2024 the best american short stories of the century john updike review

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Wonderfully wide-ranging and enjoyable, this outstanding collection features short stories by great 19- and 20th-century writers from America, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Western Europe.
Included are Hemingway's "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place," in which two waiters and a lonely customer in a Spanish cafe confront the concept of nothingness; "A & P," John Updike's most anthologized story and one of his most popular; "Borges and I," typical Jorge Luis Borges — imaginative, philosophical, and mysterious; as well as short masterpieces by Leo Tolstoy, Anton Chekhov, Herman Melville, Thomas Mann, Guy de Maupassant, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, D. H. Lawrence, and ten other great writers.
Prime examples of the classic short story, these enduring literary treasures will be invaluable to students and teachers as well as to anyone who appreciates the finely turned tale.

From the brand

Debuting in 1990, the Thrift Editions library of classic literature is a top choice for teachers, students, librarians, and recreational readers around the world. Dover’s longstanding mission of exceptional value has consistently offered excellence in classic fiction, nonfiction, plays, and poetry.

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In addition to single title books, Dover offers books of anthologies in fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Check out our Thrift Editions of short stories, literary collections, poetry, gothic and horror, SciFi/Fantasy, crime/mystery/thrillers and more. Happy Reading!

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ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00A735JPG
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Dover Publications; 1st edition (March 5, 2012)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 5, 2012
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 895 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 257 pages
Reviewer: Jeff
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A Very Good Collection
Review: This was a very good collection. Some friends and I used it for a short story club. It offers a wide variety of stories, including several authors I had never heard of before. Almost every story was worth reading and discussing, and I think it’s a good, affordable volume. One thing I found curious is that the volume does not provide a list of all translations used. Also, one should note that there are basically no notes or editorial material here. I personally didn’t mind that, but I could see someone needing more of an apparatus with the book. All the same, this worked for my purposes, and I thought each translation was a good one, even if I would like to know who the translations were by.

Reviewer: Jacey
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Good
Review: Good stories, although it’s missing the only short story I wanted. I couldn’t find a full list of stories, so I took a chance and lost. They may not be the “best,” but they are good stories.

Reviewer: Stephen Leuchtman
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Excellent collection of eclectic short stories
Review: I don’t agree with the ambitious title that these are the greatest short stories by their authors—but this is a magnificent collection not to be missed

Reviewer: OldSciFiReader
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: World's greatest short stories?
Review: This is a quick read. I'm not sure these are the world's greatest short stories, but they're quite good and readable.

Reviewer: ctgriffi
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: The Greatest? I Hope Not
Review: I will preface this review by stating what should be obvious to all, which is that there are many ways that one can evaluate a book—or any creative work, for that matter. And I, naturally, am going to focus on a few aspects that matter to ME.To begin, let's acknowledge that this is a very inexpensive purchase, and its construction is commensurate with the price: pages are likely to drift away regularly, like oak leaves in autumn, and The World's Greatest Short Stories will simply not be around for the long haul, as they say. However, if you're just hoping to pass the time agreeably while resting your aching dogs at JFK, you'll be fine.But more importantly, let's talk about the content: there are several well-known and brilliant works of fiction in this collection that will not fail to entertain new readers or engage the attention of repeat readers, like a long-lost old friend. However. There are also a few stories here that are written from a point of view which I like to term, The Great Abyss. You have probably been to a similar place of despair in your own consciousness, or at least have peered over the edge briefly, before rapidly (and wisely) returning to safety. The adjective that keeps coming to my mind—and, yes, it is an old-fashioned word that has fallen out of fashion—is "depraved."BUT, I hear you say, these are all the works of great authors! And that may be, depending on your definition of greatness. Nevertheless, great human beings are capable of great evil and darkness; in fact, they may be more capable than your Average Joe, I'm inclined to think.For the reasons mentioned, small and large, I am unable to give full marks to this volume from Dover Thrift Editions.

Reviewer: Amy Wood
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Some really great but short classic stories
Review: A great way to read some classic stories. Some are only a few pages long none of them are more than 12 pages. A great selection of authors and a great selection of stories. Well worth the price

Reviewer: GB
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Big Mistake in the Chekhov Story
Review: I am using this with a class I'm teaching this semester, entirely because of its low cost--I wanted access to a few famous stories, and didn't want to rely on the Internet. I'm writing this because of a bizarre mistake I discovered yesterday with Chekhov's "Lady With the Pet Dog." The version in this anthology has the main character named "Gomov." As anyone who knows this story will remember, the main character's name is "Gurov." The rest of the translation seems passable/accurate (I'm no Russian lit scholar), but the misnaming is very odd. Gurov is one of literature's better-known characters. I've been trying to track down the source of this error, but with no luck, and the Dover book is so bare-bones it doesn't even list the translator (I did find what appears to be the same translation in a pdf online, but it has even worse errors--the town where the couple first meet is referred to as "Talta"!!!). Anyway, this is an okay anthology, but I guess you get what you pay for!

Reviewer: Nancy O'Donnell
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Some of the best short stories in a compact collection
Review: I've used this in my college composition class for many years. Love it.

Reviewer: Sagnik
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I have been delivered a different version of the book shown here but it was good as well.

Reviewer: everyone can have an opinion
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: The selection couldn't be better. The price is amazing. A great read. The paper isn't the nicest but it's not terrible.

Reviewer: Marcello C.
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Ho comprato questo libro per praticare la lettura in inglese. Devo dire che nonostante la mia volontà le storie contenute non attraggono molto... forse è questione di gusti.

Reviewer: Marvin
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Ce recueil possède de très bons auteurs. J'aime beaucoup.Il contient :Herman Melville--U.S.A.Bartleby the Scrivener (1853)Guy de Maupassant--FranceThe Necklace (1884)Leo Tolstoy--RussiaThe Death of Ivan Ilyich (1886)Rudyard Kipling--EnglandThe Man Who Would Be King (1888)Charlotte Perkins Gilman--U.S.A.The Yellow Wallpaper (1892)Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis--BrazilThe Fortune-Teller (1896)Anton Chekhov--RussiaThe Lady with the Toy Dog (1899)Rainer Maria Rilke--GermanyHow Old Timofei Died with a Song (1900)Thomas Mann--GermanyThe Path to the Cemetery (1901)D. H. Lawrence--EnglandThe Prussian Officer (1914)James Joyce--IrelandAraby (1914)Luigi Pirandello--ItalyMrs. Frola and Mr. Ponza, Her Son-in-Law (1917)Virginia Woolf--EnglandThe Mark on the Wall (1921)Franz Kafka--CzechoslovakiaA Hunger Artist (1922)Katherine Mansfield--EnglandThe Garden-Party (1922)Yasunari Kawabata--JapanThe Grasshopper and the Bell Cricket (1924)Ernest Hemingway--U.S.A.A Clean, Well-Lighted Place (1926)Chinua Achebe--NigeriaThe Sacrificial Egg (1959)John Updike--U.S.A.A & P (1961)Jorge Luis Borges--ArgentinaBorges and I (1962)

Reviewer: Anne Whight
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: A great collection of 20 very enjoyable, very different short stories from some of the best writers around the world - England, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Nigeria, Argentina, Germany, Brazil, USA, Russia, Czechoslavakia. Some writers I knew but some were new to me. All the stories were very readable and engrossing. Stories are collated in chronological order and written from 1853-1962.