The Penguin Book of the Modern American Short Story

by John Freeman Narrated by Erin Bennett, Scott Brick, Cassandra Campbell, Frankie Corzo, Ramón de Ocampo, John Freeman, Mark Feuerstein, Kim Mai Guest, Deepti Gupta, Dominic Hoffman, Lisa Renee Pitts, George Saunders

Overview

A selection of the best and most representative contemporary American short fiction from 1970 to 2020, including such authors as Ursula K. LeGuin, Toni Cade Bambara, Jhumpa Lahiri, Sandra Cisneros, and Ted Chiang, hand-selected by celebrated editor and anthologist John Freeman.

IN THE PAST fifty years, the American short story has changed dramatically. New voices, forms, and mixtures of genres have brought this unique US genre a thrilling burst of energy. This rich anthology celebrates this avalanche of talent. Beginning in 1970, it culls together a half century of powerful American short stories from all genres, including--for the first time in a literary anthology--science fiction, horror, and fantasy, placing writers such as Usula Le Guin, Ken Liu and Stephen King next to some of the often-taught geniuses of the form--Grace Paley, Toni Cade Bambara, Sandra Cisneros, and Denis Johnson. Culling widely, Freeman, the former editor of Granta and now of his own literary annual, brings forward some astonishing work to be regarded in a new light. Often overlooked tales by Charles Johnson and Toni Morrison will recast the shape and texture of today's enlarging atmosphere of literary dialogue. Stories by Lauren Groff and Ted Chiang raise the spectre of engagement in ecocidal times. Short tales by Tobias Wolff, George Saunders, and Lydia Davis rub shoulders with near novellas by Susan Sontag and Andrew Holleran. This audiobook will be a treasure trove for listeners and teachers alike.

Editorial Reviews

JUNE 2021 - AudioFile

A brief review can only hint at the many pleasures of this fine anthology of the best short stories of the past 50 years, performed by some of the most gifted narrators working today. Every listener will single out favorites, but there are few, if any, stiffs here, and the match of story to narrator shows a shrewd understanding of the interior character and distinctive voice and tone of each story. The order is by publication date, and the stories are best experienced separately, rather than in bouts. Ranging from under five minutes to a little over an hour, these 37 modern classics will provide more than a month of rich, challenging, and deeply satisfying listening. D.A.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

From the Publisher

Freeman’s excellent introduction to this new anthology of modern short stories will be useful to readers who are unfamiliar with the format; for students of the short story, it’s a refreshing overview . . . a short story for any mood. . . . This anthology sets itself apart by providing an inclusive starting point for readers interested in discovering the power of the short story; it is golden for those who already recognize that power.” —Library Journal (starred)

“A well-selected anthology of short fiction, ranging from long to flash, representing the last half-century . . . A fresh gathering that highlights the work of mostly well-known story writers through their lesser-known works.” —Kirkus

Library Journal

★ 04/01/2021

Freeman's excellent introduction to this new anthology of modern short stories will be useful to readers who are unfamiliar with the format; for students of the short story, it's a refreshing overview. Freeman, a writer and literary critic, formerly of Lit Hub, is an executive editor at Knopf and an artist-in-residence at New York University. He sets out to cull stories that demonstrate tumult, expansion, sexual freedom, suburbanization, growth, and wealth; he's also tracking the high points of the development of the short story. These 37 distinct, previously published entries are a varied sample from the last 50 years of U.S. literature, including works of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. The table of contents is a who's who of writers: Lucia Berlin, Ted Chiang, Sandra Cisneros, Edwidge Danticat, Louise Erdrich, Ursula K. LeGuin, Jhumpa Lahiri, Ken Liu, Grace Paley, and more. Several entries are extremely brief, like Alice Walker's "The Flowers" and Jamaica Kincaid's "Girls." Percival Everett's "The Fix" explores the problem with miracles. This collection has a short story for any mood. VERDICT This anthology sets itself apart by providing an inclusive starting point for readers interested in discovering the power of the short story; it is golden for those who already recognize that power.—Joyce Sparrow, Helenwood, TN

JUNE 2021 - AudioFile

A brief review can only hint at the many pleasures of this fine anthology of the best short stories of the past 50 years, performed by some of the most gifted narrators working today. Every listener will single out favorites, but there are few, if any, stiffs here, and the match of story to narrator shows a shrewd understanding of the interior character and distinctive voice and tone of each story. The order is by publication date, and the stories are best experienced separately, rather than in bouts. Ranging from under five minutes to a little over an hour, these 37 modern classics will provide more than a month of rich, challenging, and deeply satisfying listening. D.A.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

2021-02-10
A well-selected anthology of short fiction, ranging from long to flash, representing the last half-century.

Former Granta editor Freeman writes in his introduction that where the 1960s were once seen as a fulcrum of the short story form, the succeeding decade has “begun to seem like one of the most fertile periods of American life.” Certainly that was a time when writing by members of marginalized communities, post-apocalyptic science fiction, and politically engaged reexaminations of history came to the fore. All these strands are represented in Freeman’s collection, which begins with Toni Cade Bambara, a writer not heard from often enough, whose “The Lesson,” from 1972, finds a group of Black children inside F.A.O. Schwarz under the aegis of a well-meaning college graduate who has returned to the neighborhood. The narrator, beholding a $35 clown doll (that would be about $220 today), imagines asking for the money from her mother: “ ‘You wanna who that cost what?’ she’d say, cocking her head to the side to get a better view of the hole in my head.” The exotic field trip yields one lesson for the children: “White folks crazy.” Certainly you’d think so on reading Grace Paley’s “A Conversation With My Father,” with its story within a story of a boy who has become addicted to drugs in “the fist of adolescence” and whose mother, not wishing him to feel isolated, joins him in junkiedom. Andrew Holleran evokes the ravages of the AIDS epidemic in “The Penthouse,” a long story from 1999 that is full of ghosts but scores the comic aperçu that because sex is off the table, “it seemed as if that was all there was to do in New York: eat in public.” George Saunders packs a story into 392 words; finally recognized as a literary writer, Stephen King turns in a characteristically spooky tale; and the closing stories, from Ted Chiang and Lauren Groff, speak to impending extinction, death, and fear.

A fresh gathering that highlights the work of mostly well-known story writers through their lesser-known works.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940173272720
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	05/04/2021
Edition description:	Unabridged

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