With a new 1999 story added to the paperback volume, this collection of the best stories of the century includes some of the greatest names in literature as well as a few spectacular one-hit wonders. Reprint Since the series' inception in 1915, the annual volumes of The Best American Short Stories have launched literary careers, showcased the most compelling stories of each year, and confirmed for all time the significance of the short story in our national literature. Now THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES OF THE CENTURY brings together the best of the best - fifty-five extraordinary stories that represent a century's worth of unsurpassed accomplishments in this quintessentially American literary genre. Here are the stories that have endured the test of time: masterworks by such writers as Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, Willa Cather, F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Saroyan, Flannery O'Connor, John Cheever, Eudora Welty, Philip Roth, Joyce Carol Oates, Raymond Carver, Cynthia Ozick, and scores of others. These are the writers who have shaped and defined the landscape of the American short story, who have unflinchingly explored all aspects of the human condition, and whose works will continue to speak to us as we enter the next century. Their artistry is represented splendidly in these pages. THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES series has also always been known for making literary discoveries, and discovery proved to be an essential part of selecting the stories for this volume too. Collections from years past yielded a rich harvest of surprises, stories that may have been forgotten but still retain their relevance and luster. The result is a volume that not only gathers some of the most significant stories of our century between two covers but resurrects a handful of lost literary gems as well. Of all the great writers whose work has appeared in the series, only John Updike's contributions have spanned five consecutive decades, from his first appearance, in 1959. Updike worked with coeditor Katrina Kenison to choose stories from each decade that meet his own high standards of literary quality. Foreword vii Introduction xv John Updike 1915 Zelig 1(6) Benjamin Rosenblatt 1916 Little Selves 7(11) Mary Lerner 1917 A Jury of Her Peers 18(20) Susan Glaspell 1920 The Other Woman 38(7) Sherwood Anderson 1922 The Golden Honeymoon 45(15) Ring Lardner 1923 Blood-Burning Moon 60(8) Jean Toomer 1927 The Killers 68(9) Ernest Hemingway 1929 Double Birthday 77(23) Willa Cather 1929 Wild Plums 100(5) Grace Stone Coates 1930 Theft 105(6) Katherine Anne Porter 1931 That Evening Sun Go Down 111(16) William Faulkner 1931 Here We Are 127(9) Dorothy Parker 1933 Crazy Sunday 136(17) F. Scott Fitzgerald 1934 My Dead Brother Comes to America 153(6) Alexander Godin 1935 Resurrection of a Life 159(10) William Saroyan 1938 Christmas Gift 169(10) Robert Penn Warren 1939 Bright and Morning Star 179(32) Richard Wright 1940 The Hitch-Hikers 211(13) Eudora Welty 1943 The Peach Stone 224(17) Paul Horgan 1944 ``That in Aleppo Once...'' 241(9) Vladimir Nabokov 1947 The Interior Castle 250(14) Jean Stafford 1948 Miami-New York 264(17) Martha Gellhorn 1948 The Second Tree from the Corner 281(5) E. B. White 1949 The Farmer's Children 286(9) Elizabeth Bishop 1951 Death of a Favorite 295(17) J. F. Powers 1951 The Resemblance Between a Violin Case and a Coffin 312(13) Tennessee Williams 1955 The Country Husband 325(23) John Cheever 1957 Greenleaf 348(21) Flannery O'Connor 1960 The Ledge 369(15) Lawrence Sargent Hall 1960 Defender of the Faith 384(27) Philip Roth 1962 Criers and Kibitzers, Kibitzers and Criers 411(27) Stanley Elkin 1964 The German Refugee 438(12) Bernard Malamud 1967 Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? 450(16) Joyce Carol Oates 1968 The Rotifer 466(11) Mary Ladd Gavell 1969 Gold Coast 477(16) James Alan McPherson Isaac Bashevis Singer 1970 The Key 493(10) 1973 A City of Churches 503(4) Donald Barthelme 1975 How to Win 507(13) Rosellen Brown 1976 Roses, Rhododendron 520(13) Alice Adams 1978 A Young Woman Speaks 533(6) Harold Brodkey 1979 A Silver Dish 539(26) Saul Bellow 1980 Gesturing 565(11) John Updike 1981 The Shawl 576(5) Cynthia Ozick 1983 Where I'm Calling From 581(14) Raymond Carver 1986 Janus 595(5) Ann Beattie 1987 The Way We Live Now 600(16) Susan Sontag 1987 The Things They Carried 616(17) Tim O'Brien 1989 Meneseteung 633(19) Alice Munro 1990 You're Ugly, Too 652(19) Lorrie Moore 1993 I Want to Live! 671(17) Thom Jones 1994 In the Gloaming 688(17) Alice Elliott Dark 1994 Proper Library 705(15) Carolyn Ferrell 1995 Birthmates 720(15) Gish Jen 1997 Soon 735(19) Pam Durban 1998 The Half-Skinned Steer 754(15) Annie Proulx 1999 The Best Girlfriend You Never Had 769(20) Pam Houston Biographical Notes 789(8) Index of the Best American Short Stories, 1915-1999 797