R. S. Gwynn has edited several other books, including Drama: A Pocket Anthology; Poetry: A Pocket Anthology; Literature: A Pocket Anthology; Inside Literature: Reading, Responding, Writing (with Steven Zani); The Art of the Short Story (with Dana Gioia); and Contemporary American Poetry: A Pocket Anthology (with April Lindner).  He has also authored five collections of poetry, including No Word of Farewell: Selected Poems, 1970-2000. He has been awarded the Michael Braude Award for verse from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.  Gwynn is University Professor of English and Poet-in-Residence at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas.

• IntroductionThe Telling of the TaleThe Short Story GenreReading and Analyzing Short FictionPlotCharacterizationPoint of ViewThemeSettingStyle and Symbol  Writing about Short Fiction  Fiction* indicates stories new to this edition* Washington Irving (1783-1859)Rip Van WinkleNathanel Hawthorne (1804-1864)The Minister’s Black Veil*  Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)The Cask of AmontilladoSarah Orne Jewett (1849-1909)A White HeronGuy de Maupassant (1850-1893)Mother SavageKate Chopin  (1851-1904)The Story of an HourCharlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935)The Yellow WallpaperEdith Wharton (1862-1937)Roman FeverWilla Cather (1876-1947)Paul’s CaseJames Joyce (1882-1941)ArabyZora Neale Hurston (1891-1960)SweatWilliam Faulkner (1897-1962)A Rose for EmilyErnest Hemingway (1899-1961)Up in MichiganRichard Wright (1908-1960)The Man Who Was Almost a Man* Eudora Welty (1909-2001)A MemoryJohn Cheever (1912-1982)ReunionRalph Ellison (1914-1995)A Party Down at the SquareShirley Jackson (1919-1965)The LotteryHisaye Yamamoto (B. 1921)Seventeen SyllablesGrace Paley (B. 1922-2007)WantsFlannery O'Connor (1925-1964)Everything That Rises Must ConvergeRichard Yates (1926-1992)Doctor Jack-o’-LanternGabriel García Márquez (B. 1928)A Very Old Man with Enormous WingsUrsula K. Le GuinThe Ones Who Walk Away from OmelasChinua Achebe (B. 1930)Dead Men’s PathAlice Munro (B. 1931)The Bear Came Over the MountainRaymond Carver (1938-1988)CathedralJoyce Carol Oates (B. 1938)Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?Margaret Atwood (B. 1939)Happy EndingsBobbie Ann Mason (B. 1940)ShilohAlice Walker (B. 1944)Everyday Use* Tobias Wolff (B. 1945)Hunters in the Snow* Tim Gautreaux (B. 1947)Waiting for the Evening NewsJamaica Kincaid (B. 1949)GirlDagoberto Gilb (B. 1950)Look on the Bright SideSandra Cisneros (B. 1954)Woman Hollering CreekLouise Erdrich (B. 1954)The Red ConvertibleGish Jen (B. 1955)In the American SocietyLorrie Moore (B. 1957)How to Become a Writer* Helen Simpson (B. 1959)Diary of an Interesting YearSherman Alexie, (B. 1966)This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona* Jhumpa :Lahiri (B. 1967)A Temporary Matter* Susan Perabo (B. 1969)The Payoff  Appendix: Stories Listed by Form, Genre, and Theme  Acknowledgments  Index of Critical Terms