The Story and Its Writer

CONTENTS

Preface v Introduction: Te Story and Its Writer 1

Part One: Stories 7

Sherman Alexie, Te Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfght in Heaven 9 Isabelle Allende, An Act of Vengeance 15 RELATED CASEBOOK: Jorge Luis Borges, Borges and I, 1020; Alejo Car- pentier, On the Marvelous Real in America, 1022; Alejo Carpentier, Te Baroque and the Marvelous Real, 1024; Luis Leal, Magical Realism in Spanish American Literature, 1026; William Gass, Te First Seven Pages of the Boom, 1028; Ursula K. Le Guin, Te Kind of Fiction Most Charac- teristic of Our Times, 1030; Mario Vargas Llosa, Te Prose Style of Jorge Luis Borges and Gabriel García Márquez, 1034 Sherwood Anderson, Hands 22 RELATED COMMENTARY: Sherwood Anderson, “Form, Not Plot, in the Short Story,” 878 Margaret Atwood, Happy Endings 27 RELATED COMMENTARY: Margaret Atwood, “Reading Blind,” 881 James Baldwin, Sonny’s Blues 31 RELATED COMMENTARY: James Baldwin, Autobiographical Notes, 884 Toni Cade Bambara, Te Lesson 55 RELATED STORY: ZZ Packer, Brownies, 740 Russell Banks, Black Man and White Woman in Dark Green Rowboat 62 RELATED STORY: Ernest Hemingway, Hills Like White Elephants, 416 Ann Beattie, Janus 69 Ambrose Bierce, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge 73 Jorge Luis Borges, Te South 82 RELATED CASEBOOK: Jorge Luis Borges, Borges and I, 1020; Alejo Car- pentier, On the Marvelous Real in America, 1022; Alejo Carpentier, Te

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Baroque and the Marvelous Real, 1024; Luis Leal, Magical Realism in Spanish American Literature, 1026; William Gass, Te First Seven Pages of the Boom, 1028; Ursula K. Le Guin, Te Kind of Fiction Most Charac- teristic of Our Times, 1030; Mario Vargas Llosa, Te Prose Style of Jorge Luis Borges and Gabriel García Márquez, 1034 Ray Bradbury, August 2026: Tere Will Come Sof Rains 87 Alejo Carpentier, Journey to the Seed 94 RELATED CASEBOOK: Jorge Luis Borges, Borges and I, 1020; Alejo Car- pentier, On the Marvelous Real in America, 1022; Alejo Carpentier, Te Baroque and the Marvelous Real, 1024; Luis Leal, Magical Realism in Spanish American Literature, 1026; William Gass, Te First Seven Pages of the Boom, 1028; Ursula K. Le Guin, Te Kind of Fiction Most Charac- teristic of Our Times, 1030; Mario Vargas Llosa, Te Prose Style of Jorge Luis Borges and Gabriel García Márquez, 1034 Raymond Carver, Cathedral 105 Raymond Carver, A Small, Good Ting 115 Raymond Carver, What We Talk About When We Talk About Love 132 RELATED STORY: Nathan Englander, What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank, 29 3 RELATED CASEBOOK: Raymond Carver, On Writing, 9 69 ; Raymond Carver, Creative Writing 101, 9 72; Raymond Carver, Te Bath, 9 76; Tom Jenks, Te Origin of “Cathedral,” 9 81; Arthur M. Saltzman, A Reading of “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love,” 9 82; A. O. Scott, Looking for Raymond Carver, 9 84 Willa Cather, Paul’s Case 143 John Cheever, Te Swimmer 158 RELATED COMMENTARY: John Cheever, Why I Write Short Stories, 89 3 Anton Chekhov, Te Darling 167 RELATED COMMENTARIES: Anton Chekhov, Technique in Writing the Short Story, 89 5; Leo Tolstoy, Chekhov’s Intent in “Te Darling,” 9 59 Kate Chopin, Désirée’s Baby 177 Kate Chopin, Te Story of an Hour 181 RELATED COMMENTARY: Kate Chopin, How I Stumbled upon Maupassant, 89 6 Sandra Cisneros, Barbie-Q 183 Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness 186 RELATED COMMENTARY: Chinua Achebe, An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness,” 873

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Julio Cortázar, Axolotl 249 RELATED CASEBOOK: Jorge Luis Borges, Borges and I, 1020; Alejo Car- pentier, On the Marvelous Real in America, 1022; Alejo Carpentier, Te Baroque and the Marvelous Real, 1024; Luis Leal, Magical Realism in Spanish American Literature, 1026; William Gass, Te First Seven Pages of the Boom, 1028; Ursula K. Le Guin, Te Kind of Fiction Most Charac- teristic of Our Times, 1030; Mario Vargas Llosa, Te Prose Style of Jorge Luis Borges and Gabriel García Márquez, 1034 Stephen Crane, Te Open Boat 254 RELATED COMMENTARY: Stephen Crane, Te Sinking of the Commodore, 89 8 Lydia Davis, Blind Date 272 Junot Díaz, How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, or Halfe 277 Ralph Ellison, Battle Royal 281 RELATED COMMENTARY: Ralph Ellison, Te Infuence of Folklore on “Battle Royal,” 9 01 Nathan Englander, What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank 29 3 RELATED STORY: Raymond Carver, What We Talk About When We Talk about Love, 132 Lousie Erdrich, Te Red Convertible 308 William Faulkner, A Rose for Emily 317 William Faulkner, Tat Evening Sun 323 RELATED COMMENTARY: William Faulkner, Te Meaning of “A Rose for Emily,” 9 03 F. Scott Fitzgerald, Winter Dreams 337 Carlos Fuentes, Pain 354 RELATED CASEBOOK: Jorge Luis Borges, Borges and I, 1020; Alejo Car- pentier, On the Marvelous Real in America, 1022; Alejo Carpentier, Te Baroque and the Marvelous Real, 1024; Luis Leal, Magical Realism in Spanish American Literature, 1026; William Gass, Te First Seven Pages of the Boom, 1028; Ursula K. Le Guin, Te Kind of Fiction Most Charac- teristic of Our Times, 1030; Mario Vargas Llosa, Te Prose Style of Jorge Luis Borges and Gabriel García Márquez, 1034 Mary Gaitskill, Te Other Place 369 Gabriel García Márquez, A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings 380 RELATED CASEBOOK: Jorge Luis Borges, Borges and I, 1020; Alejo Car- pentier, On the Marvelous Real in America, 1022; Alejo Carpentier, Te

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Baroque and the Marvelous Real, 1024; Luis Leal, Magical Realism in Spanish American Literature, 1026; William Gass, Te First Seven Pages of the Boom, 1028; Ursula K. Le Guin, Te Kind of Fiction Most Charac- teristic of Our Times, 1030; Mario Vargas Llosa, Te Prose Style of Jorge Luis Borges and Gabriel García Márquez, 1034 William Gass, A Fugue 386 RELATED CASEBOOK: William Gass, Te First Seven Pages of the Boom, 1028 Dagoberto Gilb, Love in L.A. 388 Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Te Yellow Wallpaper 39 2 RELATED COMMENTARIES: Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Why I Wrote “Te Yellow Wallpaper,” 9 07; Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Undergoing the Cure for Nervous Prostration, 9 08; Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar, A Feminist Reading of Gilman’s “Te Yellow Wallpaper,” 9 04 Nathaniel Hawthorne, Young Goodman Brown 405 RELATED COMMENTARIES: Herman Melville, Blackness in Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown,” 9 28; Edgar Allan Poe, Te Importance of the Single Efect in a Prose Tale, 9 45 Ernest Hemingway, Hills Like White Elephants 416 RELATED STORY: Russell Banks, Black Man and White Woman in Dark Green Rowboat, 62 Zora Neale Hurston, Te Gilded Six-Bits 421 RELATED COMMENTARIES: Zora Neale Hurston, How It Feels to Be Colored Me, 9 10; Zora Neale Hurston, What White Publishers Won’t Print, 9 14; Alice Walker, Zora Neale Hurston, A Cautionary Tale and a Partisan View, 9 62 Shirley Jackson, Te Lottery 430 RELATED COMMENTARY: Shirley Jackson, Te Morning of June 28, 19 48, and “Te Lottery,” 9 19 Sarah Orne Jewett, A White Heron 438 Denis Johnson, Work 446 James Joyce, Araby 453 RELATED STORY: John Updike, A & P, 831 James Joyce, Te Dead 457 Franz Kafa, A Hunger Artist 488 Franz Kafa, Te Metamorphosis 49 4 RELATED COMMENTARY: Ann Charters, Translating Kafa, 889 Jamaica Kincaid, Girl 530 RELATED COMMENTARY: Jamaica Kincaid, On “Girl,” 9 21

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Nora Krug, Kamikaze [graphic story] 533 Jhumpa Lahiri, Interpreter of Maladies 544 RELATED COMMENTARY: Simon Lewis, Lahiri’s “Interpreter of Maladies,” 9 22 D. H. Lawrence, Te Rocking-Horse Winner 560 Ursula K. Le Guin, Te Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas 572 RELATED CASEBOOK: Ursula K. Le Guin, Te Kind of Fiction Most Characteristic of Our Times, 1030 Clarice Lispector, Te Smallest Woman in the World 578 Katherine Mansfeld, Miss Brill 582 Bobbie Ann Mason, Shiloh 587 Guy de Maupassant, Te Necklace 59 9 RELATED COMMENTARIES: Guy de Maupassant, Te Writer’s Goal, 9 26; Kate Chopin, How I Stumbled upon Maupassant, 89 6 Herman Melville, Bartleby, the Scrivener 606 RELATED STORY: Daniel Orozco, Orientation, 725 RELATED COMMENTARY: Herman Melville, Blackness in Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown,” 9 28. Alice Munro, Age of Faith 634 RELATED COMMENTARY: Alice Munro, How I Write Short Stories, 9 32 Joyce Carol Oates, Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? 651 RELATED COMMENTARIES: Joyce Carol Oates, Stories Tat Defne Me: Te Making of a Writer, 9 33; Joyce Carol Oates: Smooth Talk: Short Story into Film, 9 34 RELATED CASEBOOK: Joyce Carol Oates, Te Parables of Flannery O’Connor, 1000 Tim O’Brien, Te Tings Tey Carried 664 RELATED STORY: Saïd Sayrafezadeh, A Brief Encounter with the Enemy, 79 6 RELATED COMMENTARIES: Tim O’Brien, Alpha Company, 9 38; Matt Steinglass, Reading Tim O’Brien in Hanoi, 9 53 Flannery O’Connor, Everything Tat Rises Must Converge 679 Flannery O’Connor, Good Country People 69 0 Flannery O’Connor, A Good Man Is Hard to Find 705 RELATED CASEBOOK: Flannery O’Connor, From Letters, 19 54–55, 9 9 0; Flannery O’Connor, Writing Short Stories, 9 9 2; Flannery O’Connor, A

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Reasonable Use of the Unreasonable, 9 9 7; Joyce Carol Oates, Te Parables of Flannery O’Connor, 1000; Wayne C. Booth, A Rhetorical Reading of O’Connor’s “Everything Tat Rises Must Converge,” 1008; Dorothy Tuck McFarland, On “Good Country People,” 1011 Tillie Olsen, I Stand Here Ironing 718 Daniel Orozco, Orientation 725 RELATED STORY: Herman Melville, Bartleby the Scrivener, 606 Julie Otsuka, Te Children 731 ZZ Packer, Brownies 740 RELATED STORY: Toni Cade Bambara, Te Lesson 55 Grace Paley, A Conversation with My Father 756 RELATED STORY: Grace Paley, Samuel, 1039 RELATED COMMENTARY: A Conversation with Ann Charters, 9 40 Edgar Allan Poe, Te Cask of Amontillado 761 Edgar Allan Poe, Te Tell-Tale Heart 767 RELATED COMMENTARY: Edgar Allan Poe, Te Importance of the Single Efect in a Prose Tale, 9 45 Katherine Anne Porter, Maria Concepción 772 Marjane Satrapi, From Persepolis: Te Veil [graphic story] 788 Saïd Sayrafezadeh, A Brief Encounter with the Enemy 79 6 RELATED STORY: Tim O’Brien, Te Tings Tey Carried, 664 Leslie Marmon Silko, Yellow Woman 807 RELATED COMMENTARY: Leslie Marmon Silko, Language and Literature from a Pueblo Indian Perspective, 9 47 Art Spiegelman, Prisoner on the Hell Planet: A Case History [graphic story] 816 Amy Tan, Two Kinds 821 RELATED COMMENTARY: Amy Tan, In the Canon, for All the Wrong Reasons, 9 55 John Updike, A & P 831 RELATED STORY: James Joyce, Araby, 453 Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Harrison Bergeron 837 Alice Walker, Everyday Use 843 RELATED COMMENTARY: Alice Walker, Zora Neale Hurston: A Cautionary Tale and a Partisan View, 9 62

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David Foster Wallace, Everything Is Green 851 Tobias Wolf, Bullet in the Brain 854 Richard Wright, Te Man Who Was Almost a Man 859

Part Two: Commentaries 869

Chinua Achebe, An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” 873 Sherwood Anderson, Form, Not Plot, in the Short Story 878 Margaret Atwood, Reading Blind 881 James Baldwin, Autobiographical Notes 884 Ann Charters, Translating Kafa 889 John Cheever, Why I Write Short Stories 89 3 Anton Chekhov, Technique in Writing the Short Story 89 5 Kate Chopin, How I Stumbled upon Maupassant 89 6 Stephen Crane, Te Sinking of the Commodore 89 8 Ralph Ellison, Te Infuence of Folklore on “Battle Royal” 901 William Faulkner, Te Meaning of “A Rose for Emily” 903 Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar, A Feminist Reading of Gilman’s “Te Yellow Wallpaper” 904 Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Why I Wrote “Te Yellow Wallpaper” 907 Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Undergoing the Cure for Nervous Prostration 908 Zora Neale Hurston, How It Feels to Be Colored Me 910 Zora Neale Hurston, What White Publishers Won’t Print 914 Shirley Jackson, Te Morning of June 28, 19 48, and “Te Lottery” 919 Jamaica Kincaid, On “Girl” 921 Simon Lewis, Lahiri’s “Interpreter of Maladies” 922 Guy de Maupassant, Te Writer’s Goal 926 Herman Melville, Blackness in Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” 928

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Alice Munro, How I Write Short Stories 932 Joyce Carol Oates, Stories Tat Defne Me: Te Making of a Writer 933 Joyce Carol Oates, Smooth Talk: Short Story into Film 934 Tim O’Brien, Alpha Company 938 Grace Paley, A Conversation with Ann Charters 940 Edgar Allan Poe, Te Importance of the Single Efect in a Prose Tale 945 Leslie Marmon Silko, Language and Literature from a Pueblo Indian Perspective 947 Matt Steinglass, Reading Tim O’Brien in Hanoi 953 Amy Tan, In the Canon, for All the Wrong Reasons 955 Leo Tolstoy, Chekhov’s Intent in “Te Darling” 959 Alice Walker, Zora Neale Hurston: A Cautionary Tale and a Partisan View 962

Part Three: Casebooks 965

C ASEBOOK ONE: Raymond Carver 968 Raymond Carver, On Writing 9 69 Raymond Carver, Creative Writing 101 9 72 Raymond Carver, Te Bath 9 76 Tom Jenks, Te Origin of “Cathedral” 9 81 Arthur M. Saltzman, A Reading of “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” 9 82 A.O. Scott, Looking for Raymond Carver 9 84

C ASEBOOK T W O : Flannery O’Connor 989 Flannery O’Connor, From Letters, 19 54–55 990 Flannery O’Connor, Writing Short Stories 992 Flannery O’Connor, A Reasonable Use of the Unreasonable 997 Joyce Carol Oates, Te Parables of Flannery O’Connor 1000

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Wayne C. Booth, A Rhetorical Reading of O’Connor’s “Everything Tat Rises Must Converge” 1008 Dorothy Tuck McFarland, On “Good Country People” 1011

C ASEBOOK T HREE: Magical Realism 1016 Jorge Luis Borges, Borges and I 1020 Alejo Carpentier, On the Marvelous Real in America 1022 Alejo Carpentier, Te Baroque and the Marvelous Real 1024 Luis Leal, Magical Realism in Spanish American Literature 1026 William Gass, Te First Seven Pages of the Boom 1028 Ursula K. Le Guin, Te Kind of Fiction Most Characteristic of Our Times 1030 Mario Vargas Llosa, Te Prose Style of Jorge Luis Borges and Gabriel García Márquez 1034

Part Four: Appendices 1037

1. Reading Short Stories [includes Grace Paley, Samuel] 1039 2. Te Elements of Fiction 1048 3. A Brief History of the Short Story 1064 4. Writing About Short Stories 1074 5. Literary Teory and Critical Perspectives 1098 6. Glossary of Literary Terms 1105 7. Chronological Listing of Authors and Stories 1115 8. Tematic Index to the Stories and Guide to the Commentaries 1118

Acknowledgments 1122 Index of Authors and Titles 1128

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