Summary
Praise for the print edition:
Booklist/RBB "Twenty Best Bets for Student Researchers"
RUSA/ALA "Outstanding Reference Source"
"...useful...Recommended..."—Choice
"An invaluable and engaging tool."—School Library Journal
Since the first American short story was published in 1799, interest in the genre has continued to grow: sales of collections have risen, short story readings proliferate in bookstores, and stories have been increasingly incorporated in the college curriculum.
Engaging and jargon-free, with contributions from a team of scholars, Encyclopedia of the American Short Story, Third Edition is the only reference to analyze the genre as a whole. This updated encyclopedia adds hundreds of new entries and more than 100,000 words, providing explanations of major critical controversies and ways to broaden the reader's interpretation of a short story. Entries cover younger writers (such as David Foster Wallace, Dave Eggers, and Junot Díaz) and many short stories, from the canonical ("The Killers" by Ernest Hemingway and "There Will Come Soft Rains" by Ray Bradbury) to the cutting-edge ("Sea Oak" by George Saunders).
This accessible encyclopedia features an informative introduction that surveys the history of the short story in the United States, interprets the current literary landscape, and points to new and future trends.
Coverage includes:
- Author biographies
- Synopses and analyses of major stories
- Literary terms, themes, and motifs
- and more.
About the Author(s)
Abby H.P. Werlock is the author of The Facts On File Companion to the American Novel, a Library Journal "Best Reference Source" and a Booklist/RBB "Editors' Choice Reference Source." She holds a D.Phil. in American studies from the University of Sussex and is an associate professor emerita of English, with a specialty in American literature, at St. Olaf College. She lives near Troy, Pennsylvania.