Reading the Short Story

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Best American Short Stories in 100 Years

As you probably know, to arrive at a judgment as to what are the "Best" American short stories for the year, the series editor Heidi Pitlor reads stories from approximately 300 nationally distributed American or Canadian periodicals to come up with what she thinks are the 120 "Best." She then sends them to a guest editor who chooses what he or she thinks are the 20 "Best" stories out of those 120. Pitlor writes a brief "Foreword," the guest editor writes a brief "Introduction." Each author of the 20 chosen stories writes a "Contributor" note, which includes a one-paragraph bio and a few paragraphs about the story, usually its origin and development. A list of the 100 stories chosen by Pitlor but not by the guest editor is appended.

In her Foreword this year, Pitlor reminds us that the 2015 volume is the hundredth volume of The Best American Short Stories. To commemorate the centennial celebration of the series, American short story writer Lorrie Moore chose 40 stories from the more than two thousand that have been published in the series over the years, and Heidi Pitlor provides some commentary on the trends marked by the stories decade by decade.

Here is the table of contents of the centennial volume 100 Years of the Best American Short Stories

1915-1920
1917 EDNA FERBER-The Gay Old Dog
1920-1930
1921 SHERWOOD ANDERSON-Brothers
1923 ERNEST HEMINGWAY-My Old Man
1925 RING LARDNER-Haircut
1930-1940
1931 F. SCOTT FITZGERALD-Babylon Revisited
1933 KATHERINE ANN PORTER-The Cracked Looking-Glass
1936 WILLIAM FAULKNER-That Will Be Fine
1940-1950
1942 NANCY HALE-These Are As Brothers
1948 EUDORA WELTY-The Whole World Knows
1948 JOHN CHEEVER-The Enormous Radio
1950-1960
1957 TILLIE OLSEN-I Stand Here Ironing
1958 JAMES BALDWIN-Sonny's Blues
1959 PHILIP ROTH-The Conversion of the Jews
1960-1970
1962 FLANNERY O'CONNOR-Everything That Rises Must Converge
1962 JOHN UPDIKE-Pigeon Feathers
1967 RAYMOND CARVER-Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?
1969 JOYCE CAROL OATES-By the River
1970-1980
1975 DONALD BARTHELME-The School
1978 STANLEY ELKIN-The Conventional Wisdom
1980-1990
1980 GRACE PALEY-Friends
1982 CHARLES BAXTER-Harmony of the World
1986 MONA SIMPSON-Lawns
1986 RICHARD FORD-Communist
1988 ROBERT STONE-Helping
1989 DAVID WONG LOUIE-Displacement
1990-2000
1991 ALICE MUNRO-Friend of My Youth
1993 MARY GAITSKILL-The Girl on the Plane
1995 JAMAICA KINCAID-Xuela
1996 AKHIL SHARMA-If You Sing Like That For Me
1997 JUNOT DIAZ-Fiesta, 1980
2000-2010
2000 JHUMPA LAHIRI-The Third and Final Continent
2000 ZZ PACKER-Brownies
2004 EDWARD P. JONES-Old Boys, Old Girls
2005 SHERMAN ALEXIE-What You Pawn I Will Redeem
2006 BENJAMIN PERCY-Refresh, Refresh
2006 TOBIAS WOLFF-Awaiting Orders
2010-2015
2012 NATHAN ENGLANDER-What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank
2012 JULIE OTSUKA- Diem Perdidi
2013 GEORGE SAUNDERS-The Semplica-Girl Diaries
2014 LAUREN GROFF-At the Round Earth's Imagined Corners

In 2000, John Updike chose 55 stories for a volume entitled Best American Short Stories of the Century. Here is the table of contents of that volume of stories from 1915 to 1998.

· Zelig /

· Benjamin Rosenblatt

· Little selves /

· Mary Lerner

· Jury of her peers /

· Susan Glaspell

· Other woman /

· Sherwood Anderson

· Golden honeymoon /

· Ring Lardner

· Blood-burning moon /

· Jean Toomer

· Killers /

· Ernest Hemingway

· Resurrection of a life /

· William Saroyan

· Christmas gift /

· Robert Penn Warren

· Bright and morning star /

· Richard Wright

· Hitch-hikers /

· Eudora Welty

· Peach stone /

· Paul Horgan

· "That in Aleppo once ..." /

· Vladimir Nabokov

· Interior castle /

· Jean Stafford

· Miami-New York /

· Martha Gellhorn

· Second tree from the corner /

· E.B. White

· Farmer's children /

· Elizabeth Bishop

· Death of a favorite /

· J.F. Powers

· Resemblance between a violin case and a coffin /

· Tennessee Williams

· Country husband /

· John Cheever

· Greenleaf /

· Flannery O'Connor

· Ledge /

· Lawrence Sargent Hall

· Defender of the faith /

· Philip Roth

· Criers and kibitzers, kibitzers and criers /

· Stanley Elkin

· German refugee /

· Bernard Malamud

· Where are you going, where have you been? /

· Joyce Carol Oates

· Rotifer /

· Mary Ladd Gavell

· Gold Coast /

· James Alan McPherson

· Key /

· Isaac Bashevis Singer

· Cty of churches /

· Donald Barthelme

· How to win /

· Rosellen speaks /

· Harold Brodkey

· Silver dish /

· Saul Bellow

· Gesturing /

· John Updike

· Shawl /

· Cynthia Ozick

· Where I'm calling from /

· Raymond Carver

· Janus /

· Ann Beattie

· Way we live now /

· Susan Sontag

· Things they carried /

· Tim O'Brien

· Meneseteung /

· Alice Munro

· You're ugly, too /

· Lorrie Moore

· I want to live! /

· Thom Jones

· In the gloaming /

· Alice Elliott Dark

· Proper library /

· Carolyn Ferrell

· Birthmates /

· Gish Jen

· Soon /

· Pam Durban

· Half-skinned steer /

· Annie Proulx

· The best girlfriend you never had /

· Pam Houston.

You might want to quibble and quarrel with these choices, but remember, the editors Lorrie Moore and John Updike had to choose from the stories that had already been chosen by past editors of Best American Short Stories. And they also had to "make a book," with all the demands for variety of subject matter, theme, locale, style, etc. that that "making a book" imposes.

I am now reading the twenty new stories chosen by T. C. Boyle for the 2015 volume of BASS, as it is sometimes not-so-elegantly called. I will post a blog commentary on the first ten stories in that volume in a few days.

Thursday, December 31, 2015

"Best" Short Story Collections of 2015

With only a few hours remaining in 2015, I thought it was high time to comment on what folks in the reviewing world thought were the best short story collections of the year. I surveyed all the major print outlets that list their "notable" or "best" or "favorite" books of the year and singled out the short story collections that made those lists. Here are the results of my survey with some desultory comments on the choices.

Adam Johnson, Fortune Smiles (National Book Award winner)

I read this one and reviewed it for Magill's Literary Annual, and therefore cannot comment on it here for copyright reasons. Johnson, said he was surprised when it won the National Book Award. I am surprised also, for I found it mostly playing around with eliciting sympathy for unlikeable characters, rather than truly exploring the complexities of character.

New York Times

National Public Radio

Washington Post

Lucia Berlin, A Manual for Cleaning Women

I reviewed this one for Magill's also and thus cannot go into any detail about it. But I did find it good, honest writing, although it was more memoir than short fiction.

New York Times

Washington Post

Edith Pearlman, Honeydew

I am sorry to say that I was disappointed with this book, after falling in love with her earlier collection Binocular Vision. I am not sure what happened here, but like her work so much I plan to read it again and comment more on it later.

New York Times

Washington Post

Los Angeles Times

San Francisco Chronicle

Joy Williams, The Visiting Privilege: New and Selected Stories

No question that this was my favorite of the year. I have not read all the "new" stories yet, but have commented on many of the earlier stories elsewhere on this blog.

New York Times

National Public Radio

Washington Post

San Francisco Chronicle

Thomas McQuane, Crow Fair

I really do not understand how PW could term this the "best" short story collection of the year. I reviewed it for Magills and found it superficial, cynical macho play-acting.

Publisher's Weekly (who called it the best short story collection of the year

San Francisco Chronicle

Clarice Lispector, The Complete Stories

I have written about Lispector in other places and have always liked her work.

New York Times

San Francisco Chronicle

Colum McCann, Thirteen Ways of Looking

Sorry to say I have not read this one yet, but hope to get to in soon.

New York Times

National Public Radio

Charles Baxter, Something I Want You to Do

This is Baxter's Vices and Virtues experiment. I have commented on two of the stories earlier on this blog. I have always liked Baxter, but not sure about this collection.

Washington Post

San Francisco Chronicle

Ann Beattie, The State We're In: Main Stories

I just ordered this book and will review it for Magill's. I will let you know later, but am not expecting much.

Washington Post

San Francisco Chronicle

Other collections that got at least one mention:

Steven Millhauser, Voices in the Night (A favorite; see earlier comments on two stories)

Edna O'Brien: The Love Object: Selected Stories (See earlier comments on O'Brien on this blog)

Kirstin Valdez Quade, Night at the Fiestas (I posted comments on two of her stories earlier)

I have not read the following, but hope to get to some of them.

Padgett Powell, Cries for Help

Anthony Marra, The Tsar of Love and Techno

Alejandro Zamba, My Documents

Kelly Link, Get in Trouble

Elizabeth Tallent, Mendocino Fire

Curious that a collection that was shortlisted for the National Book Award, but not on any of the "best" lists is Karen Bender's Refund. I reviewed it for Magill's and found it predictable and clichéd.