Product Description

Richard Ford, who is among the very finest of American novelists and story writers, edited and introduced the first Granta Book of the American Short Story, which Granta published in 1992. It became the definitive anthology of American short fiction written in the last half of the twentieth century - an 'exemplary choice' in the words of the Washington Post - with stories by writers such as Eudora Welty, John Cheever and Raymond Carver (and forty others) demonstrating how much memorable power can lie in the briefest narration.In the fourteen years since, Ford has been reading new stories and re-reading old ones and selecting new favourites. This new collection, again of more than forty writers, expands Ford's orginal choice to include stories that he regretted overlooking first time around as well as many by a new generation of writers, among them Sherman Alexie, Junot Diaz, Deborah Eisenberg, Nell Freidenberg, Matt Klam, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Z.Z. Packer. None of the stories (though a few of the writers) was in the first volume. Taken together, Ford's two volumes constitute an important reflection and judgment of recent American writing - as well as the superb pleasure yielded by the stories themselves.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #109253 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 736 pages

Daily Mail
"A miniature masterpiece"

Independent on Sunday
"Irresistibly moreish ... imaginative and entertaining"

Daily Telegraph
"Stunning"

Customer Reviews

A vast book that will surprise and delight
This great doorstep of a book followed me around for six months. I enjoyed it very much, but because the stories were selected to reflect American life (rather than any one theme) I found it difficult to get into, and other books, which I read simultaneously,were consumed much more easily.

A few years ago, Granta published its best American young novelists. Many of the authors included in that volume were somewhat smug, self reverential and knowing in their work. In selecting fifty or so stories in this volume, Richard Ford avoids the same pitfalls and his selections are often a joy to read. My favourites were Bharati Mukherjee's `The Management of Grief' about an Indian émigré who travels to Ireland to collect the body of her son who has perished in an aircrash; Thom Jones' `The Pugilist at Rest' and Nell Freudenberger's `Lucky Girls'. ZZ Packer and Tobias Wolff also provide memorable contributions.

It is a difficult thing, trying to incorporate the full spectrum of American life and letters in a volume even as weighty as this. Richard Ford pretty much pulls it off, also incorporating stories from many of the immigrant communities that make up the nation. And yet oddly there is no representation from the United States' sizable Latino community, which I found very strange. But despite this omission, and so long as you don't mind the willfully eclectic nature of this vast book it is a worthwhile read that will surprise and delight.