu.com. Stories from the book have already been selected for the O Henry Prize for 2010 and the Best African-American Fiction 2010 award.
His nonfiction book Brothers and Keepers received a National Book Award. He grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA and much of his writing is set there, especially in the Homewood neighborhood of the East End. He graduated from Pittsburgh's Peabody High School, then attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he became an All-Ivy League forward on the basketball team. He was the second African-American to win a Rhodes Scholarship (New College, Oxford University, England), graduating in 1966. He also graduated from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop.
Critics Circle nomination, and his memoir Fatheralong was a finalist for the National Book Award. He is also the recipient of a MacArthur genius grant. Wideman was chosen as winner of the Rea Award for the Short Story in 1998, for outstanding achievement in that genre. In 1997, his novel The Cattle Killing won the James Fenimore Cooper Prize for Best Historical Fiction.
He has taught at the University of Wyoming, University of Pennsylvania, where he founded and chaired the African American Studies Department, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst's MFA Program for Poets & Writers. He currently teaches at Brown University, and he sits on the contributing editorial board of the literary journal Conjunctions.
In March, 2010, he self-published "Briefs," a new collection of microstories, on Lulu.com. Stories from the book have already been selected for the O Henry Prize for 2010 and the Best African-American Fiction 2010 award.
His nonfiction book Brothers and Keepers received a National Book Award. He grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA and much of his writing is set there, especially in the Homewood neighborhood of the East End. He graduated from Pittsburgh's Peabody High School, then attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he became an All-Ivy League forward on the basketball team. He was the second African-American to win a Rhodes Scholarship (New College, Oxford University, England), graduating in 1966. He also graduated from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop.
Critics Circle nomination, and his memoir Fatheralong was a finalist for the National Book Award. He is also the recipient of a MacArthur genius grant. Wideman was chosen as winner of the Rea Award for the Short Story in 1998, for outstanding achievement in that genre. In 1997, his novel The Cattle Killing won the James Fenimore Cooper Prize for Best Historical Fiction.
He has taught at the University of Wyoming, University of Pennsylvania, where he founded and chaired the African American Studies Department, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst's MFA Program for Poets & Writers. He currently teaches at Brown University, and he sits on the contributing editorial board of the literary journal Conjunctions.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
April 6, 2009
So far Driving the Heart by Jason Brown is the best story. It's about a kid employeed as a courier who delivers donated transplant parts to hospitals, mostly at night. Every hour he has to make a call to determine if the patient waiting is still alive.
May 20, 2016
A lot more hits than misses this time around.
July 28, 2017
There were some absolutely marvelous stories in this collection and some that I was less impressed by, but on the whole it was a nice array of short fiction. I was amazed by the sheer number of stories that were old in first-person. Sixteen of the twenty-four stories were first-person tales (not counting the one piece of epistolary fiction). I often like work in the first person, but I would be interested to see if that was a function of the 1996 editor (does he have a particular affection for first-person work?), of literary short fiction in the states more broadly (is first-person fiction that much more common in short stories than in novels?), or of the fiction published in 1996, since, like the Best American Poetry series, the Best American Short Stories provides a nice snapshot of successful short fiction for the year.
I particularly liked "Driving the Heart" by Jason Brown, "Jealous Husband Returns As Parrot" by Robert Olen Butler, "The Eve of the Spirit Festival" by Lan Samantha Chang, "Ysrael" by Junot Diaz (which I read in Drown), "The Incredible Appearing Man" by Deborah Galyan, "Bright Winter" by Anna Keesey, "A Strand of Fables" by William Lychack and "Some Say the World" by Susan Perabo. ("The Eve of the Spirit Festival,]," "Bright Winter," and "A Strand of Fables," were my top three stories.) I don't know if there is much of a connecting thread between these stories, although they tend towards the soft, towards the memorial, and towards the fantastical (I think).
I did not like Peter Ho Davies's "The Silver Screen" or Akhil Sharma's "If you Sing Like That for Me," but I couldn't really say why. The rest of the stories, I thought were fine, but I didn't love them. As an anthology, I found it took itself very seriously, most of the stories being standard (almost to the point of tropes) literary fiction fair in terms of theme and topic, straightforward explorations of family, loss, drugs, poverty, and pain. A lovely collection, in a lot of ways exactly what I expected from the series, although I was a tad disappointed that I didn't fall in love with more of the pieces, given the promise that it is the "Best" short stories published in its period, but no anthology is going to perfectly satisfy every reader with every story.
I particularly liked "Driving the Heart" by Jason Brown, "Jealous Husband Returns As Parrot" by Robert Olen Butler, "The Eve of the Spirit Festival" by Lan Samantha Chang, "Ysrael" by Junot Diaz (which I read in Drown), "The Incredible Appearing Man" by Deborah Galyan, "Bright Winter" by Anna Keesey, "A Strand of Fables" by William Lychack and "Some Say the World" by Susan Perabo. ("The Eve of the Spirit Festival,]," "Bright Winter," and "A Strand of Fables," were my top three stories.) I don't know if there is much of a connecting thread between these stories, although they tend towards the soft, towards the memorial, and towards the fantastical (I think).
I did not like Peter Ho Davies's "The Silver Screen" or Akhil Sharma's "If you Sing Like That for Me," but I couldn't really say why. The rest of the stories, I thought were fine, but I didn't love them. As an anthology, I found it took itself very seriously, most of the stories being standard (almost to the point of tropes) literary fiction fair in terms of theme and topic, straightforward explorations of family, loss, drugs, poverty, and pain. A lovely collection, in a lot of ways exactly what I expected from the series, although I was a tad disappointed that I didn't fall in love with more of the pieces, given the promise that it is the "Best" short stories published in its period, but no anthology is going to perfectly satisfy every reader with every story.
April 5, 2018
This review is only for the stories that I will mention below and not the entirety of this work.
"Complicities" by Alice Adams was my favourite. It deals with anorexia, pedophilia and the wrongs of the human mind and soul. All of this she does in barely 6 pages. Magnificent.
"The Eve of the Spirit Festival" by Lan Samantha Chang, my second favourite. It deals with family, identity, loss, parent-child relationships, immigrant experience, escapism. I could sit and analyze this story, and with it write a 30-page essay, and barely scrap the surface.
"Ysrael" by Junot Diaz. I cannot say anything about this one because I am still extremely confused over what the hell that was about. I truly have no idea what to think, I don't even know if I liked it.
"Sleep" by Stephen Dixon I adored, because it was the one that made me cry. It deals with loss and the desire to "sleep" and how this desire evolved from having someone you love suffering/dying by you on your bed.
"Intersexuality" by Mary Gordon. This one left me wanting more of her writing, it was very, very good.
"In Roseau" by Jamaica Kincaid. Kincaid delivered a very deep layered story with only a few pages, beauty on paper.
"Ghost Girls" by Joyce Carol Oates. Well everyone loves her, her works are great, this is another of those.
"Complicities" by Alice Adams was my favourite. It deals with anorexia, pedophilia and the wrongs of the human mind and soul. All of this she does in barely 6 pages. Magnificent.
"The Eve of the Spirit Festival" by Lan Samantha Chang, my second favourite. It deals with family, identity, loss, parent-child relationships, immigrant experience, escapism. I could sit and analyze this story, and with it write a 30-page essay, and barely scrap the surface.
"Ysrael" by Junot Diaz. I cannot say anything about this one because I am still extremely confused over what the hell that was about. I truly have no idea what to think, I don't even know if I liked it.
"Sleep" by Stephen Dixon I adored, because it was the one that made me cry. It deals with loss and the desire to "sleep" and how this desire evolved from having someone you love suffering/dying by you on your bed.
"Intersexuality" by Mary Gordon. This one left me wanting more of her writing, it was very, very good.
"In Roseau" by Jamaica Kincaid. Kincaid delivered a very deep layered story with only a few pages, beauty on paper.
"Ghost Girls" by Joyce Carol Oates. Well everyone loves her, her works are great, this is another of those.
June 10, 2017
Phew! Blasted through this one in 12 days after taking nearly 2.5 months a piece for the last two editions. What's more, I liked just about every story in this collection, an exceedingly rare thing. I don't think there's been a more consistent BASS edition since Ann Beattie's 1987 editorial turn nine years previous. Even the authors I didn't much care for in the past turned in good-to-great pieces this time around.
Favorites of the bunch:
* Rick Bass - "Fires"
* Robert Olen Butler - "Jealous Husband Returns in Form of Parrot"
* Dan Chaon - "Fitting Ends"
* Peter Ho Davies - "The Silver Screen"
* Stephen Dixon - "Sleep"
Honorable mentions:
* Jean Thompson - "All Shall Love Me and Despair"
* David Huddle - "Past My Future"
* Anna Keesey - "Bright Winter"
Favorites of the bunch:
* Rick Bass - "Fires"
* Robert Olen Butler - "Jealous Husband Returns in Form of Parrot"
* Dan Chaon - "Fitting Ends"
* Peter Ho Davies - "The Silver Screen"
* Stephen Dixon - "Sleep"
Honorable mentions:
* Jean Thompson - "All Shall Love Me and Despair"
* David Huddle - "Past My Future"
* Anna Keesey - "Bright Winter"
Read
April 29, 2018I particularly enjoyed All Shall Love Me and Despair by Jean Thompson for its beautiful use of language and non-linear story telling that starts and ends with the same scene.
In Intertextuality by Mary Gordon, the narrator reevaluates her opinion of her grandmother, triggered by the words "summer house," in a passage by Proust. She recalls the sadness her grandmother felt when her children renovated her home without permission, and the cruel rejection of grandmother's never-realized plan to build a "summer house" for the narrator.
In Intertextuality by Mary Gordon, the narrator reevaluates her opinion of her grandmother, triggered by the words "summer house," in a passage by Proust. She recalls the sadness her grandmother felt when her children renovated her home without permission, and the cruel rejection of grandmother's never-realized plan to build a "summer house" for the narrator.
February 12, 2009
The first collection I read in this series. Contains one of the best short stories I've ever found, 'Some Say the World' (brilliant) and a personal favorite short story, 'The Incredible Appearing Man.'
November 26, 2012
I am solely giving this 4 stars because I have been in love with the short story "JEALOUS HUSBAND RETURNS IN FORM OF PARROT" by Robert Olen Butler for 15 years. This is the first book I read it in. It is another example of masterful narrative ventriloquism. I love it.
January 19, 2008
Where my love for Stuart Dybek truly began.
April 18, 2009
A mixed bag, as collections tend to be. Some really good stories, and some that I could hardly get myself through...
September 3, 2011
This rating is for the story DRIVING THE HEART.
October 17, 2013
I enjoyed all of these and hope to buy more of these collections. I've always been a fan of the short story.
February 9, 2017
Stuart Dybek in Paper Lantern - on Bix Beiderbecke the coronet player - "Bix's sound came out like a girl saying yes."
April 9, 2025
4/8/25
Best American Short Stories, 1996 by Wideman & Kenison
Added: TO READ: March 31, 2025
STARTED: 3/31/25.
Purchased off of ebay. $4.02 (including shipping).
The stories:
1. Complicities: eating disorder + adolescence, 3 stars.
2. Fires: lost opportunities, unrequited love, regret. Great story: 4.5 stars
3. Driving the Heart: 5 stars - just 5 stars.
4. Jealous Husband/Parrot: A side road to the unusual, quaint. 4 starts.
5. Eve of Spirit Festival: Family dynamics, life and death 4.5 stars.
6. Fitting Ends: There is darkness in all of us. 5 stars.
7. Silver Screen: Too violent for me, great writing though. 3.5 stars.
8. Ysrael: DNF- not images I could handle
9. Sleep: Something painfully familiar: 4 stars.
10. Paper Lanterns: I don’t remember
11. The Incredible Appearing Man: Weakness in us all, what love is? 5 stars.
12. Intertextuality: Sometimes the greatest pains must be silent: 4. Stars.
13. Past My Future: DNF, Unpleasant subject.
14. Bright Winter: Told in letters, emotionally compelling. 5 stars.
15. In Roseau: Trigger warnings, sad. 3.5 stars.
16. Shades: Absent Father intersection, well done: 5 stars.
17. A Stand of Fables: Lovely! 5 stars.
18. Ghost Girls: 4 stars
19. Sculpture 1: Indifference and connection. 4 stars.
20. Some Say The World: Compelling 4.5 stars.
21. Halawa Valley: Grasping at things out of reach but can barely touch: 4.5 stars.
22. If You Sing Like That For Me: Stunning Realization: 5 stars.
23. All Shall Love Me and Despair: Drug addiction - had to DNF (not fault of writer)
24. Xmas, Jamaica Plain: Love, tragedy, lost souls: 4 stars.
FINISHED 4/8/25
Adele Horne /fb: wv libraries and books
Best American Short Stories, 1996 by Wideman & Kenison
Added: TO READ: March 31, 2025
STARTED: 3/31/25.
Purchased off of ebay. $4.02 (including shipping).
The stories:
1. Complicities: eating disorder + adolescence, 3 stars.
2. Fires: lost opportunities, unrequited love, regret. Great story: 4.5 stars
3. Driving the Heart: 5 stars - just 5 stars.
4. Jealous Husband/Parrot: A side road to the unusual, quaint. 4 starts.
5. Eve of Spirit Festival: Family dynamics, life and death 4.5 stars.
6. Fitting Ends: There is darkness in all of us. 5 stars.
7. Silver Screen: Too violent for me, great writing though. 3.5 stars.
8. Ysrael: DNF- not images I could handle
9. Sleep: Something painfully familiar: 4 stars.
10. Paper Lanterns: I don’t remember
11. The Incredible Appearing Man: Weakness in us all, what love is? 5 stars.
12. Intertextuality: Sometimes the greatest pains must be silent: 4. Stars.
13. Past My Future: DNF, Unpleasant subject.
14. Bright Winter: Told in letters, emotionally compelling. 5 stars.
15. In Roseau: Trigger warnings, sad. 3.5 stars.
16. Shades: Absent Father intersection, well done: 5 stars.
17. A Stand of Fables: Lovely! 5 stars.
18. Ghost Girls: 4 stars
19. Sculpture 1: Indifference and connection. 4 stars.
20. Some Say The World: Compelling 4.5 stars.
21. Halawa Valley: Grasping at things out of reach but can barely touch: 4.5 stars.
22. If You Sing Like That For Me: Stunning Realization: 5 stars.
23. All Shall Love Me and Despair: Drug addiction - had to DNF (not fault of writer)
24. Xmas, Jamaica Plain: Love, tragedy, lost souls: 4 stars.
FINISHED 4/8/25
Adele Horne /fb: wv libraries and books
March 1, 2021
First complete reading. When I bought it, Joyce Carol Oates was the only writer I knew out of 24. Now, I'm up to 6, plus David Huddle who was my mentor my last year in grad school. I skimmed the stories during first reading. If the subject didn't intrigue me, I didn't like it. So I shrugged and put the book on the shelf. What arrogance! Clearly, I didn't know how to read short stories.
Every story in this anthology is brilliant, meticulous. Characters you could recognize on the street. Stories that break your heart or make you laugh out loud.
Reading it is a mea culpa for ignoring a wonderful gift.
Every story in this anthology is brilliant, meticulous. Characters you could recognize on the street. Stories that break your heart or make you laugh out loud.
Reading it is a mea culpa for ignoring a wonderful gift.
July 22, 2023
Best: Silver Screen/Peter Ho Davies, Xmas Jamaica Plain/Melanie Rae Thon, Intertextuality/Mary Gordon, Fires/Rick Bass, Sculpture I/Angela Patrinos Papter Lantern/Stuart Dybek. Sleep/Stephen Dixon & In Roseau/Jamaica Kincaid Good: Fitting ENds/Dan Chaon, Eve of the Spirit Fest/Lan Samantha Chang, Driving the Heart/Jason Brown, Incredible Appearing Man/Galyan, Bright Winter/Anna Keesey & Jealous Husband Returns in Form of Parrot/Butler
October 31, 2020
The impressive stories in this collection were: “Fitting Ends” by Dan Chaon; “Sleep” by Stephen Dixon; “The Incredible Appearing Man” by Deborah Galyan; “Intertextuality” by Mary Gordon; “The Trip to Halawa Valley” by Lynne Sharon Schwartz; “All Shall Love Me and Despair” by Jean Thompson; and “Xmas, Jamaica Plain” by Melanie Rae Thon.
June 14, 2022
There was maybe one short story I liked, and the rest were, meh. Two, if you can believe this, involved 14 and 15 year old girls (respectively) involved in sexual relationships with decades older men, with no compunction, ramifications, or reasoning behind it. Really?! What does this say about Wideman?
November 22, 2022
I read this one over the course of about a year, stowing it away at a family vacation house. This might be my favorite Best American Collection so far? A lot of variety, a lot of good writing.
But here are the three standouts for me:
Complicites by Alice Adams
This is a story about a girl with an eating disorder, which I imagine was already a tired subject in 1996 (I am currently reading The Best American Short Stories 1994 and the second story features a girl with an eating disorder). What's more, it features a young girl in a relationship with a creepy old man! Another warhorse topic in literary short stories. But Adams finds a really compelling angle on both topics. It surprised me in the best way. You can read this story for free at the Michigan Quarterly Review.
The Eve of the Spirit Festival by Lan Samantha Chang
The tale of a girl, her sister, her father, and her dead mother. I thought that it was really moving and gorgeous. And it gets the Bay Area right. You can read it for free on JSTOR (you just have to create an account).
In Roseau by Jamaica Kincaid
I'm a big fan of Kincaid's writing, so I was looking forward to reading this from the moment I found this collection at a library sale, and it did not disappoint. The way that it talks about the intersections between class, race, gender, education, the toll they take on the life of a young teenage girl, and how she finds her way through to adulthood is startling and gorgeous. Available from The New Yorker .
But here are the three standouts for me:
Complicites by Alice Adams
This is a story about a girl with an eating disorder, which I imagine was already a tired subject in 1996 (I am currently reading The Best American Short Stories 1994 and the second story features a girl with an eating disorder). What's more, it features a young girl in a relationship with a creepy old man! Another warhorse topic in literary short stories. But Adams finds a really compelling angle on both topics. It surprised me in the best way. You can read this story for free at the Michigan Quarterly Review.
The Eve of the Spirit Festival by Lan Samantha Chang
The tale of a girl, her sister, her father, and her dead mother. I thought that it was really moving and gorgeous. And it gets the Bay Area right. You can read it for free on JSTOR (you just have to create an account).
In Roseau by Jamaica Kincaid
I'm a big fan of Kincaid's writing, so I was looking forward to reading this from the moment I found this collection at a library sale, and it did not disappoint. The way that it talks about the intersections between class, race, gender, education, the toll they take on the life of a young teenage girl, and how she finds her way through to adulthood is startling and gorgeous. Available from The New Yorker .
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews