SUB G6ttingen 213 585 057' 2001 A 13372 AMERICAN SHORT STORIES SINCE 1945 John G. Parks Miami University of Ohio New York Oxford OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS . 2002 CONTENTS Preface ix Introduction 1 1945—1960: The Strains of Accommodation and Consensus SHIRLEY JACKSON (1919-1965) 9 "The Lottery" 9 EUDORAWELTY(i9o9- ) 15 "Why I Live at the P.O." 16 ISAAC BASHEVIS SINGER (1904-1991) 25 "The Spinoza of Market Street" 25 TILLIE OLSEN (1913- ) 36 "I Stand Here Ironing" 37 RALPH ELLISON (1914-1994) 42 "Battle Royal" 43 GRACE PALEY (1922- ) 53 "An Interest in Life" 53 J. F. POWERS (1917-1999) 63 "Prince of Darkness" 64 JAMES PURDY (1923- ) 90 "Don't Call Me by My Right Name" 91 BERNARD MALAMUD (1914-1986) 96 "The Jewbird" 96 PETER TAYLOR (1917-1994) 103 "The Old Forest" 103 iv / Contents FLANNERY O'CONNOR (1925-1964) 138 "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" 13 8 "Revelation" 149 WRIGHT MORRIS (1910-1998) 163 "The Ram in the Thicket" 163 JOHN CHEEVER (1912-1982) 174 "The Country Husband" 17 5 "The Housebreaker of Shady Hill" 191 PHILIP ROTH (1933- ) 204 "Defender of the Faith" 205 JAMES BALDWIN (1924-1987) 225 "Sonny's Blues" 226 HISAYE YAMAMOTO (1921- ) 246 "Seventeen Syllables" 247 2. 1960s and 1970s: Breakdowns and Breakthroughs SAUL BELLOW (1915- ) 259 "Looking for Mr. Green" 260 WILLIAM H. GASS (1924- ) 274 "In the Heart of the Heart of the Country" 274 ERNEST J. GAINES (1933- ) 292 "The Sky Is Gray" 292 ROBERT COOVER (1932- ) 312 "The Babysitter" 312 JOHN BARTH (1930- ) 332 "Night-Sea Journey" 333 DONALD BARTHELME (1931-1989) 338 "Views of My Father Weeping" 339 URSULA K. LE GUIN (1929- ) 347 "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" 347 CYNTHIA OZICK (1928- ) 352 "The Shawl" 352 JOHN GARDNER (1933-1982) 355 "Come on Back" 356 Contents / v JOYCE CAROL OATES (1938- ) 369 "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" 369 TONI CADE BAMBARA (1939-1995) 381 "The Lesson" 381 LEONARD MICHAELS (1933- ) 387 "I Would Have Saved Them If I Could" 387 ALICE WALKER (1944- ) 394 "To Hell with Dying" 395 JOHN UPDIKE (1932- ) 399 "Separating" 400 JAMES ALAN McPHERSON (1943- ) 408 "Of Cabbages and Kings" 408 jJAMAICA KINCAID (1949- ) 418 ' "Girl" 419 MAX APPLE (1941- ) 420 "The Oranging of America" 420 BARRY HANNAH (1942- ) 430 "Midnight and I'm Not Famous Yet" 431 JAYNE ANNE PHILLIPS (1952- ) 439 "Souvenir" 439 LESLIE MARMON SILKO (1948- ) 450 "Storyteller" 450 ALICE ADAMS (1926- ) 461 "Roses, Rhododendron" 461 3. 1980s and 1990s: Centers and Margins ANDRE DUBUS (1936-1999) 473 "A Father's Story" 473 SUSAN FROMBERG SCHAEFFER (1941- ) 487 "The Priest Next Door" 487 ANN BEATTIE (1947- ) 495 "Janus" 496 MARY ROBISON (1949- ) 499 "Coach" 500 vi / Contents TOBIAS WOLFF (1945- ) 510 "Hunters in the Snow" 511 BOBBIE ANN MASON (1940- ) 521 "A New-Wave Format" 522 BLANCHE MCCRARY BOYD (1945- ) 533 "The Redneck Way of Knowledge" 534 LAURIE COLWIN (1944-1992) 543 "Another Marvelous Thing" 543 T. C. BOYLE (1948- ) 557 "Greasy Lake" 558 CHARLES JOHNSON (1948- ) 564 "Exchange Value" 565 SUSAN SONTAG (1933- ) 570 "The Way We Live Now" 5 71 GARRISON KEILLOR (1942- ) 582 "The Tip-Top Club" 582 TIM O'BRIEN (1946- ) 591 "The Things They Carried" 591 JOY WILLIAMS (1944- ) 603 "Health" 603 MAXINE HONG KINGSTON (1940- ) 609 "On Mortality" 609 BHARATI MUKHERJEE (1940- ) 611 "The Management of Grief " 612 CHARLES BAXTER (1947- ) 623 "Gryphon" 623 AMY TAN (1952- ) 635 "Rules of the Game" 635 RICHARD FORD (1944- ) 643 "Rock Springs" 644 LORRIE MOORE (1957- ) 658 "People Like That Are the Only People Here: Canonical Babbling in Peed Onk" 658 LOUISE ERDRICH (1954- ) 680 "Saint Marie (1934)" 680 Contents / vii FRANK CHIN (1940- ) 690 "The Only Real Day" 690 FRANCINE PROSE (1947- ) 715 "Everyday Disorders" 715 RAYMOND CARVER (1938-1988) 723 "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" 724 "Cathedral" 732 AMY HEMPEL (1951- ) 742 "In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson Is Buried" 742 RON HANSEN (1947- ) 749 "Wickedness" 749 STEPHANIE VAUGHN (1943- ) 760 "Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog" 760 HELENA MARIA VIRAMONTES. (1954- ) 769 "The Cariboo Cafe" 76.9, ^ SANDRA CISNEROS (1954- ) 779 "One Holy Night" 779 7 ' ROBERT OLEN BUTLER.(5944- ) 784 "Relic" 785 ROBERT STONE (1937- ) 788 "Helping" 789 PAM HOUSTON (1962- ) 808 "How to Talk to a Hunter" 808 DON DELILLO (1936- ) 813 "Videotape" 813 THOM JONES (1945- ) 817 "Cold Snap" 817 SHERMAN ALEXIE (1966- ) 825 "This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona" 826 RON CARLSON (1947- ) 834 "Oxygen" 835 ANDREA BARRETT (1965- ) 854 "The Littoral Zone" 855 viii / Contents MARY GAITSKILL (1954- ) 861 "The Girl on the Plane" 862 DAVID LEAVITT (1961- ) 872 "A Place I've Never Been" 873 Credits 883.