The BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES of the Century

John Updike • EDITOR Katrina Kenison •

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY JOHN UPDIKE

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY BOSTON • NEW YORK Contents

Foreword vii Introduction by John Updike xv

1915 • BENJAMIN ROSENBLATT. Zelig 1 1916 • MARY LERNER. Little Selves 7 1917 • SUSAN GLASPELL. A Jury of Her Peers 18 1920 • SHERWOOD ANDERSON. The Other Woman 38 1922 • RING LARDNER. The Golden Honeymoon 45 1923 • JEAN TOOMER. Blood-Burning Moon 60 1927 • ERNEST HEMINGWAY. The Killers 68 1929 • WILLA CATHER. Double Birthday JJ 1929 • GRACE STONE COATES. Wild Plums 100 1930 • KATHERINE ANNE PORTER. Theft 105 1931 • WILLIAM FAULKNER. That Evening Sun Go Down in 1931 • DOROTHY PARKER. Here We Are 127 1933 • F. SCOTT FITZGERALD. Crazy Sunday 136 1934 • ALEXANDER GODIN. My Dead Brother Comes to America 153 1935 • WILLIAM SAROYAN. Resurrection of a Life 159 1938 • ROBERT PENN WARREN. Christmas Gift 169 1939 • RICHARD WRIGHT. Bright and Morning Star 179 1940 • EUDORA WELTY. The Hitch-Hikers 211 1943 • PAUL HORGAN. The Peach Stone 224 1944 • VLADIMIR NABOKOV. "That in Aleppo Once ..." 241 1947 • JEAN STAFFORD. The Interior Castle 250 1948 • MARTHA GELLHORN. Miami-New York 264 1948 • E. B. WHITE. The Second Tree from the Corner 281 1949 • ELIZABETH BISHOP. The Farmer's Children 286 VI CONTENTS

1951 • j. F. POWERS. Death of a Favorite 295 1951 • TENNESSEE WILLIAMS. The Resemblance Between a Violin Case and a Coffin 312 1955 • JOHN CHEEVER. The Country Husband 325 1957 • FLANNERY O'CONNOR. Greenleaf 348 i960 • LAWRENCE SARGENT HALL. The Ledge 369 i960 • PHILIP ROTH. Defender of the Faith 384 1962 • STANLEY ELKIN. Criers and Kibitzers, Kibitzers and Criers 411 1964 • BERNARD MALAMUD. The German Refugee 438 1967 • JOYCE CAROL OATES. Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? 450 1968 • MARY LADD GAVELL. The Rotifer 466 1969 • JAMES ALAN McPHERSON. Gold Coast 477 1970 • ISAAC BASHEVIS SINGER. The Key 493 1973 ' DONALD BARTHELME. A City of Churches 503 1975 • ROSELLEN BROWN. HOW tO Win 5O7 1976 • ALICE ADAMS. Roses, Rhododendron 520 1978 • HAROLD BRODKEY. Verona: A Young Woman Speaks 533 1979 • SAUL BELLOW. A Silver Dish 539 1980 • JOHN UPDIKE. Gesturing 565 1981 • CYNTHIA OZICK. The Shawl 576 1983 • RAYMOND CARVER. Where I'm Calling From 581 1986 • ANN BEATTIE. Janus 595 1987 • SUSAN SONTAG. The Way We Live Now 600 1987 • TIM O'BRIEN. The Things They Carried 616 1989 • ALICE MUNRO. Meneseteung 633 1990 • LORRIE MOORE. You're Ugly, Too 652 1993 • THOM JONES. I Want to Live! 671 1994 • ALICE ELLIOTT DARK. In the Gloaming 688 1994 • CAROLYN FERRELL. Proper Library 705 1995 • GISH JEN. Birthmates 720 1997 • PAM DURBAN. Soon 735 1998 • ANNIE PROULX. The Half-Skinned Steer 754

Biographical Notes 769