The O. Henry Prize Stories 2003 (The O. Henry Prize Collection)

The O. Henry Prize Stories 2003 (The O. Henry Prize Collection)

"Widely regarded as the nation’s most prestigious awards for short fiction" ( The Atlantic Monthly ), an exciting selection of the twenty best short stories, with brief essays from each of the three distinguished judges—David Guterson, Diane Johnson, and Jennifer Egan—on their favorite story.  Since its establishment in 1919, the O. Henry Prize stories collection has offered an exciting selection of the best stories published in hundreds of literary magazines every year. Such classic works of American literature as Ernest Hemingway’s The Killers (1927); William Faulkner’s Barn Burning (1939); Carson McCuller’s A Tree. A Rock. A Cloud (1943); Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery (1949); J.D. Salinger’s For Esme with Love and Squalor (1963); John Cheever’s The Country Husband (1956) ; and Flannery O’Conner’s Everything that Rises Must Converge (1963) all were O. Henry Prize stories. An accomplished new series editor—novelist and short story writer Laura Furman—has read more than a thousand stories to identify the 20 winners, each one a pleasure to read today, each one a potential classic. The O. Henry Prize Stories 2003 also contains brief essays from each of the three distinguished judges on their favorite story, and comments from the prize-winning writers on what inspired their stories. There is nothing like the ever rich, surprising, and original O. Henry collection for enjoying the contemporary short story. The Thing in the Forest A. S. Byatt The Shell Collector Anthony Doerr Burn Your Maps Robyn Jay Leff Lush Bradford Morrow God’s Goodness Marjorie Kemper Bleed Blue in Indonesia Adam Desnoyers The Story Edith Pearlman Swept Away T. Coraghessan Boyle Meanwhile Ann Harleman Three Days. A Month. More. Douglas Light The High Road Joan Silber Election Eve Evan S. Connell Irish Girl Tim Johnston What Went Wrong Tim O’Brien The American Embassy Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Kissing William Kittredge Sacred Statues William Trevor Two Words Molly Giles Train Dreams Denis Johnson Laura Furman, taking the editorial helm of this respected annual, posits that when reading short stories, "we are better than we are in life, more ready to be empathic, more ready to see why another made the choices he did." Among Furman's 20 selections are established masters such as Alice Munro, T. Correghessan Boyle, and Tim O'Brien. Standouts include Marjorie Kemper's "God's Goodness," in which a dying teenager tests the faith of the Christian immigrant who cares for him; and "The High Road," by Joan Silber, in which a jaded ballet teacher has his heart broken by a young student. Two writers on the prize jury selected Denis Johnson's "Train Dreams" as their favorite; the astonishing novella documents the life and death of a simple hermit widower out West, and also mourns the passing of a particular way of life. Regular fans of the anthology may miss the list of 50 "short-listed" stories, which, in this volume, has been whittled down to 15. Nonetheless, students, teachers, and all short story aficionados who seek this volume out will be rewarded. James Klise Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved "You won't go away hungry ... you'll make new friends. In the 2003 'O. Henry' ... new series editor, Laura Furman, picked all sorts of treats." — The Seattle Times "Widely regarded as the nation’s most prestigious awards for short fiction." — The Atlantic Monthly Since its establishment in 1919, the O. Henry Prize stories collection has offered an exciting selection of the best stories published in hundreds of literary magazines every year. Such classic works of American literature as Ernest Hemingway s The Killers (1927); William Faulkner s Barn Burning (1939); Carson McCuller s A Tree. A Rock. A Cloud (1943); Shirley Jackson s The Lottery (1949); J.D. Salinger s For Esme with Love and Squalor (1963); John Cheever s The Country Husband (1956) ; and Flannery O Conner s Everything that Rises Must Converge (1963) all were O. Henry Prize stories. An accomplished new series editor--novelist and short story writer Laura Furman--has read more than a thousand stories to identify the 20 winners, each one a pleasure to read today, each one a potential classic. The O. Henry Prize Stories 2003 also contains brief essays from each of the three distinguished judges on their favorite story, and comments from the prize-winning writers on what inspired their stories. There is nothing like the ever rich, surprising, and original O. Henry collection for enjoying the contemporary short story. The Thing in the Forest A. S. Byatt The Shell Collector Anthony Doerr Burn Your Maps Robyn Jay Leff Lush Bradford Morrow God s Goodness Marjorie Kemper Bleed Blue in Indonesia Adam Desnoyers The Story Edith Pearlman Swept Away T. Coraghessan Boyle Meanwhile Ann Harleman Three Days. A Month. More. Douglas Light