A Companion to the American Short Story

Copyright © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd except for editorial material and organization © 2010 Alfred Bendixen and James Nagel

A Companion to the American Short Story

Editor(s): Alfred Bendixen, James Nagel

Published Online: 16 MAR 2010

Print ISBN: 9781405115438

Online ISBN: 9781444319910

DOI: 10.1002/9781444319910

About this Book

Product Information

About The Product

A Companion to the American Short Story traces the development of this versatile literary genre over the past 200 years.

  • Sets the short story in context, paying attention to the interaction of cultural forces and aesthetic principles
  • Contributes to the ongoing redefinition of the American canon, with close attention to the achievements of women writers as well as such important genres as the ghost story and detective fiction
  • Embraces diverse traditions including African-American, Jewish-American, Latino, Native-American, and regional short story writing
  • Includes a section focused on specific authors and texts, from Edgar Allen Poe to John Updike

Table of contents

    1. You have free access to this content
      Front Matter (pages i–xiv)

  2. Part I: The Nineteenth Century

    1. Chapter 1

      The Emergence and Development of the American Short Story (pages 1–19)

      Alfred Bendixen

    2. Chapter 2

      Poe and the American Short Story (pages 20–34)

      Benjamin F. Fisher

    3. Chapter 3

      A Guide to Melville's “Bartleby, the Scrivener” (pages 35–49)

      Steven T. Ryan

    4. Chapter 4

      Towards History and Beyond: Hawthorne and the American Short Story (pages 50–67)

      Alfred Bendixen

    5. Chapter 5

      Charles W. Chesnutt and the Fictions of a “New” America (pages 68–77)

      Charles Duncan

    6. Chapter 6

      Mark Twain and the American Comic Short Story (pages 78–90)

      David E. E. Sloane

    7. Chapter 7

      New England Local-Color Literature: A Colonial Formation (pages 91–104)

      Josephine Donovan

    8. Chapter 8

      Charlotte Perkins Gilman and the Feminist Tradition of the American Short Story (pages 105–117)

      Martha J. Cutter

    9. Chapter 9

      The Short Stories of Edith Wharton (pages 118–132)

      Donna Campbell

  3. Part II: The Transition into the New Century

    1. Chapter 10

      The Short Stories of Stephen Crane (pages 133–151)

      Paul Sorrentino

    2. Chapter 11

      Kate Chopin (pages 152–170)

      Charlotte Rich

    3. Chapter 12

      Frank Norris and Jack London (pages 171–186)

      Jeanne Campbell Reesman

    4. Chapter 13

      From “Water Drops” to General Strikes: Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century Short Fiction and Social Change (pages 187–214)

      Andrew J. Furer

  4. Part III: The Twentieth Century

    1. Chapter 14

      The Twentieth Century: A Period of Innovation and Continuity (pages 215–223)

      James Nagel

    2. Chapter 15

      The Hemingway Story (pages 224–243)

      George Monteiro

    3. Chapter 16

      William Faulkner's Short Stories (pages 244–255)

      Hugh Ruppersburg

    4. Chapter 17

      Katherine Anne Porter (pages 256–276)

      Ruth M. Alvarez

    5. Chapter 18

      Eudora Welty and the Short Story: Theory and Practice (pages 277–294)

      Ruth D. Weston

    6. Chapter 19

      The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald: Structure, Narrative Technique, Style (pages 295–315)

      Kirk Curnutt

    7. Chapter 20

      “The Look of the World”: Richard Wright on Perspective (pages 316–327)

      Mikko Tuhkanen

    8. Chapter 21

      Small Planets: The Short Fiction of Saul Bellow (pages 328–344)

      Gloria L. Cronin

    9. Chapter 22

      John Updike (pages 345–365)

      Robert M. Luscher

    10. Chapter 23

      Raymond Carver in the Twenty-First Century (pages 366–379)

      Sandra Lee Kleppe

    11. Chapter 24

      Multi-Ethnic Female Identity and Denise Chávez's The Last of the Menu Girls (pages 380–388)

      Karen Weekes

  5. Part IV: Expansive Considerations

    1. Chapter 25

      Landscape as Haven in American Women's Short Stories (pages 389–407)

      Leah B. Glasser

    2. Chapter 26

      The American Ghost Story (pages 408–424)

      Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock

    3. Chapter 27

      The Detective Story (pages 425–435)

      Catherine Ross Nickerson

    4. Chapter 28

      The Asian American Short Story (pages 436–449)

      Wenying Xu

    5. Chapter 29

      The Jewish American Story (pages 450–465)

      Andrew Furman

    6. Chapter 30

      The Multiethnic American Short Story (pages 466–481)

      Molly Crumpton Winter

    7. Chapter 31

      “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” American Restlessness and the Short-Story Cycle (pages 482–501)

      Jeff Birkenstein

    1. You have free access to this content
      Index (pages 502–519)

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