When we began the work of assembling short stories for this book, one of our criteria--unspoken, but there nonetheless--was that a story's narrative interest would be one of the deciding factors in our selections. We also felt that we were not out to be democratic in our selections, or even representative. There was only so much space in the anthology after all, and a limit to the number of stories we could include. Decisions had to be made that were not always easy.
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This highly acclaimed collection of short stories by American writers contains only the best literary art of the past four decades.With a bias toward realism,editors Raymond Carver and Tom Jenks have selected fiction that"tells a story"-and tells it with a masterful handling of language,situation,and insight.
But what is so special about this volume is that it mirrors our age,our concerns,and our lives.Whether it’s the end of a marriage,as in Bobbie Ann Mason’s "Shiloh"or the struggle with self-esteem and weight in Andre Dubus’s "The Fat Girl"the 36works included here probe issues that give us that "shock of recognition"that is the hallmark of great art-wonderful,absorbing fiction that will be read and reread for decades to come.