The Art of the Story

Description

An anthology featuring contemporary masters of the short story around the globe, including Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie, Joyce Carol Oates, Martin Amis, and more

Following the immense success of The Art of the Tale, Daniel Halpern has assembled the next generation of short-story writers—those born after 1937—to create a companion volume, The Art of the Story. Attesting to the depth, range, and continued popularity of short fiction, this collection includes seventy-eight contributors from thirty-five countries. The Art of the Story combines the best of the established masters as well as the fresh, new voices of writers whose work has seldom been translated into English.The Art of the StoryPreface

Ama Ata Aidoo, Ghana
A Gift from Somewhere
Hanan Al-Shaykh, Lebanon
The Keeper of the Virgins
Julia Alvarez, United States
Amor Divino
Martin Amis, England
The Immortals
Reinaldo Arenas, Cuba
The Glass Tower
Margaret Atwood, Canada
Wilderness Tips
Toni Cade Bambara, United States
Gorilla, My Love
Russell Banks, United States
My Mother’s Memoirs, My Father’s Lie, and Other True Stories
Nicola Barker, England
G-String
Julian Barnes, England
Evermore
Richard Bausch, United States
Aren’t You Happy for Me?
Ann Beattie, United States
In Amalfi
T. Coraghessan Boyle, United States
Rara Avis
Robert Olen Butler, United States
Mr. Green
Peter Carey, Australia
The Fat Man in History
Angela Carter, England
The Courtship of Mr. Lyon
Raymond Carver, United States
Are These Actual Miles?
Patrick Chamoiseau, Martinique
The Old Man Slave and the Mastiff
Vikram Chandra, India
Dharma
Sandra Cisneros, United States
Never Marry a Mexican
Jim Crace, England
The Prospect from the Silver Hills
Edwidge Danticat, Haiti
Night Women
Lydia Davis, United States
The House Behind
Daniele del Giudice, Italy
All Because of the Mistake
Junot Díaz, Dominican Republic
Ysrael
Patricia Duncker, England
Betrayal
Duong Thu Huong, Vietnam
Reflections of Spring
Deborah Eisenberg, United States
The Girl Who Left Her Sock on the Floor
Nathan Englander, United States
The Twenty-seventh Man
Victor Erofeyev, Russia
The Parakeet
Péter Esterházy, Hungary
Roberto Narrates
Nuruddin Farah, Somalia
My Father, The Englishman, and I
Richard Ford, United States
Optimists
Eduardo Galeano, Uruguay
The Story of the Lizard Who Had the Habit of Dining on His Wives
Hervé Guibert, France
The Hammam
Abdulrazak Gurnah, Tanzania
Escort
Barry Hannah, United States
Midnight and I’m Not Famous Yet
Peter Høeg, Denmark
Portrait of the Avant-Garde
Pawel Huelle, Poland
Moving House
Kazuo Ishiguro, England
A Family Supper
Roy Jacobsen, Norway
Encounter
Edward P. Jones, United States
The First Day
James Kelman, Scotland
Remember Young Cecil
Hanif Kureishi, England
Intimacy
Torgny Lindgren, Sweden
The Stump-Grubber
Bobbie Ann Mason, United States
Wish
Colum McCann, Ireland
Everything in This Country Must
Ian McEwan, Wales
Pornography
Steven Millhauser, United States
Behind the Blue Curtain
Lorrie Moore, United States
Willing
Mary Morris, United States
The Lifeguard
Mohammed Mrabet, Morocco
The Canebrake
Bharati Mukherjee, India
The Management of Grief
Murathan Mungan, Turkey
Muradhan and Selvihan or The Tale of the Crystal Kiosk
Haruki Murakami, Japan
The Elephant Vanishes
Joyce Carol Oates, United States
Mark of Satan
Ben Okri, Nigeria
In the Shadow of War
Amos Oz, Israel
Where the Jackals Howl
Victor Pelevin, Russia
The Life and Adventures of Shed Number XII
Francine Prose, United States
Talking Dog
Salman Rushdie, England
The Free Radio
Ken Saro-Wiwa, Nigeria
Africa Kills Her Sun
Ingo Schulze, Germany
The Ring
Graham Swift, England
Learning to Swim
Antonio Tabucchi, Italy
A Riddle
Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Kenya
Minutes of Glory
Tatyana Tolstaya, Russia
On the Golden Porch
Rose Tremain, England
John-Jin
Luisa Valenzuela, Argentina
Who, Me a Bum?
Edmund White, United States
Cinnamon Skin
Zoë Wicomb, South Africa
You Can’t Get Lost in Cape Town
John Edgar Wideman, United States
Doc’s Story
Joy Williams, United States
The Farm
Jeanne Wilmot, United States
Dirt Angel
Jeanette Winterson, England
The Green Man
Tobias Wolff, United States
The Night in Question
Can Xue, China
The Child Who Raised Poisonous Snakes
Banana Yoshimoto, Japan
Helix

Biographical Notes

“A grand convocation of writers from across the globe – middle-aged and young, famous and obscure.”
–Newsweek 

“One of the best primers to appear in years . . . Running the gamut from high farce to domestic realism, these tales celebrate the artistic liveliness of short fiction today.” 
–Boston PhoenixDaniel Halpern is the author of eight collections of poetry, and has received numerous grants and awards (including fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as the 1993 PEN Publisher Citation). For twenty-five years he edited the literary magazine Antaeus. He is currently Editorial Director of The Ecco Press/HarperCollins and divides his time between Princeton, New Jersey and New York City.US

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