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Overview
First published in 1986, with four supplemental volumes appearing in 1996, this revision expands the number of short stories to 1490 in eight volumes. The contributors, who teach English at American universities (some are independent scholars), have written essays for each story that considers the content, theme, structure and techniques used by the author. The type of plot, locale, principal characters, style, and time are listed at the beginning of the entry. Following a summary of the story, each essay discusses the themes and meanings of the story and the style and technique used in its presentation. Though the majority of writers are North American, many stories are included by writers in the UK and Europe, and some by authors in Africa, Asia, India, Latin America, New Zealand, and Australia. May (California State U., Long Beach), the editor of the revised edition, and Magill (editor of the original edition) have succeeded in wresting an engaging narrative style from their essayists, which may entice the high school and undergraduate students who use this resource to want to read the stories described. Volume 8 contains a glossary of literary terms, a bibliography, and chronological list of titles as well as four indexes, by title, author, geographical, and type of plot. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, ORSynopsis
First published in 1986, with four supplemental volumes appearing in 1996, this revision expands the number of short stories to 1490 in eight volumes. The contributors, who teach English at American universities (some are independent scholars), have written essays for each story that considers the content, theme, structure and techniques used by the author. The type of plot, locale, principal characters, style, and time are listed at the beginning of the entry. Following a summary of the story, each essay discusses the themes and meanings of the story and the style and technique used in its presentation. Though the majority of writers are North American, many stories are included by writers in the UK and Europe, and some by authors in Africa, Asia, India, Latin America, New Zealand, and Australia. May (California State U., Long Beach), the editor of the revised edition, and Magill (editor of the original edition) have succeeded in wresting an engaging narrative style from their essayists, which may entice the high school and undergraduate students who use this resource to want to read the stories described. Volume 8 contains a glossary of literary terms, a bibliography, and chronological list of titles as well as four indexes, by title, author, geographical, and type of plot. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Library Journal
This alphabetically arranged collection of critical essays covers 1490 short stories. All articles are signed (either by professors or independent scholars), average three pages each, and follow an established format covering title, author, genre, setting, original publication data, date of English translation, principle characters, story synopsis, themes, style, and technique. Five entries-O. Henry's "The Gift of the Maji," Edgar Allan Poe's "The Gold-Bug" and "Ligeia," Franz Kafka's "The Metamorphosis," and Nikolai Gogol's "The Overcoat"-appear in both this set and the core Masterplots set because, in the editors' own words, "omitting those classic stories would be a disservice to readers." According to the "Chronological List of Titles," selections range from Daniel DeFoe's "A True Relation of the Apparition of One Mrs. Veal" (1706) to Anonya Nelson's "Female Trouble" (2001), with the largest number of stories from the 1980s. Unfortunately, only the contributor's name and school affiliation appears in the "Contributing Reviewers" pages, and several authors listed with school affiliations could not be located in the various academic Internet-accessible staff directories. Bottom Line Despite the incomplete author credentials, this set will be useful to students beginning short story criticism assignments. The annotated and unannotated bibliographies combined with the four different indexes make it highly accessible and useful for research.-Laurie Selwyn, Grayson Cty. Law Lib., Sherman, TX Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.