The Best Short Stories of 1919, and the Yearbook of the American Short Story

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

O'Brien, Edward J. (Edward Joseph), 1890-1941.

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource : multiple file formats

Place of Publication:

Salt Lake City, UT : Project Gutenberg,

Summary:

"The Best Short Stories of 1919 and the Yearbook of the American Short Story," edited by Edward J. O'Brien, is a collection of short stories published during the year, encapsulating the literary trends and themes of early 20th-century American fiction. This anthology comprises various notable authors of the time, showcasing a diverse range of characters and narratives that highlight the human experience from multiple viewpoints. The collection reflects the evolving American narrative style and offers insight into the social fabric of the decade. The opening of the anthology introduces the reader to the editor's insightful preface, where O'Brien reflects on the state of American literature and critiques its tendencies towards optimism in the face of harsh realities. This is followed by the first story, "The Kitchen Gods" by Gulielma Fell Alsop, which transports us to a Chinese household where the small wife, Dong-Yung, navigates the complexities of her place between tradition and a yearning for personal autonomy, while her husband, Foh-Kyung, explores new spiritual beliefs. This poignant exploration of cultural contrasts and personal conflict sets the stage for the themes of identity and societal roles that are likely to be recurrent throughout the collection. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Contents:

The kitchen gods / G.F. Alsop

An awakening / Sherwood Anderson

Willum's vanilla / Edwina Stanton Babcock

A night among the horses / Djuna Barnes

Long, long ago / Frederick Orin Bartlett

Dishes / Agnes Mary Brownell

The blood-red one / Maxwell Struthers Burt

The wedding-jest / James Branch Cabell

The wrists on the door / Horace Fish

"Government goat" / Susan Glaspell

The stone / Henry Goodman

To the bitter end / Richard Matthews Hallet

The Meeker ritual / Joseph Hergesheimer

The centenarian / Will E. Ingersoll

Messengers / Calvin Johnston

Mrs. Drainger's veil / Howard Mumford Jones

Under a wine-glass / Ellen N. La Motte

A thing of beauty / Elias Lieberman

The other room / Mary Heaton Vorse

"The fat of the land" / Anzia Yezierska.

Credits:

Produced by Suzanne Lybarger, Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

Notes:

Reading ease score: 82.4 (6th grade). Easy to read.

Release date is 2007-11-11