Time to Catch up on the Old Masters

Rating:

If you want to catch up on some of the most important names in short fiction, it would behoove you to pick up this anthology. Alongside the names and stories with which you might be familiar: Anthon Chekhov (Gooseberries), William Faulkner (A Rose for Emily), Ernest Hemingway (A Clean Well-Lighted Place), James Joyce (The Dead), and Guy de Maupassant (The Jewels), you will find names and stories you don't hear as often: Lawrence Sargent Hall (The Ledge), or names you might think of as associated with other disciplines: Jean-Paul Sartre (The Wall). The beauty of all of these stories relies on close reading. My two favorite stories are Hemingway's A Clean Well-Lighted Place, and Hall's The Ledge. I confess that the genius of Hemingway's story eluded me for many years until I read it several times over in this collection. My experience with The Ledge is unlike any story I've ever read. Halfway through it I wished I'd never picked it up, but I found it impossible to put down. It still haunts me.

For the money, it really packs a punch

Rating:

This is a great buy if you want a good sampling of great short stories from popular writers, but don't want to go out and buy an entire anthology. Among the authors included are Edgar Allan Poe, Guy de Maupassant, Henry James, Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, William Faulkner, D. H. Lawrence, and Shirley Jackson.

One of my favorites in the book was "The Lottery", by Shirley Jackson. Jackson has a great knack for bringing out the bizarre when a small town gets together annually to hold a lottery. Each citizen gets to draw a slip of paper. However, there is a twist to this lottery.

Another great story was "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Poe. Poe is able to bring forth the truly dark and gothic style in his writing. This story tells of a man who is obsessed and enraged by an old man's eye. This tale examines the inner mind of an "unreliable" narrator, so we percieve the true story based on what he has told us.

Other notable stories include Hemingway's "A Clean, Well-lighted Place", Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily", and part of Kafka's novel "Metamorphosis."

This book is great for leisurely type reading and also serves as a sampling from some of the more prominent recent literary figures. Recommended for those who enjoy the modern writer. Because it is a paperback it is resourceful and easy to carry around.